Kayaking the Crystal River

We had a wonderful three hour paddle down the Crystal River on vacation last week. The river was so clear that even when it was 4 or 5 feet deep...you could see every little pebble on the bottom.
The beginning of the trip was very narrow and very winding. Irv laughed until he cried as I tried to get my bearings. I would crash into branches on one side, over compensate and crash into branches on the other side. I had to duck under things and put my paddle up to keep myself from smacking into other things while Irv paddled along gracefully behind me laughing his butt off.

It was actually a bit frustrating. Granted, we only kayak once a year, and we are normally on a big straight river where you don't have to worry about crashing into things...but I am pretty good at this and I was having a hell of a time.

Then I realized what the problem was. I just wasn't paying attention to the kayaking, because I was so in awe of the water and my surroundings. Once I reminded myself that I had to paddle and pay attention to the winding river, I was fine.

The website for Crystal River Outfitters didn't say that we were going to have to portage (carry our kayaks across roads) three times during our trip. We really try to avoid that when we kayak because Irv has a very bad hip, and it is very difficult for him to get in and out of the kayak to start and finish...much less three more times....but we managed and still had a wonderful time.

This dam was the reason for the first portage.

Irv just cruisin' along.....

Can you see how clear the water is in this picture? So beautiful. Our rivers here are muddy and pretty dirty for the most part. This was such a treat!

I think the best part of the trip was when Irv went around a bend and I hung back trying to take some pictures. It's hard taking pictures on a river. You want to stop, but the current keeps you moving. Anyway, I had pulled toward the shore to take a picture when I heard a big splash! I looked across to the other side and there was a deer leaping to and fro in the tall grass along the shore. It seems that Irv had pulled his kayak over to shore when he got around the bend, and startled the deer. He never got to see it, but I sure did. It was so awesome!






I had so many dragonflies hitch a ride on my bright yellow kayak. Every time I would try to grab my camera to take a picture, they would fly away. It took a while to get this shot. Most of them were this smaller black and blue variety.


The current zoomed me past this dead stump, but I managed to paddle myself back so I could get this picture. I thought it was so awesome!

At the beginning of our trip, we let this couple pass us. I really didn't want company on my journey and I really like to go slow and look for wildlife...so anyway...we let them pass. Toward the end of the trip we came upon them again. It seems at one of the portages, they attempted to pull out in the wrong spot. The husband tipped and got caught in a small whirlpool near a drainage pipe. He wasn't able to flip his kayak back over needless to say because it was filled with water, so he walked it the rest of the way.

When we met up with them, there were other kayakers and they helped him pull his kayak up onto a pier and tip it to get the water out. I talked to his wife and she said it was pretty scary. She said he seemed okay, but they were going to find a doctor to have him checked out. I felt so bad for them. Irv and I both noticed that when he was walking his kayak over to the pier he seemed very frightened when the water got deep....we are thinking maybe he didn't know how to swim. The river was probably 5 feet at it's deepest, but if you can't swim....even that would be terrifying.

The people at Crystal River Outfitters were just awesome. Such great service! They even had a nice little shop where I bought a darling little t-shirt type dress. They recommended the sandwich shop next door where we had fabulous subs...one of the best I've ever had.

I even bought a couple of stickers in their shop that say, "Life Is Good"....because it sure is!

It's Time!!

I'm making a list and checking it twice......gonna make sure I don't forget anything when we leave on our mini vacation to Traverse City on Wednesday. Irv is running some last minute errands, laundry is just about done, house/dog sitter is lined up and we are counting the hours.

I've been weather watching and right now it looks like a stormy day Wednesday for the drive up, but then a couple days of partial sun and cooler temps which is exactly how I like it.

Tomorrow I will call and make our kayaking reservations and also the ones for our ride on the tall ship. I think there will be enough nice weather for that....and probably the dunes and the scenic drive up the peninsula. I am so excited!

I haven't decided whether the laptop is joining us on our little trip. If you don't hear from me for a number of days.....you will know it decided to stay home!

Have a great rest of the day and I'll chat with you soon!

Telluride.....Kayaking

When Irv and I kayak here in Illinois on the Fox River....it is calm water. There are no waves, it's pretty straight and there are certainly no rapids. When Irv, Matt and I kayaked on the San Miguel River in Colorado, it wasn't always calm, it was wavy because of the rock walls and there were rapids! We had a blast!! I don't know if I'll ever be able to kayak the Fox River again.

We drove quite a ways to get to the river. The rock walls actually kind of hung over the road in spots with signs that said, "Watch for falling rock!" Yikes!

It was a very, very long dirt road, and poor Adam was so full of dust it was awful.

Once again Matt was a wonderful instructor and made sure to tell us what to do if we tipped over or if we lost our paddle. Matt is learning how to kayak in rough water. He goes and practices tipping over so he can practice flipping back up again.

Irv really enjoyed the day. When we came upon rough water, he always picked the toughest route.A friend of Matt's loaned us these awesome inflatable kayaks. The only thing I didn't like is that anytime you hit a little wave, your butt got wet! Then the water stayed there in the little seat so you were sitting in a puddle the whole day!

