{Not so cheap} Thrills.

So, yesterday was a day full of exciting things.  FIRST, we got a babysitter (two, actually- Talitha and Natasha –the kids were so excited they couldn’t wait for us to leave), SECOND, I planned a date to celebrate our anniversary and didn’t tell Brett what we were doing, so he was trying to figure it out, which was actually really fun for me, and THIRD, we went canyoning! 
I told Brett we were going on this date, stashed our swimming suits and towels in the van the day before when he was at work, and he kept asking where we were going and I said that we were driving to Interlaken.  So he asked if he needed his hiking boots and I told him yes to throw him off.  But then Talitha said it was going to be so cool, and he realized that if Talitha said it was cool we were NOT hiking.  (She’s not a fan.)  :) 
So we drove to Interlaken, eating lunch on the way, and we got to the train station and I finally told him what we were doing.  So we changed into our swimming suits and I put contacts in (the contacts that I had tried but had never worked out well enough for me to buy them, boo!, but at least I had some to use for this occasion).  Then the Alpine Raft company picked us up and we went to their HQ.   Where we paid a whole bunch of money (I wouldn’t tell Brett how much, because it was my date after all), signed our lives away, and proceeded to get our wetsuits on.  Which was the hardest thing all day. 
We were in a group with a bunch of American girls from Miami University in Ohio and three Korean girls (who could neither swim nor speak English).  We all got in the van and drove about 5 minutes away to Saxeten canyon, got out, walked up the trail about 10 minutes, got safety briefed, and got in the water! 
Here are the pictures.  I’m showing a lot because they cost me a lot!  (You better believe I bought the pictures!  Although, I have group shots with Brett, but not Brett’s personal pictures, with him jumping etc. because I didn’t pay for a whole other cd just for his.  Now I kindof wish I would have bought his instead of mine.)  :)
Pretty trees.

The water was, of course, freezing.  It’s all mountain run-off.  With the wetsuit it was really fine though.  My hands did get cold, so I tried to hold Brett’s hand whenever I could to keep them warm. 

 
This rappelling picture wasn’t our group.  I know because the photographer lady wasn’t there, but we did rappel.  Which was perty cool.

Me, with my guide behind me.  We decided the guides jobs were to push you off places before you had a chance to get nervous, to smile whenever you did anything and tell you you were having fun.  ha ha.  And they had no mercy.  Sit down.  Push.  Smile.  “Are you having a good time?” 
But the girl had a really cool New Zealand accent, even though she was Swiss.  When somebody asked her where she was from in Australia, she said, “I’m from here.  I have a boyfriend from New Zealand.”  Brett and I figured she had to be Swiss, because her German was really really good.  (But then, so was her English.)

Okay, so this was the highest jump.   And it doesn’t even look high from this picture, so you just have to trust me- it was high!  Okay, at least, it *FELT* really really high!  That is Brett in the yellow helmet at the top-right, getting ready to jump.  This was his favorite part.  Definitely not mine.  I liked sliding down the rocks more.  Sometimes we even slid down chutes backwards.  Crazy.  And I liked the second jump which was shorter, and we got to do it twice. 
 
Me getting ready.

So excited…

Wahoo!!!

They had Brett jump first so that he could be a backup helper.  He’s down on the bottom left, situated to be able to keep anyone from going down the chute.  (Which he didn’t have to do at this particular spot, but he did help haul a girl over to the side to keep from being swept down at another spot.  What a hero.)

Me again.

Woohoo!  (I look kindof scared, don’t I?)

Ha ha, I have a funny face.


Here is a video made by the guide place.

You know, it was really fun.  I had the idea and thought it would be AWESOME, and then I thought about it for a long time, and started thinking maybe it wouldn’t be that cool, so I was worried I would regret spending all the money, but then the day of, I got really excited again, and I must say I’m very glad we did it.  It was really really fun to me.  And I just thought it was fun doing it with Brett, and I wish I could have had a little waterproof camera with me, because the canyon was beautiful in so many places, and being behind a waterfall with Brett was so awesome, and I looked at Brett smiling with water dripping down his face – and I wished I could always remember it.  Fun fun fun. 
Then we went back to HQ and got dressed and had some bread and cheese.  There was a complimentary beer too, but we passed.  Then we took a stroll through Interlaken, got a scoop of pistachio icecream, played our game of finding the most expensive watch (which that day was $16,000), and we even bought a souvenier!  It’s a cute little carved woodcutter.  Brett said we should go out by ourselves more often (which is what we always say whenever we go out.  Then we say it again the next time we go out six months later).  :)
Anyway.  Yeah.  Good times.  And here is a comic I found that I meant to post on our anniversary.  It’s not that it’s all that funny, but so very very fitting for us.  People say that to me a lot- I never could have gotten married at that age!  But really, maybe they could have if they had found the right person. 
So, in summary:  Canyoning is cool.  Going on dates is fun.  I love Brett.  The end.