Up till now, all my adventures have involved driving my car, taking a train, flying in a plane, or boarding a ship. For the past two years, we’ve lived on the banks of a beautiful pond. We often take walks around the northwest side and have always admired its beauty. There are lots of water fowl including geese, ducks, and swans. Sometimes a flock of geese or family of ducklings will stop traffic on the street as they make their way to the pond. Last fall I counted no less than nine swans on the pond at one time. There’s a beaver lodge in the marshy area. People also like to take boats onto the pond and fish or kayak. Many mornings there are beautiful sunrises and I just can’t help but snag a picture.

I’ve often thought that kayaking on the pond would be fun and great exercise, but it’s hard to store a kayak in an apartment. I’ve expressed this to Janet, and she came up with the perfect solution. For my birthday she got me an inflatable kayak. It was awesome! I was so excited, I inflated it in the living room. I’ve taken it out a few times this summer and I really like it. I confess, I put it in the car and drive to the other side of the pond to put in (making it kind of a car adventure).

The pond is only about four or five feet deep throughout and has lots of vegetation. You have to be careful of the lily pads as they’re hard to paddle through. Usually I take a lap around the whole pond and get out. It takes about an hour, so I put my earbuds in and listen to my audible book.

The pond is peaceful. Even though we live in an area that densely populated, the trees surrounding it block out much of the civilization beyond. I try to stay about fifty feet from the swans, but I can’t resist taking pictures when I see them.

The first time I went in, I wore my Vans slip on shoes. The muddy area I had to push through nearly ruined them, so I ordered some fun water shoes from Amazon. I have a nice waterproof pouch for my phone as well. I feel like a kayaking monster now. I hope  it’s not just a fad.

The pond routinely freezes over in the winter time and I’ve often thought how cool it would be to go skating on the huge slab of ice. I won’t mention that to Janet, though!

 

 

 

“Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.” – Helen Keller