Georgia's Small Animals

   I'm going to be honest with you.  When I make a decision to travel somewhere, about 35% of that decision is based on if the location has a desirable kayaking spot.  In May, when I traveled to Austin, Texas, sure I wanted to see my family and go back to my Texas roots, but a part of it was because I thought we could all go kayaking under the Congress Avenue bridge (the kayaking didn't work out, but that's fine. It was still the best and Austin is now one of my favorite cities).  In June I traveled with my mom and my sister to Washington D.C. for my cousin's graduation.  I love America, I love my family, I love traveling.  But hey, how cool would it be to go kayaking down the Potomac River? That trip didn't work out either, looking back I easily could have grabbed Graham and headed down there one morning but oh well.  Maybe next time.  In July, I flew over to Atlanta, Georgia, to visit my father and his girlfriend.  A few days before I'm scheduled to get there, my dad calls me and asks me to research the Chattahoochee River.  I don't think too much of it.  Yes, I would love to go kayaking but if we don't get to it, it's no skin off my nose.  So I look into it anyway, the prices were a little high for my liking.  I let my father know, he doesn't think it's an issue.  "I've never done it before," he says, "It'll be fun.  Plus, it will be great for your blog."  I laugh and say okay.

   So I fly over to Atlanta, take a train to my dad's house, and we drive over to the river to rent the boats.  When we arrive, I become a tad disheartened.  The only kayaks that are available are sit-ins, and the majority of them don't have back rests.  Not to mention that there are plenty of people already out on this river.  There are huge groups of college kids celebrating the beginning of summer by tying together 20 inner-tubes.  The river is larger than what I had in mind, not to mention the strong current...

   Maybe I was just exhausted and over-rot from my extremely full day of travel, but kayaking down that river had to be one of the worst experiences of my life.  There was a moment, maybe longer than a moment, when I swore off kayaking from my life.  I threw my paddle down and said, "Never again."  My father was far ahead of me and I was struggling.  No matter how hard I pushed forward, I was going nowhere.  The current was too strong and everyone around me was too loud.  I go kayaking for the experience with nature.  I go for the feeling that I am getting an inside look at a special niche in the Earth that can only be accessed by kayaking there.  I go for the feeling of being completely immersed and overwhelmed by a sense of contentment and serenity.  I achieved none of these things on this kayaking trip.  A drunk abhorrence hung over the entire river, and I wanted no part of it.

   After a while, my father was becoming sick of my distaste and discomfort so he decided to lead me to a side stream that connected to the river.  It was narrower, smoother, and had a lovely canopy of trees; reminding me of home.  This was more like it.
   As we're paddling, I notice something moving in the water about six feet away.  Naturally, my first thought is that it's an alligator.  But it wasn't big enough and it was making more of a splashy movement.  Is it a snake? Maybe...
   "Dad," I say, "What is that?  A snake?"
   He paddles a little closer, but the creature starts heading right towards us.  We both stare at it, trying to get a better look at whatever this was.
   It seemed to click for the both of us at the same time.  I see the animal's little head poking above the water level and my dad and I both say, almost in unison, "A chipmunk!"
   His big brown eyes were flashing at Dad as if to say, "Please get out of my way.  I can't go back there, something wants to eat me."  His little paws were paddling along and he seemed to be using his tail to keep his balance.  Never in my life had I ever seen a chipmunk swim.  I didn't even know they could swim.  My dad was laughing and said, "That't the coolest thing I've ever seen.  Jillianne, I know it was rough earlier, but that made the whole trip worth it."

   As we go a little further, the river starts to get narrower and rocks start showing up in my path.  At a certain point, we reach a small set of rapids.  Water is rushing over the rocks and my dad is trying to find a way through.  "We could get out of the kayaks and pulls them through and keep going?" He suggested.  I paddle up to the rocks and sit to listen to the sound of the running water before saying, "I don't know, we could probably just turn around.  It's getting late anyway."
   "True.  Let's just sit for a minute," he smiles and says.
   He takes a sip of his water, looks around, and says to me, "Okay, when you get home, you have to tell your mother this."
   I laugh and say, "Why?"
   "I want you to say "Mom, Dad took me to this river and it was level five rapids! Mom, I was so scared" and then tell me what she says."
   I throw my head back laughing and say, "Yes, because this is so threatening.."

