Got up early to get prepared for our canoe trip down the Blue Earth River in Mankato. Lorrie's friend Daryl rented a canoe for us from MSU Mankato so we didn't have to worry about that. Got into town around 10:00am as scheduled to pick up the canoe. Lorrie and I ran a couple errands while Daryl took care of some business and because we had to wait for Jeanie to finish her chiropractic appointments. We ended up waiting until about 12:30pm before getting on the water. Not a big deal except that I was hungry. Aww! Poor me! Daryl and we drove our cars to the put in while Jeanie left hers where we would take out. She didn't have a canoe on her vehicle so that makes sense eh?!
Lorrie and I had decided that I would steer as I seem to do a little better in that area. She had told me beforehand that there were 3 or 4 small rapids to go through. She had to tell me this because I was scared! I've never canoed on a river before and it seemed a little daunting to me. Everyone else seemed so nonchalant about it. That never caught on with me! There were rapids almost immediately and regularly thereafter. Many more than 3 or 4 so Lorrie was apologizing for misinforming me. Too late! Already there! lol But they were small... level 1 or maybe even 0 on whatever that scale of rapids is. But for me, rocks are rocks and I know how rapids are formed. So it was scary. We did pretty well with Lorrie calling out the direction I needed to steer and where the rocks were and where the "V" that I needed to head toward was. It was good!
We stopped after awhile in a gorge for lunch. I don't really consider myself a wuss. Usually. But a river. Rapids. And now a slit in the rocks where water goes when it overflows. I didn't like that and it made me nervous. Even though I knew it was unlikely that the gorge would ever fill up *that* quickly. I spent a little time figuring out my escape route if something were to happen. There were some good roots and rocks that I could have climbed. Sounds like a panic attack, which it wasn't. I was just preparing. (= There was no increased heart rate or breathing. Awareness. That's what it was. But I was able to eat lunch and enjoy most of the time in there. Lots of cairns, which I love! Jeanie and Daryl had brought 3 bottles of wine so they all got started on that at lunch. One bottle down. I'm not a teatottler (is that right?) but alcohol with a river, rapids, and an inexperienced canoeist don't seem like a great combination. That just made me more aware of what I was doing since I felt like I was the clearest in head.
Next stop was Triple Falls, which is now just a trickle. Lorrie and Daryl talked a lot about how beautiful it is when it's actually falling. It was beautiful as a trickle so I imagine it's incredible when it's really going! And it was so cool in there... the trickle was freezing! Nice! Another bottle of wine down there. So things got a little more goofy after that. And I got a little more alert. Despite my fears, I was having a pretty good time and the scenery was beautiful! It's just one of those things that when I'm not used to it, I'm more alert to the rapids and such than the beauty around me. I have to say I got a little more comfortable with each rapid that we did. Lorrie was doing such a good job getting me to the right spot that I started trusting her ability more. Not a reflection of her that I didn't trust her at first. Totally about my fear of water! We bottomed out on one rock and went sideways over one rock. That was it. Pretty good!
Third stop, "the rock." It's in the middle of another rapid. So we had to pass the rock with the flow of the water and then turn around quickly to go against the flow on the other side of the rock to park. Daryl walked out and climbed up on the huge rock with the third bottle of wine. Jeanie has a back problem and pulled her hamstring and Lorrie has a sore knee from the Boundary Waters. They couldn't get up on the big rock. I have no soreness and I couldn't get up on the rock either. They all ended up drinking the third bottle between the big rock and another rock where the water seemed pretty calm. I stayed on the other side to take photos and play in the water. I liked it there. I could float in my life jacket to cool off. (= We stayed there for quite awhile until Daryl realized how late it was and that people were meeting us at The Wine Cafe at a certain time, including his wife. So after dumping all the water from our canoes from the water fight, we took off again. There were a couple more rapids before the end. Jeanie turned around backwards in their canoe at one point. Apparently Daryl does all the paddling when he takes these women out! lol Lorrie said she rarely paddles with him either. Sounds like a good guy to do Boundary Waters with! (=
We made it safe and sound to the exit point, which was under a bridge and a sharp left turn fighting the current. I think we did alright with that one too. (= Carrying the canoe up to the parking area Lorrie stepped into a hole and twisted (broke?) her ankle pretty severely. She said she almost passed out from the pain. So we got her into the shade and let her rest with her ankle up and her head down while we got everything up top. Then we *hopped* her up to the top to wait while we got the cars to bring back. I think the weight of the canoe contributed to how hard she went down. This one was much heavier than the Kevlar we used in the Boundary Waters. Egads!
It took a little while for us to get the canoes all settled. Well, the one on D'Azul anyway. I didn't really know how Daryl had gotten it up there so he did it pretty quickly for us. We had passed the time limit so we couldn't drop it off at the school and had to leave it at Daryl's. It was crooked on the roof, which made me pretty nervous. It also moved around a little. I couldn't see how it would fall off. But I didn't want to risk it so I took my time driving. Lorrie was in the passenger seat with an ice pack from the cooler on her foot. In pain.
In the Wine Cafe she put her foot up and a new bartender got her some ice in a ziploc. Perfect! She was a good sport! I know she was in great pain but also wanted to spend some time with her friends.
Despite how it ended, it was a good day! Beautiful scenery that I need to go back and see more of! And we, for the most part, made it back safely. (=
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