Bjob

For a while now, Laura has had this vision of buying a cheap pool floaty and taking it out on the alpine lakes we've been hiking to. This is probably a little dangerous, but we don't mind a degree or two of uncertainty. These lakes are freezing cold, but most are small enough to make a dash for shore if something should go wrong, and the whole event would probably be more of a refreshing dip then a truly perilous situation. Really we wanted to jokingly ruin the pristine pictures the other day-hikers were taking by being jackasses floating around in a cheap inflatable raft in the midst of a truly beautiful environs.

We went to Fred Meyer to look at their floaties, not wanting to spend a bunch of money on something that would be pretty much a joke, but still needing something we could take out without instantly getting wet. We opted for the cheapest inflatable row boat which happened to be on sale for $19, brought it home and inflated it in the dining room to see if we would even be able to fit. The box boasted it as being a two-person boat with a weight capacity of 350lbs. We are within those restrictions, and we did both fit, so we rolled it up into a stuff-sack and made the 4.5 mile (2500 feet of elevation gain) trek up to Melakwa Lake.

The maiden voyage of our vessel was a true success! After many name suggestions came flooding in from the facebook community, we opted for the name "Bjob" which is pronounced "Bob" and stands for "Bring Jour Own Boat" because the boat (we decided) is Icelandic/Mexican. Is this racist?