This Post Would Be Better With Pictures

Last Saturday, Dave and I went kayaking, but I didn't think to take my camera or my phone, so I have no pictures.  Which would make this story far more interesting.  I'll try with words instead.

We dropped into the Concord River not far from home and thought we'd paddle south toward the Old North Bridge.  We were going against the current and the wind, apparently so we'd have an easier time getting back (HA!) but we never actually considered how far that would be.  Seriously we thought it would be an easy little jaunt down the river.  The day was gorgeous, sunny, and warm with a slight breeze, and the leaves on the trees along the river bank were starting to turn in to pretty yellows and reds.  A few fishermen were out and a couple other kayakers, but for the most part the river was empty.  Empty enough that we saw a few heron at different points, apparently "fishing" for breakfast.  Nice and tranquil.

Until we were paddling for about an hour and still weren't at the bridge.  Three times I thought to myself, "It should be just beyond this bend."  Each time I was wrong.  We reached a fork in the river and Dave, ahead of me, asked me which way.  I honestly thought we were supposed to go to the left and said so.

Again, I was wrong. 

Turns out it was just a large cove. so I turned around, paddled out of the cove and almost made it to the turn to continue back down the river. 

Now at this point, my arms are sore because I'm not used to paddling for so long against the current and wind.  I'm starting to get blisters on my thumbs from the grip (and because I forgot my gloves and don't have squishy paddle grips,yet).  So I won't lie that I was mildly irritated when Dave called me from the back of the cove.

Dave: Colleen, come here.

Me (muttering to myself): This better be good.

I turned around and just as I started to paddle back, something popped up out of the water. And I swear it looked me in the eye.  We had a moment where I thought, "What the hell is that?" and it thought, "Ahh! I'm gonna die!"

I paddled back to Dave and saw he was looking at some sort of wooden, branch-like plant that was home to probably half a dozen turtles sunning themselves.

Ok, it was good.

There was another smaller plant of the same type of to the right.  It really just looked like leafless tree branches poking out of the water and there were a bunch of 4-7 inch turtles, I think they were painted turtles because they didn't look big enough to be snapping turtles.  Apparently we paddled not into a cove but into a turtle sanctuary!  We probably saw about 30 turtles either on the branches, dropping into the water or poking their heads out of the surface (must've been what I saw when I turned my boat around to come back).  It actually made me nervous to paddle out because I didn't want to hit any of them.

So after spending a little while watching the turtles and getting out of our paddling groove, we decided just to head back since our bodies were communicating their exhaustion.

By the way, I do not think it was easier on the way back.

Three Years is Personal Flotation Devices

Three years ago today, I married a man with infinite patience and a sense of humor enough to let me make fun of him publicly on the internet.  He's quite the catch, this man of mine. 

For a while, like several years, Dave and I talked about buying kayaks (one for each of us, because you know we each need our own boats).  Over Labor Day weekend, we redeemed a Groupon to try out the sit-on-top variety of kayaks, which we quickly dismissed upon being soaked from the water splashing into the boat and the complete lack of control (we were both listing in various directions).

After that excursion, we visited an independent outdoor store, New England Backpacker, and got some very good information about the type of kayak we'd want and why.  Seriously, we are so glad we went there because if left to our own devices, we would have royally screwed up the purchased.  Additionally, they said we could test-paddle the kayaks we were interested in by renting them for a day and if we decided to buy them, the rental fee would be taken off the purchase price.  Which was already on sale since it's the end of the season.  Score.

So last Saturday, we rented our desired kayaks, hit the same lake as the weekend before, and proceeded to paddle in absolutely terrible conditions.  It was super windy, the waves were choppy, we were paddling with the wind which meant we'd have to battle against it to get back, clouds threatened to unload on us, and on top of that we weren't exactly pleased with each other.  So we took a break, got out of the water and regrouped. 

