Monday, August 3, 2009

Saute Moutons (White Clouds)

(PICTURE: Evan, Mike, Brad and Me in the front row.)

This blog is long overdue. My excuse: I scanned these pictures last night after having them for nearly two months.

For those of you who don't remember, upon coming back to the USA I almost immediately got back on a plane and went to Montreal for my best friend Brad's bachelor party. Brad had told me he wanted to go jetboating in Montreal but unfortunately the weather didn't cooperate with us the day we planned on going. On Sunday morning I woke up and called the jetboat company around 8:30 and asked if they were doing a 10AM boat trip. The person who picked up said they were, but we had to get there an hour early. I woke up Brad and asked if he wanted to go. He did. I then called a couple of guys' rooms and asked if they wanted to come. I got two more suckers -- Mike and Evan -- to join us. We all ran downstairs and jumped into a cab which got us to the dock at 9AM. We were dropped at the wrong dock so I ran down the port and got to the right one. When I arrived NOBODY was there except a few staff. One of the staff was the owner who told me that he had a trip booked with a middle school. He said they would make room for us or take a second boat. This was great...sort of. There were a few things that weren't cool...or in actuality, waaaaaay to cool:
1) It was FREEZING outside.
2) We did not have warm clothes on.
3) We were given damp sweaters to put on.
4) The owner preceded to talk and talk and talk...until Brad told him he had a flight to catch at 1. The owner literally talked for an hour so we got on the boats at nearly 11AM. This put Brad into a small state of panic that he'd miss his flight just so he could be drenched in rapids.

In the end, it all worked out and we had a blast. The ride was ridiculous. Basically these jetboats go head first into Grade IV rapids. Everyone gets annihilated by freezing cold water...which feels extra chilly because of the insanely cold winds. After we docked, the four of us threw off our clothes and sprinted to the street. We got a taxi and back to the hotel in pretty good time. The rest of the 1PM flying crew was waiting for Brad in the lobby and they all quickly took off and caught their plane. Without a doubt, it was one of the most memorable parts of the weekend.

Oh, and we got these great pictures: