maiden voyage

Jason and I have been eyeing a certain Native brand tandem kayak/canoe hybrid thing all summer, unable to bring ourselves to purchase it new. A few weeks ago we were third on the list to purchase a new one at a good end-of-season price, but someone ahead of us took it. We thought our chances were done. But last week we happened upon the end-of-season sale of their demo boats! There were two left the day after the sale started, only possible according to the salespeople because of the crumby weather for the past couple weeks. Otherwise, people literally line up at 6 am to get such boats. Long story short, we got one! Man. It sucks to watch yourself get really excited about material possessions. But this is something we will make use of, I tell you. Use of. More than we would that silly paper money we spent on it.

Anywho, we've been in plenty of small boats, but neither of us have operated a kayak-like contraption. Getting it into the water on our maiden voyage into Lake McDonald, we looked like the two stooges. First, we nearly got into the water without our paddles. While Jason went back to the van to fetch them, there gathered on the once-empty nearby shore a small crowd of people, out to observe the nice sunset. Feeling the pressure, since we were the only moving things to look at (the sunset was rather still, and there weren't other boaters on the lake), I started giggling uncontrollably and so could barely lift my end of the kayak over the dock. We soon realized we shouldn't be using the dock at all, so we sheepishly walked down the dock and dropped her in directly from the shore. It was wigglier than we expected and it surprised us to be right down in the water. More giggling and goofily balancing ourselves. Afterwards, when we loaded up the boat into the van on our way out, we overestimated the van's length and pushed the boat into the front windshield. Maybe insurance will cover it.

We went on another trip last night, and things went much smoother. Here are some shots from the two evenings.

We're thinking, "Green Lily" for a name, but it's not settled yet. It's a good green color, and Lily is reminescent of the Glacier Lilies around here. Plus, lily pads. It's low to the water and looks like a lily pad...with two humans on it hurling sticks around.