I took my hat off for this picture, but I was covered from head to toe with my sun screen pants and jacket and I globbed on the sunscreen many, many times while we were out there. We were actually close to the desert and it was darn hot and very sunny.

I followed Matt along one of these walls and almost got dumped. The water was moving really fast and I tried to use my paddle to keep myself from smashing into the wall. It was actually pretty funny once I realized I wasn't going for a swim!

If you enlarge this photo you will be able to see a couple of cars that flew off the side of the cliff. One is right about in the center, and then if you look at that tree on the left, you can kind of see the one that is wrapped around the tree. The road was way, way up there. There were actually three cars but you can't see the other one in this picture. Matt said that they are able to retrieve the bodies of the people in the cars, but often times they can't get the cars out.....and THAT is why I HATE those creepy mountain roads that don't have any guard rails!!!

This is where we took out. We had already left Matt's SUV there, so we just had to load everything up and then drive back to where we put in to get Adam.

I was perfectly happy on the way back to take some shots of the river from the road, but Matt decided that we needed better pictures. So he climbed out on some ridiculous little ledge...scaring the hell out of me...to get this picture.

and last but not least....this little lizard was so funny. He would NOT let me take his picture. Every time I would get close he would run around to the other side of the rock. I told Matt to try and I stood in front of the lizard watching him. Matt came up from behind him. I think the lizard was entranced with my pink outfit and he never saw Matt behind him. Matt took about six pictures, each time getting closer and closer until he could almost touch the little guy. We were laughing so hard.

It was another great day in Colorado. Next time we visit...we will definitely kayak again!

Counting Down

Well THE LIST is on the kitchen table. Since you already know I am a majorly obsessive list making, post-it note kind of girl...you are probably asking, "Which list is that Kathy?"

It's the one that will help me to remember everything I need to buy and then pack for vacation! The countdown has truly begun. Actually, it started the day we decided to go, but the serious counting down is here. We will leave around 5:00 a.m. on the 27th. We have our house and pet sitters all lined up and I have that really nervous excited feeling I get before vacation.

Ouray Hot Springs and Pools

We plan to pack lots of snacks and water in the cooler, plus some basics for when we get there. Telluride is a resort town and everything is very expensive. I'll buy what I can here and take it along.

Silverton Mine TourI don't get rattled about stuff like this...in fact, I don't get rattled about much of anything, but we leave Saturday and I work full time, so I need to get some things done this weekend. Hence....THE LIST.

Bridal Veil Falls outside of TellurideIf you recall, a teacher friend of Matt's has offered us their home while we are there since they will be on vacation. So nice of them. Matt went there this week so they could fill him in on anything we might need to know. They told us to feel free to use the grill and the hot tub if we like. Matt said the view from the porch is amazing and the 20 minute ride to the house is gorgeous.

Black Canyon of Gunnison

The drive to Telluride is normally about 22 hours...longer for us. Irv has a very bad hip and he will need to get out and stretch quite often. If we make good time, we are going to take a little trip up to Loveland to just look around a bit. It seems I want to retire there, even though I've never been there. I've heard good things about it and it looks and sounds like our kind of town. We shall see.

Moab, Utah

Our agenda remains the same once we get there: Moab, Utah for kayaking, Black Canyon of Gunnison for sightseeing, Ouray for hot springs, Silverton for a mine tour, Telluride area for some very beginner rock climbing and to see Bridal Veil Falls as well as some horseback riding, and downtown Telluride for a parade and picnic on the 4th. Then we will be headed home.

Riding With Roudy

Matt and I were texting the other night about my rock climbing adventure. He said that the rock is only about 20 feet high. I asked him if I can climb barefoot because I thought I would feel better barefoot and he said, "No hippie, I'll get you some climbing shoes!"

I always feel better barefoot. Oh well, it was just a thought!

Got Summer Plans?

So, what kind of plans do you have for summer? Anything exciting? Going on vacation? Taking any little trips? Making any home improvements? Are you moving this summer?

I have summer on the brain right now. I work for a school district and everyone is so excited that the school year is coming to an end and summer break is just around the corner....everyone except for us in the District Office. We are 12 month employees, so there is no summer break for us. To be honest with you...I'm just happy to have a job right now, and summer is a little different in our office. We get to work summer hours and we get to wear shorts, tees and flip flops if we want...so it's nice.
We will be going on vacation this summer thanks to our tax refund...otherwise we would be going nowhere. We head to Telluride, Colorado the end of this month and I am so excited. It will be fun to see Matt and spend some time in the awesome mountains...even though they scare the heck out of me!

Beyond that, Irv will spend his summer working in the yard and on his wonderful garden, and I will be in my workshop. We hope to do a couple of craft shows, so that will be fun. I might drag my bicycle out and start riding a bit, and maybe we'll rent kayaks on the Fox River again. That's a lot of fun.

My living room and all of my doors and trim could use a fresh coat of paint and the bedroom I redid last year ended up being one of those, "what was I thinking" things and really needs to be redone....again.

I would like to go visit some of the conservation areas around our county. They are beautiful and each so different. It's nice just to walk around them. This photo is from our conservation district's website. So pretty.
If I do even a fraction of all of that, it will be an awesome and productive summer! How about you? Got summer plans?