Kayaking

Because it’s summer, we’re experiencing a heat wave, and my brain has been fried on the sidewalk my creative juices are really flowing right now, the title of this post is “Kayaking.” It is about kayaking. I know, you’re wondering how I came up with that brilliant title.

Anyway, a few summers ago my father invested in a pair of kayaks so that he and I could go kayaking without having to bother about rental fees and things like that. Instead, we now bother about getting the kayaks from under the deck to the top of the van, which involves setting up the carriers on the roof rack, hauling the kayaks up to the carriers, strapping the boats down, and loading paddles, seat covers, life jackets, water, and snacks into the van. By the time you’re done, you’re tired enough to forgo the whole venture, but you've gone through all the trouble, so you set out anyway, and hope that the weird humming sound you hear isn't the kayak getting ready to make its escape and/or cause permanent damage to your car roof.

If it’s the first kayaking adventure of the summer, you have the added pleasure of first chasing out any winter residents such as dirt, spider webs, and insects in various stages of decay. You have to use the strongest setting on the hose and sometimes, if you’re really fortunate, you get splattered with dead insect parts and mud. I know this because I've done it twice.

So in the past few weeks, we've been heading out to nearby kayaking locations. There are a couple state parks with lakes near our house, but one is pretty small and the other tends to have a bunch of motorboats on it. There’s also a (somewhat) well-known river that we went to most recently. But I didn't bring my camera so I only have pictures from our trip the week before that.

There are some parts of the lake that are pretty quiet, and there must not have been much wind in general, so the reflections turned out really clear.

And here’s a picture of my feet in the kayak. With my new sandals.