Oh Yeah. Did I Mention That We’re Nuts?

 

Yep!  It’s snowing and I’m kayaking!

 

I am just now starting to warm up enough to show you some pics of what we did a couple Saturdays ago (January 19th to be exact).  R. Darling and I went with the local chapter of WAKE on an eagle watching trip down the Skagit River.  To be completely honest, I wasn’t exactly looking forward to paddling my sea kayak down a frosty river.  But in some ways I am still a newlywed, and I just can’t help myself from being game for most of the things that R. Darling cooks up even though I quite often end up cold, wet, muddy, or all of the above.  But (almost) always with a smile!  I’m just not ready to quit perpetuating  the myth that I’m a good sport ;)

After R. Darling packed up our gear that morning, we piled into the truck and headed for Marblemount (I’ll skip the specifics here; if you’re even vaguely interested, you can find them on R. Darling’s bloggy).  A light sleet hit our windshield on the way out of town issuing an ominous you-will-freeze-your-ass-off-today sort of warning in my head.  Driving further southeast we were greeted with a countryside growing more steadily white as each mile drifted away.  By the time we reached the meeting point and started the complicated shuttle of cars from put-in to take-out it had begun to snow lightly, then ever increasingly, making me nervous for my fingers and toes (I rather wanted to keep them!).  While waiting for the rest of the group to reappear after the final shuttle, I snapped a few photos for posterity while trying to keep my rapidly numbing appendages warmed up as much as possible.

 

Beautiful surroundings

 

It was peaceful at first, being on the river with the snow falling on us.   I had never thought of using a sea kayak on a river before, but the Skagit is a wide, deep river with very gentle rapids (at least where we paddled) well suited to coasting along in a sea kayak.  We did hit a few rough-ish sort of rapids that scared me a bit as I was already feeling worried that I wouldn’t be accomplished enough to hang with this crowd, but I managed them o.k.   There was one unfortunate gal who didn’t navigate them quite as successfully and, poor thing, went for a swim twice in the frigid waters wearing only a wet suit.  I was cold enough as it was without having been dunked and I felt awfully sorry for her but selfishly glad it wasn’t me.

 

R. Darling enjoying himself immensely

 

About 6 miles into the trip, or maybe an hour and a half on the water, the novelty of the falling snow and peacefulness of coasting along on the river lost a bit of its charm.  My fingers and toes, though bundled tightly against the weather, began to complain about the punishing temperature.  And we were only halfway there.  R. Darling and I both agreed that this was a fun trip – once – and that we didn’t really need to experience it again any time soon.  In all, I counted about 50 eagles (occasionally losing count when thinking about how damn cold I was) and it was thoroughly amazing to see the sheer numbers of them feeding, nesting, and perching near the banks of the river.  They are truly breathtaking to see up close.  Majestic, regal, every word you’ve ever heard to describe them is absolutely true.  And, I’ll add, they’re downright huge.  Unfortunately, most of the pictures that day turned out dark and blurry due to the weather conditions, but we did get a few decent ones.

 

This juvenile seemed completely unruffled as we drifted slowly past him only feet away

 

So, despite the fact that I’m in no hurry to rush back out into the frigid weather in my kayak, a cozy house, a warm husband, and lots of hot tea have conspired to give our little trip a more rosy glow than I perhaps felt that day.  I’d say it was a great adventure after all and I’m glad I was game enough to go!

 

I may look like I’m smiling but my face is actually frozen that way!

 

Pools & Packages

Show off!  R. Darling practicing his rolls in the pool

 

Yesterday R. Darling and I went to the pool for some kayak practice.  I can’t say that I was keen on the whole thing (being wet and strapped into a kayak isn’t really conducive to getting in some knitting time) but I went along.  Recently I’ve started to panic a little when having to wet exit the kayak, and R. Darling thought that practicing comfort in the water might help with the anxiety.  So yesterday I spent an awful lot of time like this:

 

 

This is actually R. Darling in his boat, but you get the idea.  And apparently the inside of my right ear is a cozy little spot because this morning I woke up at 4:30 AM with my ear throbbing and I’m afraid some nasty little water gremlin must have crawled inside and is now having a sweet little pajama-jammy-jam inside my ear canal.  The nurse at the doctor’s office thinks that I might have some excess sinus pressure in there that is not equalizing properly, but I know better.  Let’s just hope the water gremlin does his little “walk of shame” out of my ear pretty soon and things can go back to normal.   Much as I love sitting on my ass all day, as per R. Darling’s orders, I’m not real fond of a throbbing inner ear.  Kinda sucks the fun right out of everything.

