Wilderness Therapy

"Hope and the future for me are not in lawns and cultivated fields, not in towns and cities, but in the impervious and quaking swamps." - Thoreau

Two weekends ago we dropped the kids off with Grammy & Poppy and, despite ominous skies, made our way upstate to a small town where most businesses rent inflateable tubes - even in the rain. We stopped at a time-worn video rental shop/tanning salon/hair salon where we rented and then strapped to the roof eight inflated, blue tubes {with beverage holders, of course}. We grabbed cold beverages at the local Stewarts {to fill said beverage holders} before making our way to a lonely gravel parking lot on the outside edge of town.

After a short, slippery hike we found ourselves and our tubes at the based of a dam on the Sacandaga River. It was officially raining and the sky was blanketed with dark clouds by the time we all had situated ourselves in our tubes {with beverages} and pushed off into the swollen river. Despite the weather {or maybe because of it}, we had several incredibly fun hours navigating the rapids and doldrums of the river, lost and then regained a beverage or two {and several members of our fleet} and ended the trip chilly but energized at an output on the confluence of the Mohawk and Sacandaga Rivers. It was an amazing day with friends and family and we left vowing to do it again, soon. Even if it rains...