We went up the canyon (as far as we could; the upper half still isn’t open) and did our Afternoon River Hang (TM) for the first time this summer. In my 41st year, I’ve realized that I really like the water? I’ve never been a strong swimmer but I realized that hanging out by a lake or a hot springs or getting into a river is all I’ve wanted to do for the last year.
I am, of course, going to quote The Wind in the Willows:
Never in his life had he seen a river before—this sleek, sinuous, full-bodied animal, chasing and chuckling, gripping things with a gurgle and leaving them with a laugh, to fling itself on fresh playmates that shook themselves free, and were caught and held again. All was a-shake and a-shiver—glints and gleams and sparkles, rustle and swirl, chatter and bubble. The Mole was bewitched, entranced, fascinated. By the side of the river he trotted as one trots, when very small, by the side of a man who holds one spell-bound by exciting stories; and when tired at last, he sat on the bank, while the river still chattered on to him, a babbling procession of the best stories in the world, sent from the heart of the earth to be told at last to the insatiable sea.