   So this kayaking trip wasn't what I thought it was going to be.  It wasn't the best experience I've ever had, but it certainly wasn't the worst.  I got to spend time with my father, I saw a chipmunk SWIMMING (seriously though, how cool is that?), and I got to kayak in a completely new place.  Even though that trip was extremely... humbling, I am still a kayaker. 

Dry Docked

   I have not been on the water in months. Looking back on the summer as a whole, I probably went water sporting three times. I know it seems like this blog was abandoned, but I assure you it is not. Over the summer I took up a very important job and was working on art related things in order to propel me towards Savannah, Georgia. I was also traveling, reading, and dealing with a family tragedy. My heart belongs in a kayak, but sometimes we have to hang it up while we work on other things. But now that I am back at school and back on a schedule, I guarantee that I will begin to post much more frequently. They may not all be about kayaking, but I promise they will be entertaining.

  Summer is over and school is in session. I'd like to share the books that filled my summer break and give a short review of each one:
Phenomenal: not a bad choice to enhance your train ride to work or your BLT filled lunch break. 
Brain On Fire: My personal favorite. Helped me appreciate my health.
Invisible Man: Surprising to see what has changed and what hasn't since the time it was written.
Death of a Salesman: Obvious ending that I thought would be more of a metaphor...
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly: Absolutely beautiful. Go read it now.
Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me?: Light and easy. You may or may not laugh out loud.
All the Light We Cannot See: Overrated, skip it, save your money and your time.
Hitchhiking with Larry David: Underrated and unknown. Diamond in the rough. Restored my faith in a few things.
Let's Pretend This Never Happened: I guarantee you'll have a good belly laugh every now and then, even if you don't admit to it.

Perfect Week: Day One

   Once again, I come crawling to you all on my knees.  I apologize for my absence.  This last weekend I was in Austin, Texas and I was pretty preoccupied with my wonderful family.  But school is now over, so I am faithfully yours.
   This week is the week I embark on a "Perfect Week".  A "Perfect Week" is when one goes kayaking, paddle boarding, water sporting, etc., for seven consecutive days.  I attempted one this time last year, but unfortunately I only made it to day 6.  Looking back, I have no idea why I didn't go on that seventh day.  I think I ran out of friends who were willing to go with me.  But this year is different.  I have people on deck for each day, everything is set, all I have to do is hope for good weather.  It's supposed to rain everyday this week, but where I live that usually just means afternoon showers.  Like today, it was scheduled to rain all day, but it only rained for about five minutes around 1 o'clock.  Not to mention, I've pretty much put all of my eggs into this one basket.  This week is the only full week when I will be able to kayak everyday.  Next week I'm flying to Atlanta to visit my father; and the first of June, I begin my nannying job, working from 8-5 each day.  Ergo, this week is my only chance.
   This morning at around 8 o'clock, Sarah Anne drives over to my house.  My mother has the volvo, and the volvo has the kayak rack.  Thankfully Sarah Anne is a dear friend, a dear friend who happens to have a truck.  We throw the yaks in the back of the pick-up, collapse the paddles so they fit in the back seat, fill our water bottles, and we head away.  It's weird having someone else drive to the kayak drop-off point.  Out of all the times I've gone, I think I've had someone else drive me there only two times.  But this is exciting, the weather is nice, temperature wise.
   When we arrive, the small white dog who lives at the house is yapping away, alerting everyone in the neighborhood that the kayaking girl is back.  The tide is in, and I mean in.  It seems as if everything is underwater.  Can something that's already underwater go underwater?  When we pass one of the many "No Wake" signs, I notice that one of them is almost half-way submerged.  That means that the water level rose about two feet.  Two feet!  We have to partake in the limbo to travel under the bridges and all of the docks are level with our kayaks.  That fact is good and bad.  If there was an alligator chasing our tails, we would be able to pull up to land no problem with the drop of a hat, but the alligator would be able to do the same.
   Once we get to a certain point in the water the two of us begin to cheat at the system.  The wind is strong and the water is practically flipping over at the chance to get us to where we want, so why should we resist?  We put our paddles in our laps and recline back.  Immediately we start to drift.  The water does the work for us while the two of joke about bringing sails with us next time.
   "I like it when we do this," Sarah Anne smiles.
   "I think everyone likes this.  Getting the same results with doing absolutely no work," I laugh.
   Our cutting corners is quickly punished.  Once we turn the corner, the tide is no longer with us and I start to feel like I'm trying to drive a parked car.  This was a workout I never signed up for.  The water that was once amiable and helpful had now become sassy and spiteful.  But after thirty minutes, we make the distance that normally takes us five minutes.  We get back to the house and cheerfully high-five one another for making it through.

