Remember going to the museum with your family? Boring and awful? Just wanted to get back to the swimming pool at the motel?
Paddling, no matter where, no matter when, is a good thing.
My family (that would be Melanie, Dave and me) went to the WV State Cultural Center on Tuesday for the premier of a new exhibit, ‘”Whitewater Rafting: West Virginia’s Gift to the World”. It was awsome, really rocked my boat-pun intended!
The exhibit is full of historical artifacts. You’ll see the first raft to decend the New River, pictures of two really large inner tubes tied together for the first decent of the Gauley River, and loads of old gear and photos. Its fascinating on it’s own and the addition of the fim makes the history of whitewater rafing on the New River or Gauley River come alive. This is not your boring documentary: It’s full of thrills and spills, great action and poinent moments with raft guides (believe it or not)!
This film was produced by Eric J Palfrey and scripted by Ben Curnett, both longtime river folk. (You may know Ben as our writer extradonair. I think he won an Academy Award or something.)
Check it out at the Cultural Center in Charleston WV. It should be there until the end of April with the film running in a continuous loop so you can veiw it anytime. Their phone number is 304.558.0220, the web site is www.wvculture.org.
Enjoy!
Tags: Gauley River Rafting, New River Gorge, Songer Whitewater, West Virginia, white water rafting, Whitewater Rafting in WV