My Kayak

For my birthday, Cathie gave me a life jacket. I stared at it for a little while trying to figure out exactly what the gift was and she and the kids looked on smiling. When they brought the paddles in, I knew for sure. I'm a pretty tough guy to buy for and it's tough for Cathie to stay ahead of me with gifts for my first love: gadgets. I loved kayaking on vacation last year and what made this such a great gift was that it was unexpected and thoughtful. (For the record, Nate told Cathie that I'd hate it because it wasn't technology.)

I knew squat about Kayaks, but after doing some digging, I found out that Cathie got me exactly the right one and got a great deal on it to boot.  Cathie wasn't quite sure how to get it home, so Nate and I went to pick it up and saw what she meant.  It's about 14' long and without a Kayak rack, there's no easy way to transport it.  I quickly figured out that the ropes I'd brought weren't going to cut it and bought a cheap set of cables and foam rack to take it home.

 We've been having a blast with it.  I've got it stored at a friend's cottage about 15 minutes away and we've used it almost every weekend since.  The kids and I have had a blast with it and I've gone out with friends to do some longer trips.

Part of the reason I love mountain biking is that it combines exercise with the outdoors.  This is the same kind of thing, but you can do it tandem or solo.  You can talk while you're Kayaking, and it's about as simple as you can imagine to pick up.  Maddie and her friend have taken it out on the lake and had a great time with it.  Emily even paddled me around for a while, figuring out how to steer it and maneuver it pretty quickly.  The Kayak is incredibly stable and moves pretty effortlessly.  We've had a blast so far, and the beauty is that it gives me some great one-on-one time with the kids as we're taking it out.