The One with the Bears, not with Steve

   I'm sitting in the lounge, happily eating my chocolate chip cookie and sipping on a cup of coffee.  Mama Bear comes running in, balancing a stack of cookies with her coffee, "Jillianne, oh my gosh!  Do you know what we need to do?"  I set my glass down and shake my head.  She rotates her arms forward, gesturing a paddle, and whispers, "Kayaking."
   I laugh and roll my eyes, "It's late and it's kind of choppy out there.."
   "No, no, no it's not.  Not on the other side.  It's nice.  They don't close until 6, come on, we have plenty of time," she insists.  My mother walks in with her coffee and pulls up a chair to our table.  I tell her that Mama Bear wants to go kayaking, hoping that she will agree with me and then cunningly change the topic so it won't be brought up again until it is too late.  It works for a little while.
   At about 5:15, she asks again, "Please, Jillianne! You know we'll have a good time!  Just a short trip, please?"
   She's just too sweet, I sigh and say okay.
   "Was that a yes?" she gasps, "Oh my gosh, she said yes!"

   When we get to the rental shack I tell the young man there we want to kayak.  He clenches his jaw together and takes a deep breath in through his teeth, "We're closed, I'm sorry."
   "No you're not.  You close at six," I respond curtly.
   "Yeah, but we like to have everything back in by 5:30 so we can start shutting down.  I'm really sorry."
   I know I wasn't completely on board (no pun intended) with going kayaking that afternoon, but I still don't care for it when people don't do their jobs.  But I wasn't about to have a brawl with the hotel beach guy, so I turn around and tell my mom and Mama Bear the bad news.
   "Oh no.  You're not getting out of this one," she says to me and continues toward the hut.
   "Um, excuse me? Hi," she says to the guy (I would call him a man, but he isn't quite there yet)
   He tries to tell her the same thing he told me but she's not having it.
   "We'll be super quick, I promise.  It's our last night here, and we really wanted to go," she pleads.
   After a few minutes of back and forth, the man finally agrees..begrudgingly.  She yips with excitement and tells me not to act like I don't feel the same.
   We grab our life vests and paddles and head down to sit in our yellow two person kayak.  Papa Bear and Lil' John (their son, not the rapper or Robin Hood character) hop in the kayak next to us.
   I sit in the back so I can steer and say, "Okay, we're going to win and dominate."
   The man pushes us off the shore and I think about how nice it is that I can kayak without having to worry about the hassle that comes with it.  I won't have to put this beast back on my car when I'm done.  I won't have to take care of the paddle and put it away when I get home.  This yak is only my responsibility from the moment I leave the shore to the time I reach it again.  Then that guy has to take care of it.  This is awesome!
   Hauling tail across the water, we pull in front of Papa and John, only for a moment.  Their kayak comes closer to ours and Mama shrieks, begging them not to crash into us.  John holds out his paddle and rams into ours, pushing us away.  I point us back into the right direction but we lose our speed and they quickly pass us.  After a few moments, they turn to go back the other way, but we keep going.
   "Are you okay? Are you happy?" Mama Bear asks.
   I say yes but she turns around, "Are you?"
   Laughing, I say, "Yes, I am.  This is great!"

