Canoeing and camping

Here we are, all packed up for our trip.

This trip started out with 14 people and slowly dwindled down to just 7.  Frank was supposed to go, and was on his way to Milton, FL when his car caught on fire.  YES, you heard me, his car caught on FIRE.!  Needless to say, he didn't make the canoe trip.  But don't worry, he's alive and well.  His car, however, has seen its last days, I'm sure.

Here's the place we rented our canoes from.

It's a larger operation that we originally thought.

Just look at all these life jackets.

And these paddle thingys.

This was our last civilized bathroom.  After this, we played "bear in the woods" if you catch my drift.

We've loaded up our gear and we're heading to the drop-off, drop-off point.   

We had to load everything up, then drive it to a clearing where a van came to pick us up.  So it's a "dropoff, dropoff point. Get it?

Here's my handsome hubby just waiting for the van to arrive.

And here is the van with our canoes and kayak.

This is our dropoff point - 14 miles upcreek (I'd say upriver, be we canoed down Coldwater Creek). Our dropoff point was very encouraging, I'd say. None of us got naked though.

And we're ready to start our adventure!

Then men loaded all the canoes and pushed them into the water for us.  We women (me and Ramona) just watched.

There's Garrett taking the lead.

Ramona and Dustin in a close second.

 

Followed by JJ and Robby. 

Needless to say, the best was in last place (me, the photojournalist).

Canoeing was a lot of fun, but there was plenty of obstacles along the way.

We were constantly getting stuck, or hit in the face, or almost capsizing.  Some actually did capsize, but we survived and didn't lose anything.

We took quite a few breaks from all that hard rowing.

Sometimes we just played in the water for the fun of it.

Here's me and my handsome hubby, David.

This is Garrett giving Dustin some lovin'.

Here's Dustin and the true love of his life, Ramona.

Act lie you love each other.  Awww.

On the water again.

Another break - Robby, JJ, and Garrett

The creek was actually very pretty.

But full of lumpy water (tree stumps were everywhere)

And then there are these white sandy beaches.

But again, lots of debris to navigate around.

Right before sunset, we decided to make camp for the night.  We didn't even make it halfway.  But that was okay.  We were hungry and ready to eat.

Here's Ramona and Dustin's tent.

This is our tent - notice the cots.  We may be camping, but there's no reason to really "rough" it.  I mean, we're already playing "bear in the woods" you know.

The guys waiting on their hot dog dinner.

Cooking hot dogs on a portable little grill. You really can camp in style nowadays

.Our campfire to keep the mosquitoes away.

How many men does it take to cook a hot dog?  He he he!

The next morning we had a beautiful sunrise.

One canoe was missing some letters.

Once we got in the water, we had a few rousing rounds of bumper canoes.  Unintentionally, of course.

Garrett showing off his manly physique.

Me taking a photo of myself.  This is the real, raw me.  No photoshop.  No makeup.  No shower.  Just sweat, sunscreen, and bugspray.  And clean teeth.  I did bring toothpaste and a toothbrush, people.  I never leave home without them.  Or deodorant.  You definitely don't want this woman in the outdoors without a stick of deo.  Unless you want to scare the bears away.  But there aren't bears at Coldwater Creek.  So it was good of me to bring the deodorant.  Trust me on this.

After taking the picture of myself.  I noticed this lovely little bridge.  So I took a picture of it.  And then we crashed into it sideways.  Probably because I was more concerned with getting the photo than peddling with my paddles.  We nearly capsized.  It took us a good 15 minutes to get untangled.  We finally went under it...backwards...without sinking..  It was the only way we could get through.  Then we got to watch the rest of the group get stuck and crash and capsize.  It was loads of fun.  Unfortunately, I didn't get any pictures of their difficulties.  I was too busy peddling with my paddle like a good little canoer.

We stopped at the next sandy beach for another much needed break.

This was the view.  How beautiful.

And then this was around the next bend.  A family of turtles.  That's the only wildlife we saw the whole trip.  Unless you count the men as wildlife....

Then it was smooth sailing.  The guys took a break and we women did all the hard work from here on out.

And then we arrived at the end of our trip.  It was great fun and I can't wait to do it again!  Next time though, I'm packing a portapotty.