Summer on the River

Summer involves spending many sunny afternoons on the river for us. Whether it's walking along the edge with tasty ice cream cones or kayaking around all the bends of the river, basking in the sun, we both love spending time on the water.

I love the anticipation of loading up our kayaks, mixing nalgene bottles of iced tea, and packing towels and suntan lotion.

One of my favorite parts about where we live is that within fifteen minutes of deciding we want to go down to the river, we are actually down on the river. Meandering along the shore, gliding underneath sweeping tree branches and enjoying the sparkly sunshine.

And while there are definitely houses on the river, they are far and few in between, and the river is full of beautiful flowers, green grasses, and lots of wildlife everywhere we look.

This little area is on the edge of one of the family farms and there are chairs tucked underneath a shady tree, the cows wander by the edge of the fence, and if you look closely...

...you can see the swing they have tied together. And just look at that beautiful blue sky over the field.

The expanses of bright green river grasses are so pretty; I love hearing the breezes rush through them, whistling and sending flocks of little tiny birds swooping in and out of the lush fields.

We have so much fun just paddling down the river, chatting about everything and nothing.

Soaking up the sun...

and feeling oh so grateful for perfect summer days like this.

I love how the river changes as we go along it, rising and falling with the tide. We start out at the end of the river and usually end up "almost" at the ocean. We've made it completely to the end once, but we usually turn around at the bay, where the waves get choppy and the water gets deep, MILES away from where we start.

Time passes so quickly while out kayaking, it seems like only an hour and we'll find that when we return to our truck, tired and happy, it is several hours later and the sun is usually setting.

It is views like this that make us say, "Let's just go around one more bend...just one more."

There are not many things that I enjoy more than a day on the river...

...loving the beauty and calmness of the flow of the water...

...and honestly, spending it with the love of my life is what makes it over the top wonderful. :)

Sunshine & Saturday

I love everything about Saturdays. I love sleeping in until the sun shining through the windows wakes us up with it's gentle reminder that there is a beautiful day awaiting us. I love loading the truck with our kayaks, filling our nalgene bottles with sweet tea, and heading for the river. The first kayaking of the year.
I love the familiar feeling of pushing into the water and holding my breath as I tuck my legs in and grasp my paddle. I love letting the current take me and then after a few seconds dipping the paddle in and surging forward, free to twist and turn around the bends of the river.

We headed towards the ocean today, down the river and in and around islands that are also bird sanctuaries.

We kayaked down the river and were paddling thru a group of small islands when we spotted this sandy peninsula and then as we turned the corner a beautiful sandy beach was in front of us.

It was a stretch of smooth, untouched sand and as our bare feet sunk in we couldn't help but smile. I love that no matter how many times we have kayaked down our river there are always new things to see and explore.

The only other footprints on the beach were from a goose.

Then we saw a larger group of footprints...

And as Martin innocently walked along the beach, a HUGE mama goose flew out of the brush and caused both of us to have heart failure. She was not in the mood for visitors.

She landed in the water and continued to squawk at us until we were far enough away that she didn't feel threatened. She was pissed...there's no other way to put it.

We continued along the shore, and came upon heaps of fluffy sea foam. It looked magical, shimmering in the sun and when a gust of wind blew it rolled up the beach and into the grass, disappearing as if it was never even there.

Around every corner there was another beautiful beach and we decided that it is the perfect place for a picnic...next time.

We stumbled across someone's secret meeting place in the center of the island. They had a huge fire pit, roughly made seats, and there were ropes strung up in the trees so that you could sit and swing. We talked about what kind of people they were, whether they were teenagers or adults, whether they've been coming here for years, and as we walked away we felt like we shared a secret with someone we didn't even know.

We roamed around the island, wading through the cool water, inspecting shells and soaking in the sunshine. We eventually got back in our kayaks and pushed off from the island, back into the water and onto explore the different coves and inlets of the river.

There were many bird stands set up on the islands, most of them with proud mama birds guarding their young. This hawk was swirling through the sky, diving at a goose that had wandered too close for her comfort, then went back to her stand and glared at us as we paddled past.

As we meandered through the water, there was a giant cloud of smoke billowing in from the ocean. We thought it was smoke, then as we got closer and it started coming towards us we realized it was fog. Clouds of smoke, rolling in, slowly engulfing the islands and creeping towards us. It's a funny thing, to be able to feel something you can't touch, but as the fog floated around us the air felt different, almost silky.

We could see the fog creeping across the bay. It looked like a fog machine had been turned on.

On our left there was fog, on the right there was sunshine and blue skies.

We had a wonderful day kayaking on the river and as the sun dipped below the horizon I felt pure happiness as I watched my best friend lean back in his kayak to take in the last few rays of sunshine. I felt so grateful for everything around me today. The beauty, the reminders of spring, the calmness, but mostly I am grateful for him.