Archive for May, 2010

Summer Season Kick Off: Memorial Day in West Virginia

Monday, May 31st, 2010

Spring is rolling into Summer, quickly.  Memorial Day is here and starts the summer season, and our country honors those service men and women who have fallen by celebrating our freedoms.  Because of their sacrifice, we get to relax and enjoy living in the most wonderful country ever created.

So, what are doing for Memorial Day? Vegging on the couch? Watching the grass grow? Does not sound like much fun to me. You either? Get out have some fun! Enjoy the outdoors!

New River Gorge National River

New River Gorge National River

Where can you go to have some early summer fun? The New River Gorge offers lots of options. Rock climbing, mountain biking, hiking in the national park, bass fishing and whitewater rafting are just some the activities you have in West Virginia. Why the New River Gorge? Here’s why I like to utilize the park.

Rock Climbing has beginner routes for a true novice like me. Yes, I am a true goober at climbing. Each time I have tried climbing the guides have shown me how to get to the top of the wall. Coaching me on hand and foot holds every inch of the way. Once on top, I have been known to shout, “I am King of the World!” Well, not really, but that is how I felt.

The New River Gorge has been home to mining, timbering, and railroading for over a hundred years. Now it is protected as a great natural resource for future generations. Roads left behind from these activities make cool mountain bike trails. My personal favorite trail is from Cunard to Thurmond. Old mining ghost towns of a bygone era offer a glimpse of long abandoned homes and businesses. As I travel along this trail, the New River slides by on its journey to the sea. I like to take time to stop at Surprise Rapid to watch the rafts blast the big waves and listen to the shouts of excitement. Taking a fishing pole along to catch a bass or two has produced a dinner of fresh fish (you have to know how to cook ‘em). Don’t forget a license.

Over 30 years ago, I discovered whitewater rafting on the New.  I’d been canoeing for years on the Upper New on the easy parts. When I got to Thurmond, we were told you can’t take a canoe past here. “So what do you do?” Have to take a raft. “Ok, cool. Uh, where do you get one of those?” Well, found one of those and after one trip… hooked!

After all these years, I still love the New. I really like big waves and holes. No bigger water than the New River. Surprise, the Keeneys, Dudleys Dip and Fayette Station always get me pumped.

So you hanging on the couch this Memorial Day? Watching the grass grow? Not me, I will be somewhere in the New River Gorge. Hope to see you there!

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5 Ways to Celebrate West Virginia Day

Friday, May 28th, 2010

We love our West Virginia and it all boils down the fine folks that reside here.  Great hospitality, adventurous spirits and selflessness are what you’ll find in a good West Virginian.

So let’s look at some ways to celebrate this great place and these great folks:

Like this, but with white water rafting.

Like this, but with white water rafting.

#1 You’ve just gotta wear some blue and gold.  It will be mandatory attire for our river trips the weekend of June 19th & 20th! (the 20th is the official WV day).

#2 Hillbilly games in the yard at Songer.

#3 Cookout. Don’t forget the moonshine.  (Kidding!)

#4 Take a tour of the Exhibition Coal Mine in Beckley, WV.  This is a HUGE part of the history of our state.  The tour takes you into a mine shaft and a museum of mine relics.

#5 Come on up where we are and celebrate in the mountains with wide open views and clean air. With your family and with ours.

We have a special place here.  It’s amazing how it revives your soul to be immersed in Mother Nature.  (yeah, I know it sounds cheesey—but you know what I mean).

West Virginia: it does a body good!

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The Secret to Going Rafting in West Virginia on Memorial Day

Monday, May 24th, 2010

If you are a secret sharer, are they still secrets?

I don’t know the answer, but there are still some good ones around the New River Gorge.  Like, well, like how you can go white water rafting on the busiest day of the year and have the river to yourself (totally true; put on early or late- you’ll see.)

Sweet!

Sweet!

But what about for Memorial Day?  Let me give you some secrets about whitewater rafting in West Virginia on Memorial Day weekend:

#1: Raft on Friday or Monday. Less crowded and a lot less expensive: Half price Mondays: $47.50

#2: Stick around for lunch on Monday, we always have a cookout on the porch.

