Ladies and Boats

My mom and Fox's wife (who will someday have her own alias here, I've got it, I'm going to call her Fae.) and I went kayaking at that really fun spot that has a lot of obstacles. Fae and I both have kayaks with the foot pedal system, but Fox and I broke our pedals last week (we think). That's because they add a few inches to the keel, and this area of the Patuxent is filled with branches and things just under the surface of the water to avoid. So, now we know, and won't bring the pedals again, lest we have to replace another set. I'm not really looking forward to doing that, so I hope they can be repaired.

This area is a floating dock, it's not so easy to launch from, we would all much prefer a beach (for you non-kayakers, there is a HUGE difference). Poor Fae is particularly not good with dock launching, and she discovered that the water of the river was rather cold. But we were able to move her closer to land where she was only in water up to her knees and could get in fine.

The river in this area runs through a town (if you can call it a town) called Queen Anne. There used to be a well-used bridge here know as (*gasp*) Queen Anne's Bridge. Queen Anne's Bridge is fenced off and decaying and one day might fall into the river, but it is still there. When we first kayaked this part of the river, our goal was to reach Queen Anne's Bridge. We could do it, if we got out and climbed over a log. In preparation for the week long sojourn on the river (that we're not going to make it to this year), they've cleared that log. But there are two more trees a bit further up river that impede our path to Queen Anne's Bridge. (The new goal, by the way, is to get to the bridge that carries Central Avenue, a major state route, over the river. We haven't made it that far yet, too many big trees to climb over.)

We've actually had a very dry month, and those two trees that take some work to pass were impassable today. That was a little disappointing. But we had a very nice, relaxing float back down the river to the dock. What a perfect way to spend a Saturday morning.

Next is a little bit of shopping, and I'll get some alone-time in the house tonight. That's nice!