Then we bonded over the two meatheads trying to get their small jet boat launched.  It was awesome. The one guy had no clue and the other guy had no grasp of telling his buddy what to do.  This thing was old and after he got the boat trailer in the water, the guy had to jump it with a battery box to get it started.  The engine sounded awful.  Dave watched, and actually helped at one point to give the guy a line to the dock, ticking all the various things they were doing wrong.  The best part was that they knew there were a bunch of rocks at the launch that needed to be avoided, at which they were successful.  Until they finally turned the boat the leave the launch and scraped the bottom over the rocks in the most fantastic of ways.  The sound was horrible and it could have easily been avoided, but at this point we knew they had no clue what they were doing.

Their boat was something like this--but older and more full of idiots.

After enjoying that show, we got back in our kayaks, got rained on a bit, but toured the rest of the lake before the winds got particularly heinous.  We really got a chance to figure out our kayaks and decide if we really wanted to get them.

By the time we got back to the shop to return the rentals, we decided we really wanted to buy these kayaks.  We have a lot of fun paddling, and there are a lot of opportunities for us to try different rivers and ponds not far from our house.  The guys at the shop were great hooking us up with everything we needed, sizing us appropriately and making sure we were comfortable.  When we paid for it all, I turned to Dave and said, "Happy Anniversary!"  Maybe molded plastic and life vests will be the new contemporary third anniversary gift.

So, there you go Dave.  You now have your own boat.  Please stop asking me for a sailboat, because I don't know which anniversary nylon and dacron are given.

I Did Say I'd Get My Own Boat

When Dave and I first started dating, I was living in Central Pennsylvania, in an area that basically existed for two reasons: 1) the college I worked at (and had graduated from); and 2) the Raystown Lake.  The lake is very much a recreational area that attracts lots of people for boating, fishing and other related outdoor activities.  So when Dave was visiting me over the summer, and I needed to up my outdoor activities if I ever planned to keep up with this Mountain Man, we decided to rent a canoe and head out on the lake. 

I don't know why I thought this would be fun.  I was (and still am) hopelessly uncoordinated and not quite interested in being outdoors with the heat and the bugs and canoeing is like real work.  Ug. I even wore Dave's generally infinite patience thin while we struggled to find a cove for our picnic lunch and then of course I was even more unmotivated to not be a complete pain in the ass while we negotiated out way back.  In the end, Dave basically said never again, but well.  We did try again a few years later in a much more relaxed environment (and with a friend so we were on our best behavior).  Then we discovered kayaking would be a far better paddle sport for us, since we could each get out own boat.  That was actually fun.  A couple summers ago we each rented kayaks and headed out on a local river for an afternoon.  Being far more mature and slightly more interested in being outside (despite the bugs and the heat), but still hopelessly uncoordinated, we had a lovely afternoon and have since talked about getting kayaks for ourselves so we could do it more often.

Fast forward to this past Saturday.  Beautiful weather, a long weekend, the unofficial start of summer.  Clearly a perfect day for a little kayak trip.  We'd been hoping to check out a local boat house on a different river a few miles from home, so we looked it up.  The rates were good, but of course if we get a tandem boat, it would be even cheaper.

Me: Yeah, but remember the last time we did tandem?

Dave: But this is different.  Kayaking is easier to do tandem than canoeing.

Me: I don't know, I think I should get my own boat.

Dave: No, it'll be fun.  You'll be fine.

You know that saying about famous last words?  Yeah, insert that here.

We arrived at the South Bridge Boat House to start our trip on the Concord River.  They have single and tandem kayaks as well as canoes for rent, and since it was a great day, they were pretty busy.  We didn't really care since it was just for fun and planned to head up to the Old North Bridge (you know, Revolutionary War, shot heard 'round the world, blah, blah, history, blah), about a mile and a half up river. 

So we started paddling and then I noticed we were drifting to the left.  Apparently this was my fault.  So repeatedly Dave made me stop playing (he didn't actually fire me) so he could straighten us out/get us back on the right side of the river.  When I got permission to play again, we'd be ok for a while, then of course we'd start drifting (again, my fault).  Now, bear in mind, the last time I kayaked was at least 3 years ago and that was my first time.  Also note, Dave did not give me a refresher course in paddling physics despite the fact that he knows I make stuff up when left to my own devices to determine mechanical or physics-related logic.  And I'm almost always "wrong."  (That last bit is in quotes because Dave says I'm wrong about a lot of science-related stuff, but I think he just wants to the science brain in this relationship, so he tells me I'm wrong even when I make a genius statement.)

