Us Placers

Dear Baby Jesus… please bring us an armidilla for Jules to hit so that we may see what one looks like.

This statement pretty much sums up last weekend. For those that don’t know, a group of us decided to visit Julie at her current home in Van Buren, MO. For those that have never heard of Van Buren, don’t be alarmed; it literally consists of 10 canoe rental sites, 14 houses, and 20 trailers. Alright, I’m exaggerating slightly, but it is very southern and very outdoorsy – which inspired us to continue our annual summer adventures through a canoe trip.

Whenever we girls get together, we are basically a handful. I honesty don’t think the guys said more than two words (except when we grilled Mike about his job, house, car, future) – I guess we scared them.

Friday night was pretty mild. It primarily consisted of us trying to bounce each other off of blow-up mattresses while drinking MGD light (it’s honestly not that bad if you give it a shot). I know this all sounds bizarre, but it was highly amusing at the time – actually, the videos are still funny. While this was entertaining, I find the most interesting part of the night to be when we stopped at a gas station and realized that it was also an ice deli, a bar, a wood gift shop, and an air hockey venue. Btw, you really aren’t allowed to have open alcohol in MO; I can’t believe that collectively, everyone I know decided that was law.

Saturday we canoed 13 miles. Word to the wise, before you embark down a river in a canoe with no way out, clarify how many miles you are expected to go. Typically we do 7 or 8, not 13. But, we did 13 and we survived - just barely I think. I began the trip as Becca's partner and I have to say it was quite amusing watching her try to paddle; she couldn't quite get the hang of it. Eventually though, she figured it out and then Jess and I became the bad canoers. We became partners towards the end of the trip, which means we were fairly drunk, which means we tipped a lot. In fact, if it weren't for this random group of strangers on the river, I think we would've lost all of our stuff or died or both, somewhere around 1. They saved all of us numerous times, and it's actually kind of odd now that I think back on it. By the end of the trip, they officially knew we were the poor girls from Utah...

to be continued...