Kayaking !

Yesterday, my youngest daughter and I had some time to ourselves. My youngest woke up with expectations of a fun day, and, I couldn't let her down. We are staying at a large lake at the moment, so, I decided that we would explore the boat rental.

I talked to the ranger manning the rental shack and negotiated the rental for a two-person kayak. Soon we would be slicing through the waves to destinations yet to be discovered.

Having never been in a kayak before was not much of a deterrent to me, I have piloted many other watercraft over my 47 years. My daughter, on the other hand, was terrified. She had never even been on a boat! I was told by another helpful ranger that sitting in front would afford me better control of the kayak, so, we seated ourselves accordingly, and, with a little push, we were on our way!

Four feet from shore, my six year old started repeating, "I wanna go back, I wanna go back!" in a shrill, panting, mantra. I could not see her face, but, I imagine it looked ghastly. This persisted for another thirty feet or so until she figured out we were not going under, then, she began to enjoy it. With one hundred yards under us, she began to think she was a pirate queen and started moving around in the back of the yak. This alarmed me a little, me not being able to see her, and the kayak tilting back and forth. Having been in many canoe tip-overs, I figured that soon we would be swimming, but, despite the waves and the wind and the mini-fisher-pirate behind me, all was well.... except.

Except I had very little control of that kayak from the front seat. I got us where we wanted to go and back again, but, I couldn't get the boat to go straight for more than twenty seconds or so. I think next time I will try the back.

Bird Island

There is an island on the lake dubbed 'Bird Island', which is home to many different types of waterfowl. The Great Blue Heron is my favorite bird of them all. I couldn't get a good shot of one, but I got a few of the other birds.

So, we ended up having a blast on our maiden kayaking expedition! I can't wait to do it again. My littlest even got some fishing in, though, I did not. Next time when it isn't so windy maybe. I highly recommend kayaking! It was fun and education all in one. Take care til next time.