In the last couple of weeks, the weather has started to cool down and the rain has been non-stop. That means one thing: perfect kayaking conditions! After a particularly wet Thursday, Sam and I decided it was time to buy our very own kayaks so we could take them out on the river whenever we wanted...and we wanted to that weekend. We soon found that there were none available locally, so we ordered some online and they arrived a week later. Eager to get the adventure started, we immediately unpacked the boxes only to find that there were no paddles or pumps included! I ended up grabbing a pump from Walmart and found some paddles for sale on Craigslist.
Saturday afternoon, after a full game of disc golf and a quick trip to Camp Verde to pick up our new paddles, we met up with our good friends Keith and Nora and launched our vessels into the raging waters of the Verde River. We decided that I would share a kayak with Dagwood and Sam would share with Lincoln to help distribute the weight a little bit more evenly. We dropped my car off at the pull-out point and hitched a ride with Keith back up to the launch point, and I made a special point to put my keys under the mat in his truck so they wouldn't get lost in the river somewhere, and Sam and Keith both agreed that that would be wise. Well, it wasn't wise. I PUT MY KEYS UNDER THE MAT...therefore leaving us stranded once we got back to the car. Fortunately, that wasn't the case...I had forgotten to actually LOCK the car, and the spare set were in the glove box, so all was well.
We ended up having the most delightful ride down the river - the boys loved it, and they don't really love much of anything. Keith and Nora supplied them with Super Soakers that provided hours of endless entertainment (for them...not me so much), and they had a blast. In between rapids, we would essentially play battleship - plowing into each other and nailing each other as much as possible with the streams from our "cannons".
 |
| Dagwood just loves when I take selfies... |
I was pretty darn forward- thinking as well, putting a lasagne in the oven before we left with the timer set so it would be hot and ready when we arrived back home after our exhausting day.
After cleaning up and diving in to our delicious, nutritious dinner, I cozied up in my bed with my laptop, ready to sort through my photos and videos from the day, only to find that my computer was having serious issues, as in, it wouldn't start. After some pleading on Facebook for assistance, our neighbor and friend Mark invited me to stop by so he could take a look at it. A couple of hours later, I returned home empty-handed while he tried to retrieve the content from my harddrive later that evening.
Sunday morning, we woke up early and hit up our favorite breakfast joint, Pepe's, before making our way down to Prescott for the day. I had researched a hike to a dam right in the midst of the Granite Dells and Watson Lake a few days before, so we actually had a plan and a route, which is always a good thing. We found our trailhead with no problems and made our way along the creek to the dam and them back up through the rocks to the car. It only took us a couple of hours, so it was perfect with the boys. The scenery was amazing.
After getting back to the car, we made our way to the Watson Lake parking area, unloaded our kayaks, and settled in for a picnic lunch that we'd packed that morning. We pumped up the kayaks, loaded up all of our gear (beer, soda, snacks, sunscreen, and bug spray :)) and launched into the lake.
This time, I got to ride with Sam and the boys shared a kayak. Sam paddled pretty much the entire time which was a real treat! The water was super high, so there were new crevices and secret passages that we had a blast exploring. One thing that we loved about Watson Lake was the lack of motorboats, making the lake incredibly still and quiet. There weren't large wakes rattling us around, and we weren't really concerned with being mowed down by a jetski or something. It was delightful. Sam even had to dive in :)
After spending several hours exploring and relaxing, we headed back to shore, loaded up, and made our way towards Jerome via the scenic 89A for dinner at Grapes. The boys couldn't wait for pizza and ice cold soda, and it did not disappoint. Once we arrived back home, I couldn't wait to get into a warm shower and climb into my bed with a movie for the rest of the evening. I slept like a baby :)
Not wanting to waste my 3-day weekend, I knew I had to milk it for all it was worth, and hit the water one last time on Monday. This time, I went solo and had Sam pick me up at the end and take me back to my car. I had a much more leisurely ride this time, quiet, peaceful, tranquil...it was just what I needed. I even sat back for a while and watched a blue heron on the cliffs next to the water.
