Today was the first day of the father-daughter road trip. Dad did some packing last night and I loaded the car this morning. We left after 8:00 am and soon realized we forgot to bring either of the tripods, his current read, bowls for cereal, and other things. We stopped twice to walk dogs and take pictures as he drove us north through Sedona. We arrived at Lee’s Ferry where I changed into my makeshift swimsuit – and I realized how pale I am.

My dad grabbed a towel and the camera and we headed to the 47 degree water of the Colorado River. We noticed a group of people unpacking a large trailer. I noticed them watching the pale, barely dressed, girl – me – and waved. He started recording. Going in wasn’t so bad; it was trying to move once the cold froze my muscles and deliver myself a ‘safe’ distance from the water – time in – 12 seconds.

When I was wrapped in my towel we walked over to the group. They asked if I had lost a bet. I just wanted a taste of what my dad experienced on the river – a taste of what inspired him to write Stay In The Magic. Then we learned that they got approved for 25 days on the river and drove down from Missoula to do just that…how lucky they are.

I got changed back into my dry clothes and we went for a walk along the beach and I got to see the first riffle of his 18-day trip taken 2.5 years ago. We take a detour as part of Hwy 89 has been broken by landslide. We found some snow along the road and I attempted to make a snow angel, but was too busy laughing. To help, my dad puts snow on me making me colder and laugh more leaving a snow stick-figure where my back was.

We got to the motel in Page, Skype’d Caroline, and went to Stromboli’s Pizza for dinner. We ordered our pizza, the tables inside full, and then walked to the gas station for Gatorade. Two minutes after our return and our pizza was done. We should have gone with the 10″, but got the 14″ instead and now have too much…for tonight anyways. We watched some brain rot and Dead Poet Society before I blogged and fell asleep.