At some point this whole thing just became comical and while I couldn't stop laughing, I do think Dave was at least mildly amused (I tried several times to take his photo but seeing as how I wasn't interested in flipping the boat over in an attempt to turn around and get a good one, I can't only assume this smile wasn't completely contrived).  I also repeatedly informed him that I had been the one to suggest we each get our own boat, but he was the one that insisted we'd be fine.

So finally, as we approached the Old North Bridge, having avoided any collisions (with other boats--I did try to goose some geese but they flew away) Dave, who was sitting in the back, noticed why we were bearing left and educated me.  And then I noticed that we were bearing right when he paddled, so I made fun of him.  To which he said it was only because he was overcompensating for me but I like to think it just proved we were meant to be together because if I bear to the left and he bears to the right, then together we should be in perfect harmony. 

Except really we weren't.  Instead we literally zigzagged a little over 3 miles round-trip on the Concord River.  Dave said it was exhausting.  I said it was getting our money's worth because we got to see more of the river that way.  When we pulled in to shore and the worker there helped us out, he asked, "How was it?"

Me: He said I have to get my own boat next time.

Not Necessarily As Planned

This weekend Dave and I didn't have any specific plans or events on the calendar, which was nice. Instead of rushing around to all different places, we would just go on a whim and do whatever.

Except I'm Type A and crazy and still need to have plans for our unplanned weekends.

Earlier in the week, my friend Cindy and I exchanged texts and decided to get together for Happy Hour on Friday night, with our guys. Friday afternoon I texted Cindy to confirm and she wasn't sure. Being the beginning of Halloween season and being a costumer, she had people coming over for fittings that evening. Little did I know that as I was on my way home, Dave also texted to confirm with Cindy. Communication FAIL. Regardless, Cindy ended up having a longer fitting than she expected, which was fine with us. We ended up staying in and watched the new Alice and Wonderland (not bad, very dark, but not a bad version of the story).

Saturday was supposed to be partly sunny and a little over 70 degrees. We had "planned" on going to use the paddle boats our city's rec department had made available at a local pond, but since we are in New England, partly sunny and 73 degrees really meant mostly cloudy and 67 degrees. Not ideal pond weather. We did pick apples at a new (to us) orchard and got some wonderful Macintosh apples.

Sunday was a much better day, with the sun shining early. After catching up on all the pregame football action and confirming that no, I was not going to get the Steelers game this week, we decided to head up to those paddle boats. Dave has a remote controlled boat (and I have a little RC jet ski), so we decided to take those to the pond as well.

When we got to the pond, it was rather peculiar as there were no paddle boats nor any teenagers to facilitate them, as we had seen earlier in the summer. Bummed, we walked back to the car to get our little boats. Walking past the informational bulletin again, I noticed a sign for the paddle boats. And the line that said "Reservations required by 3:00 pm on Friday." (They only run the boats on weekends.) Being that our town doesn't actually have all it's ducks in a row, this was not something mentioned on their website, with the rest of the rec department information.

But at least we had our little boats. Dave bought me my jet ski when we first started dating and I had recently ridden a real jet ski for the first time. I had shared my experience with Dave and asked him to buy me one. He said sure (like any good new boyfriend should) and got me this:


It's great for the pool, and we even ran it on a lake. It's super slow and pulls to the left, but I like it. When we take it to the pond and there are dogs around, they get a kick out of chasing it.

Dave, of course, has a more "robust" boat. It's pretty fast and the dogs around the pond love it. It makes much more noise than mine, too.


We spent a little bit of time running our boats and enjoying the great weather.

Unfortunately, our afternoon ended suddenly when Dave hit an underwater rock and a piece of his boat's propeller was damaged. He says it's easily fixed, though.

When we got home, we watched some more football (I heart the Jets this week), and started settling into our fall routine of football, couch dwelling, and good slow cooker food (I made roast beef and apple crisp). And I almost completed a big crochet project (sorry, it's a Christmas gift, so you'll have to wait to hear about it).

Now, if only we could get the Steelers games instead of the stupid New England games, we'd be all set.