Though slightly out-of-date- I am just now compiling photos of the fifth furious Birthday Extravaganza. July 16th cars filled with homies began arriving late friday evening outside Smith’s Ferry, Idaho on the Payette River. . . Among those people were travelers from afar such as Chris Hand; who drove from Oregon close to 10 hours for the weekend, Wren Hoffman; who flew in from Denver, and the one-and-only Slang; who drove the big old truck from San Diego, CA. Others chose to commit to one day: such as X-Games Gold Medalist and ESPY nominated (token celeb appearance!) Jen Hudak. Who, after floating the river all day, got in the car with Team Coaches (Frenchie and Walter) and drove to Oregon for camps that started the next day. Darrah and Tony pedaled a stationary bike from 6 in the morning to noon to power their “Bike Powered Smoothy Stand” at the Farmer’s Market SLC before getting on the road and driving into the wee hours of the morning for the Sunday’s Cabarton float. Troopers. Last but not least, Tadja and Nick drove-literally- all night so as to get there just in time for the slowest breakfast in the world before our Sunday float. Honorable mention goes to Tara Paras and Jessie Hays who being partners are never able to travel at the same time- so they actually cashed in a favor and left their real jobs behind for a few days so as to be able to come out together- thanks to EVERYONE. The cast and crew were absolutely SPECTACULAR… the costumes that Timmy Loo and Jersey busted out were some of the best (and most disturbing) redneck costumes I’ve ever seen. Mad props to the denim that made it all the way down the river the first day. The days were highlighted with the traditional bridge jump, the second-year-and-running slip-n-slide stop, the newly discovered river volley-ball, and the beginning-of-the-end watermelon vodka keg. Honorary extravaganza enthusiasts made impressive appearances so as not to miss the weekend. Among the most impressive enthusiasts were FIVE YEAR participant John Morgan, FOUR YEAR participant Julian Carr, and three THREE YEAR participants Alex Wand, Tadja Gerrard, and Brandee Daniels. The greatest honor of having an extravaganza such as this? Easy, bringing truly incredible, amazing, and extremely dear friends together and giving them a reason to have a good time together. Worlds collided this year as the best extravaganza YET provided non-stop laughter and forever-told-stories the entire weekend. Thank you SO MUCH to everyone that made the effort to come up for this year’s event. You guys ROCK.
trusty boatmen Dana
