Jerry's Rogue Jets - Gold Beach, OR

When I first asked mom if she wanted to go on a jetboat ride with me, she said "No way - you know I'm deathly afraid of water!" Later on, when she agreed to go, I said "Aren't you still scared?" And she replied, "Yes, but sometimes you gotta do things that shake you up in life." I thought that was pretty insightful and she laughed and said that maybe some of my adventuresome spirit had rubbed off on her!

Here's our jetboat with the amusing and informative Captain Tim at the helm. We liked him right away for his easy manner and silly jokes.

But here at the beginning she still looks a little apprehensive going under the Patterson Bridge, still pretty foggy at 8:30 in the morning. Captain Tim said that one of the little known facts about the beautiful bridge was that it was built in 1932 and it is also 1,932 feet long. He quipped, "They wanted to build it in 1929, but it would have been 4 feet too short."

We passed by what looked like a great boondocking place at Lobster Creek. These two motorhomes had their internet satellite dishes out and the campers waved to us as we went by.

She couldn't get over the size of the mountains and the different moods of the Rogue River. Much different terrain than what us gals from the Louisiana bayou marshlands are used to, I gare-on-tee, as our cajun cousins say!

Here's mom after our nice leisurely lunch at Singing Springs Resort on the riverfront. It's located in Agness, whose town Welcome sign says "Population: small"

As we went further down the river, the sights, sounds and scents of the river became more and more enticing and she seemed to really enjoy herself. Look at that little grin - I think she looks positively at peace and very content here, don't you think? She said she absolutely had a blast and I was pretty proud of my mom that day for pushing past one of her major fears, especially at her "tender" age. You rock, mama!