Canoe the High Seas...or How to Save Your Relationship

Rachel, me and John

John and I wanted to get out this fine weekend (and apparently everyone else in Minneapolis did,
too). Let's go canoeing! My co-worker had urged us to borrow her canoe anytime this summer so it wouldn't sit idle. After hunting down her flotation device, we were ready to go a-canoeing. We flopped into the water in a silver apparatus ready to own that Lake of the Isles. Boy, were we unprepared.

First of all, kayaking skills do not transfer easily to canoe. I know that now. We ran into my friends as they were headed to shore and they gave us some tips. Apparently, the person in back steers (me) while the person in front is the muscle (John). We set forth with this knowledge and this knowledge only. I tried to use my rafting "skills" to call out paddle strokes to John, but that didn't work as well as I thought.

We somehow got to the the Cedar Ave. canal, a beautiful canal with a stone arch entrance that leads to another lake. Normally, we would ooh and awe at the white water lilies and canopy of trees. This trip down the canal was filled, instead, with the noises of John and I snapping at each other "paddle this way!"; splashing water at each other with paddles; and the slow bang of our canoe running into sides of canal/trees/kayakers. Then, finally, silence of me not talking out of frustration and humiliation. Just breathe....

Once out of mass hysteria in the canal (20 minutes), we actually were doing a better job. We started too big, I think. We got to the shore in more or less a straight line without hating each other. John put up with my frustrated grunts-followed-by-silence. Afterward, he even said "Your impatience won't drive me away". That filled my heart with joy since anyone who knows me knows that my impatience can be bountiful.

We promised we would try it again with someone who knew what they were doing....but maybe not anytime soon.

18. Canoe or Kayak or Both DONE!