CreativeJournal.net

What a morning! I took off work today because the weather was going to be so nice – 75 and sunny – and it was! I chose Wawayanda State Park for my new canoe’s maiden voyage and I’m sure glad I did. This is a 18,235 acre state park housing an abundance of natural resources including a beautiful, island-studded lake and a 20-mile stretch of the Appalachian Trail. The lake reminded me very much of many of the lakes I’ve paddled in the Adirondacks. Oh, the best part… it’s about a 4-minute drive from home.

I put the canoe on the car last night so that we could get an early start. When we got to the lake we were a bit surprised more people weren’t already there. We more-or-less had the lake to ourselves!

Erin, being only 19 months old, was AWESOME in the canoe. She was very excited, as we have gone and sat in the canoe in the garage several times this week… just to say “Hi Boat!.” She held her mini-paddle in the water to help me paddle and only dropped it a few times (good thing wood floats!). She lasted out on the water for a good hour before she “needed a break from the boat” (that’s parent-speak for “…she started throwing a fit and we thought we were going to have to perform the first ever floating exorcism…”

I quickly paddled the three of us to one of the smaller lake islands which was home to an old stone fireplace, which unfortunately was badly in need of reconstruction. We set up our chairs near the shore and had some snacks and run-around time.

After a while, we loaded up the canoe again and I dropped Kate and Erin off on the beach. They went and played on the playground while I paddled around solo some more… getting to know my new canoe and paddles a little better. This is going to be a fun summer.