night water rafting

Once a year, when the moon is full and at its highest in the sky, rafts are carried down the river bank for a ride of a lifetime.

I happened to be one of those people, helping to hold the raft above my head while making it down a rocky slope to the waters edge.  As I stop to think about it, it's become a tradition of sorts to do something over my birthday holiday that I wouldn't normally do.  It started during the "Mommy and Me" trip by hangliding over the Swiss Alps.  Then it continued with glacier walking in Norway.  That was followed up by jumping off a 30 foot cliff in Africa, which felt more like I was plunging to my death. So it was only fitting for the stars to have aligned in such a degree that I would arrive in Bled on the exact day of the annual midnight rafting trip.

There is an entirely new perspective to rafting down the rapids when the world around you is in various shades of gray.  I was in awe that the scenery could remain stunning, even devoid of color.  With 8 rafts in the river, our pace was a lot slower than it would have been otherwise.  But to liven up the lulls, we had water fights with neighboring rafts, walked along the circumference of the raft while holding onto the ores as not to fall, made massive amounts of noise while passing campsites, and some people took involuntary dips in the water. To top off the event, as we neared the end of our rafting tour, we were treated to a beautiful fireworks display.

And now, the trip is just another item to check off the list of things I never knew I wanted to do but did anyway.  An awesome item at that.