Fireworks 2.0: A Wild Weekend: Part One

(Paddleboat Race, SJS 2008)
(Hat Ladies at the Paddleboat Race SJS/2008)


I hope your 4th of July was as interesting as mine! Steve and I visited Gravel Lake on Friday morning and left Sunday morning. We saw family and celebrated a birthday. Upon arrival, I was signed up for a paddle boat race in the channel at 3:00 p.m. I knew it would be no ordinary race (which I will explain later in this post), so I opted for a rest on the lounge with a Jen Lancaster book (her memoirs are hysterical!) Soon after I peeled off my contact lenses and opted for a midday snooze.

I woke up in a little while, put in a fresh pair of contacts, freshened up for the big race. We received the phone call from our family friend, who was on her way. So Steve and Dad empty and clean out the paddle boat for us, although it will be drenched again in less than an hour.

So my partner in crime arrives donning a brown girly cowboy hat and a swimsuit. I have my crazy hat, sunglasses,swimsuit, life vest and SPF 50. We're ready to go. Oh,wait. I insist she has a life jacket too. We pedal the trek down to the channel,sign up,and make our trek to the heart of the channel (and where I take most of my nature photographs!)

There are paddleboats and kayaks lined up behind a rope. Unfortunately (or fortunately,if you like excitement), the paddleboat race is the dirtiest race in the 4th of July activities this weekend. There are huge waterguns spraying, water balloons, and people leaping off one boat onto another to pull eachother off. And the race hasn't even started yet.

The whistle blows. People are pulling on each other's boats to get ahead. We somehow start off turning sideways but end up straightening ourselves. We are bombed with water balloons. Our thighs start to burn. People are yelling and cheering.

And then we are almost at the finish line. We ask a guy in the water to push us to the finish line. And what does he do? He pushes us sideways. Again. So we jump off, abandon ship, and push the boat over the line. And we come in lucky 13. We finished. We pedal back home and I rest for the remainder of the day.















Comments

Popular Posts