Prattville has been a great little town for us this year. It is VERY small compared to the last few places we've lived so that's been a bit of an adjustment for me. But over time, I've come to love it.
When we moved in last summer everyone told us there were 3 things to do in Prattville:
1. Go Bowling
2. Go to the Movie Theater
3. Float Down the Creek
We've done bowling & the movie theater countless times here, but we kept putting off the creek. Trek has been wanting to float down that creek since we arrived, but you know me & water. Ugh. I can't swim, I'm terrified of anything water related, & that water is DISGUSTING & full of fish & snakes.
It's amazing what you do for those you love. Trek REALLY REALLY wanted to do this, & sometimes it's very empowering to face a fear head on. So we decided to float down the river on Memorial Day. Everything in our house is gone right now, so we literally went out & bought tubes from Walmart so we could do this. We're nuts!
I put a little note on Facebook telling my local friends that we planned on floating down the river & that anyone that wanted to come with us could. We showed up Monday morning & 45 of our friends showed up right there with us. It was INSANE. 45 tubes & kayaks on this tiny creek in downtown Prattville. What a sight we were to behold.
We put in at the top of the creek by the Prattville Dam. It's very shallow there & it was a large area so we could get everyone in.
The water was disgusting & brown & there were snakes, but everyone did really well. I had Canyon in a tube with me. He screamed most of the trip terrified, but I really believe that helped me through it. I was more concerned at loving him & keeping him calm than I was about how scared I was to be floating down a river with nothing below me. My boys did really well too for being nervous. My girls (who are really good swimmers & LOVE the water) had a BLAST.
The view was beautiful. Alabama is really a beautiful state. It's so lush & green & full of plants. I'm going to miss it.
The hardest part of our river adventure was steering those tubes. The river wasn't very fast so you almost had to force paddle yourself forward, & you DID have to steer to keep clear of rocks, branches, & other hazards.
There were several spots we could stop & swim or just rest along the route.
After a mile of floating, I got out with the boys & some of the younger kids in our group. Past the 1 mile mark, the river got a lot more dangerous & should only be maneuvered by good swimmers for the last 2 miles. Where we got out, there was a 10 foot cliff & the kids & teens had a blast cliff jumping. We spent over an hour there just having fun together as friends.
After cliff jumping, I took the boys & the younger kids of our group (& a few of the adults) back to our starting point. We had strategically placed vehicles at the starting point, the 1 mile mark, & at the 3 mile mark so we could get people where they needed to go. I went back to the dam area so the littles could swim in the shallowest water & build sand castles while we waiting for everyone else to finish floating the last 2 miles.
Trek lead the older group & they had a blast. They had 2 inner tubes POP along the way, but my sweet husband, being the boy scout that he is, brought 3 extra tubes attached to his kayak in case that happened, so everyone was just fine.
They had a lot of fun swimming in the deeper areas of the river & found more areas for jumping.
I had fun with all the littles in the shallow water. We spent a good 2 more hours there waiting. The kids didn't even notice because they were having so much fun building sand castles.
We had a blast. I'm SO glad Trek talked me into this. I faced a HUGE fear of mine head on & I feel braver for it. The kids had fun . . . both the littles & the bigs & everyone enjoyed themselves. I'm so glad SO many of our friends came out to join us.
After we were all done, the teens all headed over to Cracker Barrel for lunch & fun. We were all SUNBURNED. We were all tired. But BOY did we have a blast.
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