Kayaking

I'm a (soon-to-be) Rec Therapist and I've got the Teva's to show it! My sister thinks these shoes are a little granola, which had me a little worried.  Then a Rec Therapist came to one of my classes in Chaco's and she said that every Rec Therapist needed at least one pair of Chaco's, so I didn't feel too bad.  I would seriously recommend these shoes to you so comfy... BUT I digress, this is not a post about shoes, but rather about me doing this:

Last winter when I was signing up for fall classes I signed up for a required recreation class.  The class is called RECM 223R, and it's called Outdoor Leadership Skills. I had no idea what it was so I signed up for a section where the time worked for me.  Then fall semester rolls around and I notice that instead of Outdoor Leadership Skills on my schedule it says: Sea Kayaking.  Um.. what? That was my first reaction.. then I frantically looked up my schedule. Turns out the every section of RECM 223 is actually a different outdoor skill. I could have had mountain biking or canyoneering or something, but I got kayaking... 

Now you may remember from a previous post that Kayaking is part of my before-I-get-married goals, so although I was hesitant and although it sort of interfered with this great service opportunity I wanted to try, I STAYED IN THE CLASS.

This is why every Tuesday afternoon I was driving out to Utah Lake, which smells gross and has dead fish in it and tons of ducks, to learn some kayaking skills.  The Tuesdays all worked towards the final goal: a overnight trip ACROSS THE 8-MILE-WIDE LAKE.  This was supposed to happen Friday night, but unfortunately, it was raining and windy on Friday night, so we just met up on Saturday morning to go for a 6-mile paddle.  That's right ... six miles propelled by my upper-body alone.  3 of which was into the wind and the waves. 

But I was prepared: 

What you see there is my Kayak -- the one filled with CANDY and treats.  Yep. I follow after my mother -- every trip you go on is about the food. ALWAYS. No matter where you are headed or how you get there (kayaking, hiking, or driving) you have to bring the treats.  I already super splurged on the snacks BEFORE the trip was cancelled and I was not going to waste it all... SO I packed it in my kayak. This turned out to be a good thing, because I was able to share with my whole class during the break! Good times.

So here's the gear:

I always choose the ones that look like the one above because I think they are the cutest.  I call the design Sunset Shimmer.

Speaking of equipment, I found out for one of the papers for this class (every class has a least one down side), that I'm a kayaking purist.  Most of my classmates couldn't wait to release their rudders and take the easy route to steering.. I myself learned that there are quite a few kayaking purists that don't believe in rudders, so I learned to master the "lean and paddle." If you just lean over the way you want to go, and paddle on the opposite side you can maneuver pretty well, and I never ever had to use the rudder once!

Below is my spray skirt:

That sucker keeps out most of the wet, which is a GREAT BLESSING, because the wet can get everywhere.  It gets in your mouth, your eyes, your hair, and all over your hands and arms so keeping your legs dry is wonderful!

On the trip, I took some pictures of the scenery:

We kayak RIGHT next to the airport, so planes are always flying pretty low over us.  On Saturday we had a huge-o Army plane land right over us -- so cool! (Speaking of the sky: check out this video of a man breaking the sound barrier -- OUTSIDE OF A PLANE. to jump to the cool part go to about 1:00 minute in. The guy is 24 MILES up in the air -- so psycho!)

And this great vista was also visible:

It snowed the night before on the mountains so it was beautiful! The reason the sky takes up most of the shot is that I had to crop out a guy in my class or a man fishing (I can't remember which), but I thought it was still pretty!

And this view is pretty common for me:

Yep. I'm kind of a back of the pack type of kayaker. I think that's mostly because I'm a class with a lot guys and a girl that is on the track team for throwing.  There are a few girls that join me here in the back though, so that's kind of fun!

And that my friends is the story of my kayaking class! I hope you are all inspired to try something new today, because sometimes it turns out to be a blast! So until next time as we say in the kayaking world,

Paddle On!!!

(We don't actually say that in the paddling world)