Rafting adventure! (image heavy)

Today Dragon and I, along with my parents, my aunt and uncle, and their dog Tori, took a rafting trip down the Russian River. It was a very mellow section of the river, and the rafts were inflated and very stable. I was still a bit nervous that Dragon might get an upset stomach from the movement (he gets carsick sometimes) or that he would be stressed that he was trapped on a strange object in the middle of a river, but he was a champ. I was so proud of him -- he spent most of the ride calmly standing at the front of the raft, garnering comments about being the caption of the ship or the mermaid at the prow.

I brought along his orange floaty ball and tossed it into the water here and there. He happily pawed and mouthed at it in the shallows, and twice he went in deep enough to swim for it. However he was clearly reluctant and did not actually enjoy swimming. I was disappointed about that, but maybe in time he'll come around to it. I did buy him a tiny doggy life jacket in case the current swept him away. Indeed he jumped from the raft into the water once toward the beginning of the trip (I think he saw something intriguing in the water), and one time he lost his balance and fell in (surprisingly, that didn't happen until almost the very end of the five hour trip). I had his leash clipped to the top of the life jacket and so was able to quickly reel him in without any panic on his part.

Of course, I took a ton of pictures. I'm including some family photos along with the dog stuff this time:


He has skinny chicken legs when he's wet.


Tori enjoyed swimming.




She did not enjoy the raft, and her parents had to coax her in...


Only for her to hop back out on the other side.




Totally wet from his jump into the water.






He had great balance on the side of the raft.


With my mom.


DUCKS




DID YOU SEE THOSE DUCKS


BETTER LOOK FOR MORE DUCKS


Tori frequently jumped ship when the raft went by shallower water. Here she's humoring her parents and staying in, but you can tell from her closed mouth and pinned back ears that she's not pleased. By the end of the day she was resigned to staying in.


My dad, the best paddler.


Dog or giant ball of lint?


There were plenty of downed trees on the banks. Sometimes we weren't so great at avoiding them.


Dragon has moved to the prow.


We stopped for lunch and my dad peeled a cucumber. Dragon really liked eating the skins!


Sticks! Tori's favorite part of the day.






Dragon kept stealing her sticks.


What an a-hole.


Myself.






One of the few times that Dragon lay down on the raft.


It only lasted for a few seconds each time.


My dad loved the rope swing.







We all had a great time and plan to repeat the trip next year!