Not too long ago, my mom spent an afternoon kayaking with her sister and sister-in-law and left with a plan concocted to take her own family out on the water.
This is a unique idea because it's completely out of character for my family. We love our family dinners together but rarely plan special outings outside of those evenings, especially now, when my brother and sister and I live on opposite ends of the metro area from my parents. When I was younger, my dad took Monday afternoons off one summer, and our family went on adventures all over town. Today reminded me of that!
One by one, my brother, sister, dad, and boyfriend jumped on board (let the water puns begin!), so we planned to meet at the Lake Calhoun pavilion, rent three double kayaks and cruise around the lakes to our hearts' content. The only snafu of the day happened right away, when we arrived and learned that all but one of the double kayaks were already out on the water. Mom and Dad hopped in the last double kayak, and the rest of us went solo.
We couldn't have asked for better weather. The temps were in the 80s, but the humidity was blessedly low and there was a perfect light breeze. We started off, paddling our way through Calhoun and Isles, the busiest parts of the Chain of Lakes.
I immediately fell to the back, partly because I kept pausing to take photos and partly because, as it turns out, I am sort of a sorry kayaker.
What is a family kayaking expedition without some friendly shenanigans? At least twice, my dad managed to covertly hook Phil and April's kayaks together. What is that saying? "Fool me once..."
Before the trip, I had engaged in some jovial trash-talking about who would go in the water unintentionally. (Yes, I was worried this would backfire and result in my own dunking.) No one tipped over, but there was plenty of splashing, as Josh is zooming toward April to demonstrate:
The Chain of Lakes is magnificent because it is, well, a chain of lakes right in the middle of Minneapolis linked together by creeks, straits, and tunnels. Here's one of the narrowest ones we passed through:
We covered Lake Calhoun, Lake of the Isles, Cedar Lake, and ended at Brownie Lake--the quietest and most peaceful of the four--before turning around and heading back to the Calhoun pavilion. We saw packed beaches, swimmers lounging in inner tubes in the middle of Cedar Lake, and lots of people out kayaking and canoeing. Everyone we passed seem to be wearing a Cheshire Cat grin about being able to be on the water on such a gorgeous, lazy Minnesota summer day. Here's my own Cheshire perma-grin:
By the end, our arms and cores ached. It was time for my mom's second best idea of the day (next to the kayaks themselves) to play out: the picnic. She had packed an exquisite cooler filled with cold lemonade and sandwich wraps and strawberries and chocolate-covered pretzels...and on and on. The six of us sat down (and laid down) in the shade, ate, took cat naps, talked, ate more, people-watched and belly-laughed. We didn't get up for a long time.
Now, I'm prone to hyperbole, but it's no exaggeration when I say that it was one of the best days I can remember. And it definitely made me want to scrounge up a whole bunch of other adventures while the days are long and the sun feels hot.
I love your family.
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