My husband and I did the full-day trip down the Upper Colorado. Neither of us had been white water rafting before. This was an excellent introduction to rafting. The check-in process was easy and efficient. There was a short 20 minute bus ride to the launch spot, on which we given a series of safety tips. Each staff member was very friendly, safety conscious and helped ensure everyone had an enjoyable time. Ken was our guide and did a great job of entertaining us with his "punny" humor and knowledge of the area (plants, etc.). We originally signed up to do the half-day float which had to be cancelled due to the take-out point being used by fire-fighters dealing with a near-by forest fire. AVA did a nice job of notifying us the night before and providing options. They only charged a small additional charge that was less than we would have paid for the full-day trip had that been our first choice. The trip was as advertised, mostly a "float" down the river with a few class 2 rapids and one class 3 rapid. The weather was ideal, we only got a bit wet during the rafting (even being in the front much of the way). The lunch was a basic, grocery store type picnic but included fresh fruit (pineapple, strawberries, etc.). It was enjoyable for the beautiful setting and really hit the spot after a few hours on the river. We give a big-thumbs up to AVA with special kudos to their staff. We highly recommend this trip, especially for first timers of all ages. We had 3 young kids in our raft who seemed to really enjoy their day on the river. We would go with AVA again and will be looking for opportunities to do another, perhaps more "exciting," trip next time.