All last week Luke was like a kid looking forward to his birthday party, except what he couldn’t stop talking about what our Saturday guided rock climbing lesson. He’s been climbing indoors for a couple years now, and this was going to be his first outdoor rock climb.

We woke up early on Saturday and drove down to Reno to meet our guide. That’s when things started to go awry. When we showed up, we were told our guide was supposed to call us to tell us to come a half hour later. Hmm. Ok. After killing time walking around, we returned to hear that our guide, an “old hippy pothead” (their words, not ours), had blown off work and wouldn’t be in to take us climbing.

The tour company offered us a free rafting trip instead. This was a fine alternative to me, because I’d heard the local rivers were flowing fast right now because of all the snowmelt, but I could tell Luke was pretty disappointed he wasn’t going to be climbing. He’s not one to mope though, and quickly he got on board with our new adventure.

The awesome outfits we had to wear also helped lighten the mood.

It ended up being just us two and our guide in a small 9.5 ft raft on the Truckee River, which goes through Reno, NV.

We went about 18 miles, averaging 8 miles per hour, through some 3.5 class swells. Several times we were bounced high in the air on a big wave and got totally soaked with water.

Man, it was a blast! At one point, after riding a huge wave, I couldn’t stop grinning and giggling like a little kid. That was a pretty cool feeling.

I love that we live in a place where a planned day of outdoor rock climbing can quickly turn into a white water rafting adventure. Even better? That I have a partner in crime who is willing to roll with the punches.

What did you do this weekend? I hope you felt some thrills like we did!