But here’s something that always cheers me up:  a package!!  I received my SITM sock swap package last Wednesday and it was filled with all kinds of fantastic things!  Hooray!!  Thank you so much AJ for such a wonderful package and such pretty pink socks!  AJ was the hostess of the SITM swap and I’m not sure how I ended up with the hostess as my secret pal, but it has really been fun corresponding with her during the last couple months.  Thanks for a great swap AJ!  And here’s the goods…..

 

This is what I saw when I opened the box.  A handmade knitting needle cozy in the perfect colors!  So cool!

 

Underneath, some beautiful Koigu!  Mmmmm…… Koiguuuuu.  Never tried it, but sooooo excited to!

 

She also sent a drop spindle, a book on spinning and a bunch of pretty green roving.  I’ve been curious about spinning but just didn’t know where to start, so this will be really fun to get to try!  Can’t wait!

 

And last but not least, a few pics of my new fantastic pink socks that fit perfectly!  Thanks so much for everything AJ!  You’ve been an awesome pal :)

 

 

Paddling Burrows Island

Image courtesty of this site

Map of our trip Sunday October 28, 2007 around Burrows Island:     The red line is our basic course

 

Last weekend my crazy, paddling-obsessed, marathon running, husband convinced me to take a little paddle around Burrows Island. We’re lucky enough to live in one of the most celebrated kayaking areas in the country, so it’s about time we took advantage of that.  Usually, when it gets cold like it’s been, we’re holed up inside trying to keep warm and attempting to hibernate by stuffing our faces with junky food and sleeping.  But this year, both summer and fall so far, we’ve been doing our best to actually enjoy some mother nature before it gets so nasty that hibernating becomes the only option.

So last Sunday, we get up at 0:dark:30, load up our stuff while half-asleep and freezing (though to be fair, hubby did most of this by himself; always does) and headed south to Anacortes, WA.  We unloaded and launched from Washington Park.  Recently, I’ve had a horrific struggle with getting my dry suit on.  I swear that rubber gasket around the neck catches every single tiny baby hair on my neck and rips it out from the roots.  This is impossible to prevent because my head is usually stuck inside the dumb gasket, half in half out, and I have no choice but to continue yanking if I want the blasted thing to go on.  But, my husband in his infinite kayaking/paddling obsessiveness, managed to find a little blurb somewhere on the internet about using a pair of pantyhose to cover your hair while you put your dry suit on.  Looks like I’m about to hold up a liquor store, right?  Or else I’m auditioning for a Jane’s Addiction video.  But it worked like a freakin’ charm.

Oh, the indignity!

With that particular bit of torture behind me, we headed out into the glassy calm amongst the birds and bulbous kelp undulating in the tide.  First stop, the abandoned lighthouse on the southwestern part of the island.  We got out, scaled the rocks and got a closer look at the old structure.  It’s quite picturesque with a lovely view of Rosario Strait.  The lighthouse was automated in 1972 so no one lives there anymore, but it was thought provoking to stand there watching the water and wondering what kind of life it must have been to live so isolated but in such a beautiful and peaceful surrounding.

Image courtesy of Kayak Succor (R. Darling’s blog)

The Burrows Island Lighthouse 

We saw the first of many seals as we left the lighthouse.  No matter how many times I see one poke its head up above the water and study us in our kayaks, it just never seems to get old for me.  I squeal like a little kid and point, every single time.  We were lucky enough to see some river otters on a rock outcropping and follow the path of a couple porpoises as well.  Unfortunately, we weren’t quick enough with the camera, or close enough, in either of those instances.  But it made the trip totally worth it for me even though I got a little freaked in a couple of the eddylines.  I don’t have much experience with those yet.  But luckily they were mild.

After paddling about 4.5 miles around Burrows Island, we stopped at the campground on the northeastern end of the island for a little lunch.  I am definitely not in paddling shape!  Just those 4.5 miles pooped me out and after our rest we still had a mile to go.  But we checked out the campsite for a future visit and had a brief rest before paddling the rest of the way back to Washington Park. 

At the Burrows Island Campground

In the end, it was a lovely day and I’m so glad that R. Darling dragged my lazy ass out for a paddle.  It was  beautiful day with my best friend and I hope we do it again soon!

If you want more technical info about our paddle, you can find it over at R. Darling’s blog.  He’s the paddling-obsessed authority on all things kayaking ;)