 |
| I was feeling especially adventurous and decided to take a shortcut by the dam through this nasty little pond and prayed that I didn't tip over or spring a leak |
After getting back to the house, I went over to Mark's to pick up my laptop, and it was ready...with a whole new hard drive. The rest of the afternoon was spent getting things all sorted out on it and recovering info that I'd lost with my old hard drive. We took the boys back to Sedona in time for Lincoln's Piano lesson, grabbed nachos, and settled in for the evening with a movie. The perfect way to spend a weekend in my opinion :)
Since we had such a wonderful time last weekend, we knew we had to do it again THIS weekend! Friday night, a friend of ours called to see if we'd like to join him on a different stretch of the Verde River that would be a bit larger and deeper and covered about 12 miles in total. He assured us that it would only take around 3 hours. Saturday morning, he met us at our place and we followed him to Camp Verde to launch at the White Bridge. It was a gorgeous spot and much quieter...the river was wide and deep and running fast. I felt like I was in the deep south somewhere, floating on the muddy waters of the Mississippi or something...but I've got a very active imagination :)
 |
| Pretty much all of these pictures have by feet somewhere in them...that wasn't intentional. The sun was in my eyes and I was just aiming ahead and that's how it worked out. |
A few hours in, we came across a perfectly placed rope swing hanging from a gorgeous tree over a wide, deep section of the river. Poe insisted that we give it a whirl and we couldn't resist. After testing it's soundness, we all went for a spin and were soon laughing until we turned blue in the face. If there's one lesson to take away from the experience, it's that even the most graceful person looks like a clumsy fool hanging from a rope swing...and that may just be what I loved so much about it. I also learned that I need to work on my upper body strength. Sam got his foot caught at one point and was dangling upside down from the rope! Poe even got Lincoln to try it out a couple of times. It was a blast. After each of us swung a few times, we piled back into our kayaks and headed downstream.
Eventually, Sam wanted to give Poe's kayak a whirl, so I found a muddy bank to pull over on and switch. Unfortunately, the "muddy bank" was more of a poop consistency and it reeked of human waste. I'm not sure exactly what was going on there, but something was sketchy. I stepped out of the kayak and sank up to my thigh in the slimy mess. It was probably the most disgusting sensation that I've ever felt before. It didn't take long, however, for the gross-out factor to switch to minor panic, as I realized that I was quite literally stuck and unsure of how to get out of the mess. One leg was still firmly inside the kayak, so I was essentially doing the splits and I could feel my shoe slowly being sucked off of my foot. The spot where my foot was stuck was under at least a foot of water, so I couldn't exactly level myself out and crawl out, like they teach you with quicksand. I was just slowly sucking down into the murky, poopy depths. I should also mention that, though there were 4 other men gathered around me, none of them were offering me assistance of any kind - in fact, they were doubled over in laughter. Fortunately for me at least, my camera had died by that point, so there's no humiliating footage floating around of the whole ordeal. Eventually, I was able to use the kayak as leverage and drag myself out of the way of certain death. I made my way downstream to a more grassy area where I could clean off and switch off with Sam.
We continued on for a few more miles, watching blue heron and baby otters, waiting for the dark clouds on the edge to float over and offer some relief from the hot sun. A few moments later, they did and it began to rain a little bit. I couldn't tell if it was the darkness of the sky from the clouds or if the hunger pangs were legitimate, because I could have sworn that way more than 3 or 4 hours had passed. Once we got to the parking lot marking the end of our journey, 7 hours had passed! We loaded up our gear, packed up the car, and made our way to La Fonda's Mexican restaurant in Camp Verde.
Sunday rolled around, and I was pretty much useless. My house is still filthy, all of our hampers are overflowing with laundry, my car smells like fish...basically, I haven't been fulfilling any responsibilities at home, but I'm having a blast living life to it's fullest. My arms felt like rubber from paddling, and most likely rope-swinging. I was sunburned and tired and totally pooped...and to me, that means one thing: a successful weekend :)