Lessons in River Kayaking

Taking a trip to SC to see the lilies in full bloom at Lansford Canal State Park.

Off to a good start.  Nice launch area, calm waters.

Lots of kayakers.  Two hour drive there, two hours on water, two hours home.

Only a mile to the lilies, going with the current, easy sailing!

The lilies are lovely!  Red wing black birds everywhere.  There are supposed to be some nesting eagles, but have not seen them.

Lesson No. 1:  Never listen to your husband!  Took 30 minutes to go downstream to see the lilies, took 3 hours to go back against the current and rocks!!

Wondering why all the other kayakers went downstream never to be seen again!  Because no one goes upstream in Class 1 & 2 current, getting constantly stuck in rocks and whirlpools. They go downstream to the next launch, get out and have someone drive them back to the first launch DAH!!! You can see the grimace on Bob's face, it was incredibly hard work.

So much for a little R&R.  This was very tough.  After hours of going upstream, I can see the launch, but I cannot make it.  I am physically exhausted and so is Bob.  We headed to the side of the river and got out of the boats and swam to dry land and pulled our boats the rest of the way.  NEVER AGAIN!!  

Lesson No. 2:  Bring your water bottles with you, don't leave them in the car and do not bring your camera!

So we got home very late, totally soaked and caked with mud, burnt from the sun and could barely walk.  A hot shower and Excedrin X Strength is all I can think about and today I am still exhausted.  Sixty year olds should not be doing this!

Two Big Events

Event No. 1:  Taking Luna's girls Phoebe and Pandora to NJ to their rescue.  

Pan goes to his new home in SC in June.

Debra took a lunch break to meet us all at the park and to meet the puppies before saying goodbye.

Luna might be smiling because the kids are leaving the nest!

Got lucky and found a really nice hotel in a really nice Colonial town Harrisonburg, VA. The puppies had a fun time at the hotel!

This is Sasha, Luna's mom and grandmom to the puppies.  She now lives in Burlington, NJ with Peter and Norma and they all got to meet!

Finally got to meet Denise who fosters for Heart, and she brought Dora, who was rescued by my friend Cathy in Arkansas and was now in NJ and headed to her new home on Long Island.

After years of working with Toni, we finally got to meet!

Norma and Leslie saying goodbye to Dora.

Peter and Norma have a wonderful place on the Delaware River, great yard for the dogs!

Event No. 2:  THE WEDDING!

Held at a beautiful winery in Newtown, PA.

George played the music and did a great job.  The only musician in the family!

Julia's brother officiated.  Dave waiting patiently!

Best man Shaw.

Julia and her dad.

The bridesmaids in navy, very classy!

The groomsmen in gray.

The cake.

Not your traditional cake topper!

Now in Paris, then to Brussels, Amsterdam and Germany to check out the breweries since Dave has his own.  I must say I'm a bit jealous!

They are having a wonderful honeymoon!

Michelle Rose

This past weekend we had a really nice and neat! guest stay at the boathouse with her dog, Arlo.  We asked for photos of Arlo to add to our string of Canine Guests that we are doing in the bathroom.

When she sent us all of these photos, we could tell she was a professional.

She lives in NYC and Charleston and works as a professional photographer in NYC.  We looked at her website and blog and she is quite well known and has done shoots for Architectural Digest and the like.

She has a really good eye and some nice equipment.

She thought we might like to use these on our Airbnb page, which we most definitely will!

Mom, the quilts look nice, but I think the patchwork is really going to look good!

ARLO

This dog has some long legs!

Her nighttime photo is my favorite!