Day 48: Chasing herons down the lake

 

Can you see the heron?  We counted seven or eight wading toward water's edge.

This morning's adventures were mostly unphotographed because the kayak I was using was a little bit of a challenge to handle.  Every time we have rented from this little company, I've tried a different craft.  This time they put me in the owner's own kayak (there were already nine kayakers out on the lake when we arrived).  It's a slightly different cut, and handled slightly differently, which was a challenge because every time I would try to pause to take a photo, the kayak would turn in a circle, pushed by the wave and wind pattern.  So I took one, at a distance from shore, to try to capture the heron as he (or she) was wading.

Then I put the phone away and said "no more, I need to focus on controlling this craft" because by the time I got my photo taken and the phone tucked away again, my friend was quite a bit further down the lake, and I had to not only work on keeping the direction straight, but also on catching up!

Near the very end of our rental time, close to the camp site they were launching from, I paused again, and this photo shows you how far away she got in that brief period while I got out the phone and took a couple of shots:

Can you see her, the little blue kayak toward the top center?

Proof that we were there is here, all mussed and happy, after we got out and were getting ready for the drive home.

The drive to and from was the adventure we expected, being as neither of us had been down there since they changed which roads were open and closed.  The new "big deal" in traffic control these days is the roundabout, and there are three new ones in the newly reopened road... one on each side of the overpass over the new South Bypass to handle the on/off ramp traffic.  This could be interesting, as the city grows.

Runkeeper mapped my route:

Interestingly, Fitbit decided that I was swimming for 28 minutes of this, and only "active" for 38 minutes.  I am often amused by Fitbit's decisions about what activity I've been engaged in.  It will regularly label my neighborhood walks as being Elliptical machine sessions, or part Elliptical and part walking.

What all of these tech tools can't give you is the sense of well-being that being active in nature gives one.  The feeling of the breeze, the sun, water falling from your paddle and splashing, the awareness of the cry of the heron (I don't remember ever hearing their voices before today, or at least not connecting the sound with the birds.)

We paused for a bladder relief break and to eat our packed snacks before heading home again.  My friend has decided that she likes this lake better than the one that is so close to both our homes.  This one is not that bad a drive for us, only about 20 minutes away, but the other one we can both reach with a walk from our respective homes.

Heading back in... Spark on!

In short, it was a good outing!  Here's hoping that my Spark friends (fellow refugees) are finding similarly fulfilling things in their Saturday, July 24, 2021.  It's the only one we'll ever get, and well worth LIVING, best as each of us can.  For Life is Good!  ✨🎇💖