Kayaking on the Cuyahoga

On Labor Day a carload of us drove out to Hiram, a tiny town east of Cleveland on the Cuyahoga River. We stopped at Camp Hi to begin a kayaking adventure!

My mom is a kayaking pro, but everyone else wasn't quite as experienced - it was only Matt's third time ever kayaking and my dad & Ruth's second. We set out super early, which turned out to be smart because the high was around 90 that day! The river was really nice because a lot of it was shaded, so we weren't in direct sun the whole time. There was hardly any current at all, and the water level was super low - the lady at the rental shack told us it was the lowest she'd ever seen it! So we ran aground a few times on sandbars/rocks, but it wasn't a big deal.

































(Thanks to my mom for the last four photos!)

It was so pretty and peaceful! Of course, since there was hardly any current helping us along - and since we paddled 7 miles! - our arms and shoulders were a tiny bit sore the next day...but it was worth it. It was lots of fun, even if some of us ended up less dry than others at the end :D A fitting end to the summer!

A Stroll and a BBQ

Some more pics from Ohio - a walk over to Horseshoe Lake, and later - a bbq and bocce in the backyard! (And a cute, tiny slug!)

Another Maine Visit - Part One

A few weeks ago, when it was forecast to be almost unbearably hot in New York (isn't it always?), we decided to head up to Maine again. It was lovely, as ever, and the weather was decidedly not hot!



Our drive up was nice - the traffic between Brooklyn and Maine seems to either be terrible or non-existent. This time, it was the latter!



We started our weekend off by visiting a cool antique/salvage place down the street from Matt's parents, The Rusty Bucket. It had all kinds of interesting stuff - - -








I got a pretty antique glass bottle which I forgot to photograph, and a normal antique glass bottle to use for my sand collection! It's not much of a collection, since until the visit to Maine, all of the different sands were from the Pacific northwest, but hey - it's growing slowly.

After we finished our antiquing adventure, we went to the beach.






My new sand bottle, in situ! When we were standing by the jetty, we saw a huge splash in the water and wondered what it was. A few seconds later, a gigantic fish jumped out of the water and splashed down again! It was a sturgeon, and it was crazy.

Happy Mom's Day (& Get Well Soon!)

Happy Mother's Day, mom - and get well soon! I love you and miss you and hope you get back to being 100% ASAP! Excited to see you in a few months - until then, have a glass of wine for me (maybe with a side of flowers?).

(and happy mother's day also to Ruth & Liz - the two other moms in our lives!)