   When we make it back it to the sand, the guy is waiting and quickly pulls us in.
   Mama Bear thanks him again for letting us go and says, "But hey, now you get to be on her blog!"

 
   End Note:  This was during my Easter vacation at the same resort the last post was set at.  It was lovely and this kayaking trip, even though it was short lived, was still so much fun.  The Bears, not their real name, are our family-friends and are all very sweet.  I'm glad Mama Bear pushed me out to go kayaking that afternoon and I'm glad Papa and John got to go as well.  We would have brought our other family-friends with us, Steve and Belinda, so it would have been an army of kayakers!  But, alas, they were no where to be found.  Probably at the pool.  Oh well, next year.

   *There are more pics from this trip in The Gallery

Holiday

   Happy Easter holiday!! Anyone who doesn't celebrate Easter, I understand, congratulations on making it through another week! I am on vacation right now, and I thought in honor of that, I would post about the first time I went kayaking.  That's right! The FIRST time! It was one year ago and happened over Easter break at this same vacation spot (feeling nostalgic).  It's a very cozy and beyond beautiful spot in Alabama.  Mom, Christina (my sister), Sarah Anne, and I got there on a Thursday and were staying until Monday.  That gave us 5 days for opportunities to kayak.  This was while I had my kayak obsession but had yet to get one of my own.  The hotel was on the beach so I knew they kayak rentals, free for guests of the hotels.  That's what I'm talking about, unlimited FREE kayaking! This was going to be the best 5 days of my life!

   Day One:  Rain.  No problem, I still have 4 more days.

   Day Two:  High winds bringing in more rain, water is far too choppy.  No problem, little bit of a downer, but no problem.  

   Day Three:  Only free time we had was in the middle of the day and the water was so wavy we would have flipped immediately.  I want water that looks like glass.

   Day Four:  This has to be the day!! We leave tomorrow and I WILL go kayaking!! We get to the rentals at 6:10 to find out they closed at 6.  I cry.

   Day Five:
   Sarah Anne and I wake up at 7:30 to pack and make sure we are all ready to go.  I slip on my Chacos that are still wet from last night, spray sunscreen on my back, and we run downstairs so we can be the first people at the rentals at 8.
   Not even Jesus himself could have painted a more perfect morning.  The water is as blue as the sky and as still as a rock, not even a ripple.  Pelicans hang by calmly, enjoying the morning as well.  The man at the shop is happy to see us and asks if we want one kayak or two.  Huh?  I didn't know there was an option.  We look at each other and shrug our shoulders, "One?" He smiles and says, "One it is."  He gives us some paperwork to fill out, agreeing that we are not minors and consent to the safety precautions and won't sue the hotel if something goes terribly wrong.  The thing was, I in fact was a minor, my birthday was two months from then, but when I was asked to check that box, there wasn't a bone in my body that was about to let a scribble of ink stand in my way of kayaking, so I checked it without hesitation and grabbed a life vest.
   The was the first time I had ever been kayaking and this was after I had spent months obsessing over kayaks so you can imagine how...happy I was in this moment in time.  It was a level of Euphoria that I haven't found since.
   Sarah Anne sat in the front while I sat in the back since I was better at steering, a lesson we learned years ago in summer camp when we went canoeing.  We only had an hour so we didn't waste anytime.  We were hauling tail across that water!  There were two of us so we were going as fast as the birds flying overhead.  We made it towards one end of the beach where the sand meets the rocks and the rocks meet the piers.  I check my watch and we had only been out here for 10 minutes so far! I thought for sure it would be longer than that.  One of those "Time flies when you're having fun" type moments.  So we stopped.  We were now facing the part of Mobile Bay that isn't blocked off by Mobile, it was just open water.  And, hand to God, the water and the sky was the exact same color.  We could not tell where the water ended and the sky began.  It was one of the coolest things I have ever seen.  Then all of a sudden, a nearby pelican take off from his post to catch some breakfast.  He glides down to the water and hurls his head under the surface to snag something in its beak.  It was as if he was a cutout resting on a piece of blue construction paper and then the paper begins the wiggle and ripple as soon as he meets the unseen horizon.  We drift for a few moments, comparing ourselves to a scene in Life of Pi.
   Sarah Anne turns around and says, "This is pretty sweet."
   I don't say anything back, just continue to admire where I am.
   "I get it now."
   My eyes open and I look at her.
   "Why you want a kayak so badly, I mean.  I get it."

