Row, Row, Row Your Boat

So my honey C likes to kayak. And I've never really kayaked before. Of course, once you hear my story, you will have to say that I STILL don't kayak. Technically. But I'm getting ahead of myself. :)

C knows that I'm lazy (it's a fact, why deny it!?! :)). Sometimes he teases me, other times he appeases me (ha! Just call me Dr Seuss!). And so kayaking is one of the times where he appeases me. To do so, we tandem kayak! Which means we have a big ole kayak for two that he rows while I just sit and pretend that I'm back in Venice with my gondolier rowing behind me. It works out really well I must say! He's happy that we're kayaking together, and I'm happy that I don't have to exert myself rowing for hours. It's a good compromise really.

Plus, this allows me to sit and take pictures. This makes him happy as he likes my photos and will add them to his screensaver slideshow or print them out, frame them, and decorate his home with them. So it's a win-win.

Recently we grabbed some friends and headed out to kayak outside Portland in a place called Scappoose. The area was very peaceful with lots of wildlife, so I have some pictures to share. Take a gander!

First we spotted some osprey with a nest atop a big pole. Here's mom in the nest with the two young 'uns.

And here's papa watching over them from a nearby pole:

And here's mama osprey heading out to hunt (sheesh! Stuck raising the kids AND hunting for them while he just sits his arse over on another pole watching the scenery! That ain't right! :))

And here's a blue heron we rowed by then later spotted in a tree:

That's a weird looking bird, isn't it?! Almost dinosaur-age looking. Weird.

Here are some sandpipers. Too cute! I love these guys!

Oh, and we can't forget the traditional ducks and geese:

Boy, did they make a ruckus when we were cruising by!

A couple of other shots along the way:

And the group at our turn around point:

And last but not least, as we were almost back to our starting point, we stumbled upon a cow which had JUST given birth! So we hung out on the water watching as the mama cow cleaned up her calf a bit, then as the baby tried standing for the very first time! So cute! What a great thing to see! (well, the afterbirth part wasn't SO great .... but the rest of it .... very, very cool! :))

Fresh outta the oven, all wet and gooey!

Mama trying to clean baby up a bit:

Baby's first stand, with mama looking on:

Ta da!!!!

All in all a very good time! I highly recommend this kayak thing! (Especially if you can wrangle someone else into doing the rowin' for you! ;))