I just got back from my trip to West Virginia and Chicago. I spent Labor Day weekend and part of last week at my brother Michael's near Chicago. I had a nice time visiting with his family and hanging out with the kids. The girls were excited to have Abbey come for the week. Abbey and their cat managed to come to a mutual detente and not attack each other. There was some hissing and barking, but no biting. On Thursday, Michael and I drove to my brother John's in Charleston, WV. That night, 2 of our cousins, Pat and Tommy Dailey, and my brother-in-law Joe also arrived. On Friday, all of us played golf. It was my first round of golf since we all got together last year. I didn't fare as well last year and I blame it on the fact that it had only been a year since I last played. Before last year it had been about 6 years and I did pretty well. Apparently I need somewhere between 1 and 6 years to forget my bad habits.
On Saturday, we got up early and headed to Fayetteville, WV to go white water rafting on the Upper Gauley. For those of you who haven't heard of it, it is actually the toughest whitewater in the East and one of the toughest in the country. Its reputation is so big that one of my brothers decided it was not for him, though I won't mention any names. (Hint, check the picture).
We had the same guide we had last year which made us feel pretty good, because he really seems to know what he's doing. 3 of the other boats with us flipped, but not us. The ride was great, though not as hair-raising as I thought it might be. Nonetheless, it was a lot of fun. I would highly recommend it. 4 of us played golf again on Sunday. There was a lot of grunting and groaning on the first tee while we tried to stretch and work out all the sore muscles from the day before. I somehow managed to shoot a respectable round of golf.
On Monday, Michael and I drove back to Chicago, and on Tuesday I started the long drive back to Colorado through the wildly exciting states of Iowa and Nebraska. Later this week Abbey and I are heading up to Billings, MT to pick up my old friend, Chris Sereduke, at the airport before heading to Yellowstone and the Grand Tetons for a week. Hopefully, I'll have some more stories and good pictures to share.