Lazy Sunday on the river

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Amanda and I in the S.S. Mottola

Yesterday, Scott played tour guide and took a group of us out to float the Green River at Flaming Geyser State Park in Auburn.

Courtney and Scott in the S.S. Baby Blue Beluga

The place was packed. In fact, the park entrance was blocked off to keep anymore cars from entering. We parked out on the road and caught a ride with some dude named Earl.

A brief note about Earl: Earl was a smart guy. He had a truck and was basically shuttling people to and from the park entrance. He also had arranged for all the girls to ride in the truck with him while the guys all sat in the truck bed. Convenient, huh? We thought Earl was spreading goodwill, but his agenda was quite clear based upon the gender divide. I asked Courtney about her no-hesitation jump into the truck to join Earl. Her reply: "The boy has a truck. Momma didn't raise no fool."

We finally made it to the entry point and jumped in with our inflatables. Most people on the river had tire tubes. Scott had ransacked a G.I. Joe's closeout sale and we came with a battalion of small rafts and a party island. We were the group to be seen.

Aubrey and Valerie on the party island (left); me so happy (right)

I've floated Green River before, and it's too bad that the river has such a bad reputation for that whole Green River Killer fiasco decades ago. It should have have a bad reputation for the trashy people that party on the river (ourselves not included). The number of pregnant women smoking was staggering.

Captain Chaffee

Tyler manning the dingy

Goofy poses

Still, the experience was a blast. River floating has to be the #1 best way to enjoy hot weather. Green River offers a variety of ways to enjoy the water: swimming holes, chutes, small rapids and rope swings. The water temperature was cool, but not frigid and combined with good friends it was a perfect way to enjoy the day. (See Amanda's post on AM|PM about our quite-the-opposite, busy Saturday in Seattle.)

The case of the shocking electric guitar

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In between photo sessions, Sergio has taken up playing guitar. He's gotten quite good over the past few weeks and can strum his way through most popular songs.

His friend Julian brought over his electric guitar and poor excuse for a drum kit so we now have a shabby band set up in the garage. It's fun.

After dinner yesterday, Sergio went into the garage to practice guitar and left Amanda and I to chat. Just moments later we heard a genuine yell from his direction.

Sergio stormed into our room with a concerned look.

"Dude, I just got f$!?ing shocked by the guitar!" he said. "My whole body is shaking. I'm really freaked the f$!? out! You have to see what's going on."

Amanda and I put on our slippers and followed Sergio into the garage to investigate.

Sergio refused to pick the guitar back up, so I timidly picked up the guitar and turned on the amp. I played the guitar with no shake, rattle or roll of electricity. Amanda touched the guitar. Nothing.

"Dude, I think it's fine," I said. "Try again."

Sergio stepped up to touch the guitar stings again and jumped back in sincere shock. I busted into laughter while skillfully playing a "Twist and Shout" chord progression, subconsciously inspired by Sergio's reaction.

"You are some kind of mutant freak, dude!" I said in between gasps for air. "You have some electric superpower or something! Ha!"

Humor had escaped Sergio, who insisted he was having muscle spasms in his legs. He had begun sweating, nervous about his unwanted powers. Practically panting, he said, "I might have to go to the hospital. I need to look up what the f$!? this is all about on the Internet. What the f$!?, man!"

With the energy of John Lennon's wail "Well shake it a baby now!" Sergio fled to his trusty computer.

The scientist she is, Amanda noticed a dissimilarity between the three of us. She said that she and I were wearing shoes while Sergio was barefoot. From this we determined that the outlet wasn't grounded and neither was Sergio, which was why he felt the shock that we hadn't. We went back inside to explain the hypothesis to Sergio.

By this time, he was absolutely frantic and likely envisioning all of the little pieces he'd be chopped into at some lab to determine the source of his super-human electric energy. Amanda explained to him the "Rubber Sole" hypothesis and he bought into it as it might save him from life in a test tube.

Sergio put on some shoes and proceeded back to the garage. He picked up the guitar and turned on the amp. He strummed the guitar. No shock, just a G chord followed by a sigh of relief signifying that he once again felt normal.

He celebrated with a Shins song.