Floatin' in Missouri

I grew up in Michigan. Where we floated lakes. In Missouri you float on rivers. And they are beautiful. And peaceful. And serene. And fun. (You just have to ignore the crazies that are also on the river!)

Mike and I floated many years ago before kids, but the river was high and we got sucked into a bit of an undertow/pile up and it kinda freaked me out.  We've floated a few more times in the past few years, once with friends, and a couple of times by ourselves. Well when some dear friends from Jeff City invited us to tag along with some of their other friends, we decided it was time to take the girls!

Then Hurricane Isaac came. And we had to abandon camping Friday and Saturday night, and floating Saturday...but we decided to do a day trip and float the Niangua on Sunday!  We had a great time! The girls loved it! We loved it! We've always floated in canoes. But this time, we rented rafts. They were fun, and much easier with the girls. (ie, translates, I can still sit there and do nothing but float and soak in the beauty and laughter around me and let Mike steer us down the rivers - canoes would have required me actually doing some work since we would of needed two of them!)   The day started out cloudy and overcast - it was kinda refreshing change of pace with the summer heat we've had, but we were all glad when the sun busted through the clouds after lunchtime! Here are a few pictures of our very fun (almost) 7 hours on the river....

Floating -

Our lunchtime stop - craw dad hunting, dam building...

 And back at the campsite for dinner (a few were brave to camp in the rain!) - building fairy houses -

For part of the year, these girls stair step to be 11,10, 9, and 8 years old.
Their friendship has  been stronger than a move and easily rekindles
every time we are able to reconnect!  

 Oh, all this beauty and all this fun is only 1 hr and 10 minutes from our home! Must.Go.Back. Every year. At least once.