#3: It’s a great idea to add in another activity for your Saturday and Sunday. I would suggest a bike ride, horse back ride (don’t you just love the smell of a horse?), or climbing/rapelling on the tippy top of the 1,000 ft New River Gorge.

#4: Songer Olympics on Sunday afternoon: no training required. To put it simply, an obstacle course with teams of four. Rally your friends now!

#5: The Camping Package: we like simple and are sure that you like simple too, especially when it comes to planning logistics for you and your friends.  Package includes: two nights camping, country breakfast buffet, full day raft trip with lunch & BBQ chicken dinner.  We like making it easy for ya.  Use this package as a starting point and then add on any extras individuals might want: cabin, another breakfast, other activities.

#6: Live music at the High Water Lounge Saturday night (on site): 40 lb Snapper.  Get your party on!

So, those are the specials, the extras, the goodies.  But here’s the real secret:

Rafting on Memorial Day is way more fun than a cookout with your cousins.  Sorry, it had to be said

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A group vacation shouldn’t be this easy to plan

Thursday, May 20th, 2010

Not sure about you, but when I call a 1-800 number for any reason, I hang up if I get the whole “press 1 for this” automated menu. Especially if I’m trying to plan, say, a white water rafting vacation in West Virginia.

So, because that’s a huge pet peeve of mine, I’ve banned those things from the Songer phone.  You talk, we talk back.  Deal?  Cool.

Yes! This is exactly what I was thinking on the phone!

Yes! This is exactly what I was thinking on the phone!

Now, our office has some reservationists that really like to talk.  Hey, it’s a good “skill” to have in our line of work.  So it is okie dokie to call us and not be sure of what all you’re wanting to do.

Becca is our biggest talker (shhhh- don’t tell her I said so).  She’ll ask you a few questions, ages of your children, if you’ve done any rafting, and the list goes on.  I’ll go ahead and say the only thing she does better than talking is listening.  That’s a pretty key skill as a reservationist, I’d say.

Eddie, on the other hand, does not know how to shut his mouth- and that’s actually a good thing (mostly).   Eddie is just about the most friendly West Virginian you will come across.   He’s just as concerned about your vacation as you are.  And he knows a ton about how to get you everything you want.

And me?  I’m known for answering “Good Afternoon” at 9 am in the morning.  But I guarantee I will put in the right trip time (it’s just this gift I have).

Plus, when you call back to check on your res or change it, you can talk to the same person you booked with.  Try that at McRafters.

Bottom line is this:  It’s perfectly fine for you to call and not know what the heck you want to do.   We’ll tell you about the coolest things around, the stuff that you’re looking for when you take some time off.

Promise. Call me.

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Do Vegetarians Really Go Whitewater Rafting on Vacation?

Monday, May 17th, 2010

If I’m going white water rafting in West Virginia, I’ve got 5 words for you: pass the bean dip. please!

A question that comes through the Songer office is, “Can a vegetarian go whitewater rafting? And if they do, will they get eaten?”

Photo courtesy of John Thomas

And the answer is 1) yes, and 2) no.

At first, we suggest just eating everything green but the poison ivy (makes the throat a little scratchy).  Kidding!  Then we go into serious detail about the spread that you wouldn’t believe comes out of those banged up coolers.

So let me back up to the beginning of all this…

Lunch.  It starts with a super nice guy named Kenny.  He’s the manager at Foodland where they are so kind to pack the lunches for our white water rafting trips.  The ladies in their country kitchen make as much as possible from scratch and deliver potato salad to die for!

Oh here I go getting ahead of myself again.

It actually all starts with faxing. Lots of faxes. Some people are into texting; we are into faxing.  The lunch count is sent in days ahead of time and then updated very often; we live in the moment so to speak.  From there they pack it up and deliver the lunch coolers the morning of the trip.

The lunch is then loaded on the equipment truck, driven to the river with the boats & strapped into the raft at our launching spot.  About half way through the trip, as you round the river bend to reveal a selection of sandy beaches, the trip pulls over for a picnic lunch.

The guides lay it all out: loafs of bread and deli meats—but some of us aren’t there for the meat, amiright?

