Whitewater

Last weekend my dad invited Vaughn, Jacob, Hrishi and I to go rafting with him on the White Salmon river. None of us except my dad had ever been and whitewater rafting is one of those quintessential Oregon things and so we were definitely overdue.

I came well stocked with a giant tube of sunscreen but realized that I had totally forgotten to bring any sun-protecting lip balm. After getting burnt in Hawaii, I wasn't taking any chances and so I went to Wet Planet's store and bought the only lip protectant they had - a tin of zinc-based lip AND face sunblock.

There were about 40 people in our group and we all gathered around in a large circle to listen to the instructions as to how to get our gear. I wandered over kind of late and so I was positioned across from everyone else.  Jacob also got burnt in Hawaii and although he had already applied a base coat of normal sunblock, he decided to use this time to layer up with a coat of my white, zinc paste. Zinc based sunblock does not blend in. It stays like a layer of creamy paint on the skin and by the time he was finished, Jacob really looked like a splinter version of that Blue Man Group. Similar - but different. A woman standing next to me leaned over and said to her mom, "Man, that dude's really putting on the sunblock." It was a totally fair comment and one I probably would have made if I wasn't married to the river-going mime. Still, I kind of had to bust her. I turned and said, "It's zinc-based sunblock - it doesn't blend in. It was the only kind they sold in the store" and then smiled sweetly as I watched her face squish up as her brain

tried to connect my relationship to the man across the circle while figuring out how embarrassed she should be. For his part, Jacob wasn't even a tiny bit embarrassed - which is why we love him.

Unfortunately, I don't have a single picture of this or any shots from the day. I had to steal this picture from someone else's White Salmon experience.