   

When Trea Flips Out

Since the post on Thursday was just a playlist.  Here's a treat:

   Back in the day, Trea and I had nothing to do but Kayak and run errands for our mothers.  So after about 5 times out kayaking (This was a few trips before we went out to the middle of the bridge), he finally asked me.. "Jillianne, have you ever practiced flipping your kayak?"  I gawk at him, "What? Why would you do that!"  He laughed at me, "You're supposed to have done that already! So in case it happens while you're out there, you'll know what to do!"  I sulk, "Oh, well... I don't plan on ever being in a situation where I'll flip over.  Calm water, that's me.  That's where I'll stay."  He laughed some more, clearly enjoying where this was going, "No, no, no.  You need to practice.."  He paddled closer to me.  I start paddling backwards, "Trea, you stay away from me,"  he reaches his arm out and nearly grabs the side of my kayak but I stab him with my paddle, "I mean it!"  "Jillianne," he tries to sound comforting, "I'm only doing this for your well-being.  Keeping you safe and prepared.  You need to know what to do!" he reaches my kayak.  Pulling me side by side with him, he smiles, "Okay, I'll make you a deal.." He looks around, "You can either.. let me flip you over right now," I squirm and try to paddle away, "or, we go out into the bay right now," I squirm even harder.  "Please, Trea.  This isn't fun."  "Flipping it is.  Here, give me your phone so it doesn't drown," he held out his hand.  I laugh and yell no.  "Fine," he smirks and jolts one side of my kayak up, but I stay put..  I laugh at him and he begs me some more to let him do it.  "How about you flip yourself.  So I can, you know, have an example.  So I know how easy it is to do."  He laughs but agrees and paddles a good distance away from me, thankfully.  He slips his phone into his dry pack, sets his paddle on the water, and takes a deep breath.  In one quick motion he is underwater and the kayak is bottom-up.  I clap my hands like a child as he quickly bobs up.  "Jillianne," he says seriously, "I can stand."  And sure enough, he plants his feet on the sandy floor raising his chest and up to be above water.  He walks forwards to catch his paddle and trudges back to get back in his boat.  He flips it on its side and puts his torso on the seat as he hurls it upright, bringing himself with it, legs flailing in the air.  He did it, actually, very gracefully.  What followed is what makes it great.  Trea's kayak is a standard one, a standard sit-in kayak.  When he had flipped it back over, it had taken a great deal of water.  As he gets seated, I watch as he looks down at his feet and mumbles, "God dammit."  He holds his head back and sighs.  I snicker, "What's wrong, hun?"  He takes off one of his shoes and tells me to shut up.  He begins shoveling the water out of his kayak with his shoe, his water shoe so it isn't as effective as we all had hoped.  But after a few moments, he seems ready to paddle back over to me to give me another ultimatum.

   When I got home that day, I told my parents how awful Trea had been and how he threatened me and tried to flip me over when I begged him not to.  They completely sided with him.  I think my mom even texted him giving him a direct order to flip me the next time we went out.