My sister in law, Michelle, started kayaking years ago and she carries her kayak on on the roof of her little Suzuki on a regular basis. She has been known, in the past, to stop on her way home from work for a little paddle on the Hudson River. Michelle talked me into giving it a try, so last week we stopped at her sister and brother in law's and borrowed a kayak from them for my first adventure kayaking. We loaded up the additional kayak on the roof of the car and headed to the Hudson River - only a couple of miles from her home. Life jacket on, paddles set, I was ready to go. I had no clue what I was doing, but after a jittery effort getting into the thing, and some laughing on her part, we were ready to go. After a few quick instructions on pushing rather than pulling the paddles, I got myself launched. I loved it! I could not quite get the hang of pushing on the upper part of the paddle, but I guess that will come with time. It is suppose to take less effort.
We have been out twice since and I cannot tell you how relaxing and enjoyable it is to just leisurely paddle along the water. We went up to Spire Falls Dam the other evening and explored the river up to the dam just before dusk. The water was calm, the birds were chirping and it was so quiet and peaceful. We headed out yesterday afternoon for a short run between work, dinner and her private dog training lesson in the evening. I managed to get myself settled in the kayak a little more gracefully this time and I am trying to remember the "push" technique for paddling. Maybe it helped that I had my Mike's Mango strapped to the front of the kayak - a little cocktail on the water. We wandered in the opposite direction on the Hudson and passed some camps along the shore.
We explored a little outlet on the opposite side of the area where we launched the kayaks on the river. It was like rowing into the bayou - all overhanging trees and vegetation along the bank. It eventually came to a dead end at a culvert and we turned around and headed back to the river. I caught a picture of the Hudson as we were exiting the outlet. The sky was clearing, we had had rain the night before and cloudy skies all morning, but we came back out onto the river under sunny, warm skies. A beautiful summer day in the northeast. I've come to appreciate these occasional days. The weather here continues to be very hot, humid and hazy. The forecast is for the low 90's today with humidity at 80+ percent. Oh for that dry, Arizona heat. The "natives" keep telling us that this is an unusual summer. We have heard that before. We headed back to the house to fix dinner - relaxed after an enjoyable hour on the water. My goal is to get Robert out kayaking sometime over the weekend. He has not wanted to try it so far, but I may be wearing him down.
My sister in law, Michelle, started kayaking years ago and she carries her kayak on on the roof of her little Suzuki on a regular basis. She has been known, in the past, to stop on her way home from work for a little paddle on the Hudson River. Michelle talked me into giving it a try, so last week we stopped at her sister and brother in law's and borrowed a kayak from them for my first adventure kayaking. We loaded up the additional kayak on the roof of the car and headed to the Hudson River - only a couple of miles from her home. Life jacket on, paddles set, I was ready to go. I had no clue what I was doing, but after a jittery effort getting into the thing, and some laughing on her part, we were ready to go. After a few quick instructions on pushing rather than pulling the paddles, I got myself launched. I loved it! I could not quite get the hang of pushing on the upper part of the paddle, but I guess that will come with time. It is suppose to take less effort. 
We have been out twice since and I cannot tell you how relaxing and enjoyable it is to just leisurely paddle along the water. We went up to Spire Falls Dam the other evening and explored the river up to the dam just before dusk. The water was calm, the birds were chirping and it was so quiet and peaceful. We headed out yesterday afternoon for a short run between work, dinner and her private dog training lesson in the evening. I managed to get myself settled in the kayak a little more gracefully this time and I am trying to remember the "push" technique for paddling. Maybe it helped that I had my Mike's Mango strapped to the front of the kayak - a little cocktail on the water. We wandered in the opposite direction on the Hudson and passed some camps along the shore. 
We explored a little outlet on the opposite side of the area where we launched the kayaks on the river. It was like rowing into the bayou - all overhanging trees and vegetation along the bank. It eventually came to a dead end at a culvert and we turned around and headed back to the river. I caught a picture of the Hudson as we were exiting the outlet. The sky was clearing, we had had rain the night before and cloudy skies all morning, but we came back out onto the river under sunny, warm skies. A beautiful summer day in the northeast. I've come to appreciate these occasional days. The weather here continues to be very hot, humid and hazy. The forecast is for the low 90's today with humidity at 80+ percent. Oh for that dry, Arizona heat. The "natives" keep telling us that this is an unusual summer. We have heard that before. We headed back to the house to fix dinner - relaxed after an enjoyable hour on the water. My goal is to get Robert out kayaking sometime over the weekend. He has not wanted to try it so far, but I may be wearing him down.
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