Continue down the line with slices of tomato, pickles, lettuce, carrots, celery (don’t forget the ranch), strawberries and grapes, potato salad, pasta salad, peanut butter & jelly, and CoOkiEs! But I have to say, the bean dip is what gets the veggies every time, yum.

Vegetarians make for really good paddlers, and rarely get heartburn after a swim.  We’re happy to accommodate you (meat eaters. too)!

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Ah, Spring Rafting In West Virginia: Our Office

Thursday, May 13th, 2010

There are some really cool offices out there, it’s true.  But our white water river office in West Virginia wins, destroys the competition, hands down, every time.

Let’s go on a tour.

Okay, time to go to work

Okay, time to go to work

Our Commute

The commute, granted, is a little tough.  There’s never any traffic, but we do go down a lot of one lane, two way roads.  In a school bus.

But, hey, we’re wearing helmets!

And yes, it can get a little windy and twisty on the way to the river, but it’s a beautiful ride, with plenty of waterfalls along the trip.  And in the spring, plenty of flowers, too.

So that’s how we do our drive every morning.  Our bus drivers are way way better than listening to the radio.  And they all have licenses.  Promise.

The Lobby

When we get to the river, there’s a little bit of work to be done.  The guides inflate the rafts with air.  We hand out the paddles.  You get to meet and greet everyone on the trip.

This is also where we give instructions.  It’s a lot of information we’ve gone over thousands of times, so you’ll get some pretty good (and a few very stale) jokes thrown in.

The staging area for the trip is a pretty exciting place to be.  You’re ready to go, we’re ready to go (the bus drivers are definitely ready to go), soooooo….

Let’s go.

The Office

As soon as we leave the road, you’re going to notice one thing: the view.

It changes as we go down the river of course.  And on both the rivers we run, the New and the Gauley, the view gets better the farther downstream we get.

And, someone changes the wallpaper every fall and every spring (no charge!)

We do have a bit of a, um, dampness problem.  Generally, though, we don’t consider it too much trouble.  And, to tell the truth, the wetter the better.  In fact, we look forward to getting flooded every year- right about now, in the spring, actually.

(Okay, that metaphor is a bit of a stretch.  But just go with it, okay?)

So that’s the tour.  In text form, anyway.  Book a trip, and we’ll show you the real thing.

Be warned, though: our office is so nice, we’ve had several people quit their own jobs because of it, and come to work for us.

Just sayin’.

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Mother’s Day White Water Rafting? Yup.

Wednesday, May 5th, 2010

Moms rock.

They also raft.  On white water.  In West Virginia.  Like, on the New River Gorge.  So that whole image of Mom being kind of, um, not too exciting?  Wrong.

Butterflies? Flowers? Must be Mother's Day in the New River Gorge!

Butterflies? Flowers? Must be Mother's Day in the New River Gorge!

Moms go rafting like anyone else.  Think of replacing the idea of soccer mom with the idea of adventure mom, and you’re on the right track.  Here are some mom-type facts and opinions about white water rafting that you might not know…

  • Songer Whitewater?  It’s co-owned by a mom.
  • We have at least 5 moms working on the Gauley River, the most difficult section of whitewater we run.
  • Mother’s Day is traditionally one of our best days on the water.  Lots of guests, and springtime at its height in the gorge.
  • Rafting makes people happy.  And to quote an old phrase, “When mama’s happy, everybody’s happy!”
  • The woman who started Grandparent’s Day is from Oak Hill, WV, just over the new river gorge bridge and down the road from Songer.  (Okay, that technically doesn’t have anything to do with Mother’s Day, but c’mon.)
  • A good Mother’s Day gift is any one that makes mom feel alive.  A little adventure vacation fits that bill.
  • Moms are great paddlers; most of them practiced on y’all!  Ha!  LOL.
  • There’s a great surf spot on the Gauley called Hungry Mother.
  • If you take mom rafting, you still have to do all the dishes on mother’s day (hint: use paper plates!  It’s not the greenest way to go, but they make plates that you can compost.

And there you have it.  Plenty of reasons why moms make great rafters.  Stay tuned for the Father’s Day version, coming up in a month or so.

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