Visit to Tee's

We recently made the long hike to visit my sister Teela who now lives in Virginia. The kids had a fabulous time with their cousins.  Staying at Teela's was like being at a posh cabin in the woods.  She is surrounded with 2 acres of beautiful hardwood forest, complete with playground for the kids.  It was a short walk down the hill to pools and tennis courts and only a few steps farther to the river.  We had a fabulous time canoeing, swimming and hiking all right outside Teela's backdoor! Most of the trip doesn't make for good blogging, but I've included a story about our canoeing expedition.  I don't have time to write more!  Sorry it isn't more polished....

Canoeing: On the last day of our visit we managed to lug the canoe from Teela's backyard down to the river. When I say 'we', I mean Peff and Gus....although Teela and I offered some direction without which I'm sure they would have been lost.

The river near Teela's winds its way through lovely hardwood forest at a rather leisurely pace, so it is possible to canoe upstream most of the way.  On the way up, Teela and I paddled and Gus rode with Darwyn (who could not be trusted to stay sitting on her own).  There were a couple of spots with rapids, but the water was shallow, so Gus just climbed out and dragged the canoe through the rapids.   We even managed to rescue a shoe floating down stream, which we miraculously returned to its owner when we ran across them farther up the river.  They apparently tipped in the rapids.  We found this quite amusing as they were small and not very deep and we happily discussed how silly they were as we paddled up stream.

On the way down we had a chance to prove our superiority.  Gus once again sat in the middle with the kids while Teela and I manned the paddles.  Peff was kayaking near by with Merlin riding on the back of the Kayak.  The rapids were not large, but they were difficult to navigate because they were so shallow.  It was hard to get the full blade of your paddle in the water, which made steering more of a challenge and if you didn't choose the right route, you would wind up beached (or spilled).  As we approached the rapids, Teela yelled out a number of directions to Peff, while I tried to remember the route we took up.

Greta: You have to head in the center of that V Teela....I think that is the way we came...or was it on the other side of the rock.

Teela: Peff!  Wait and go behind us.  We know the route.

Greta:  Was this the place with the overhanging tree?

Teela: Wasn't that down stream?....that is where the other canoe tipped

Greta:  (noticing that are pace is picking up rapidly) Yes I think this is definitely the spot with the tree.  We need to head for the V.

Teela: I think it is too shallow....we need to go around in on the left side.  Peff!! Avoid the V!

Greta:  (Yelling) Teela!  GO LEFT!

At this point Viola started to cry  because everyone was screaming at one another and we were catapulting towards the rapids (but not towards the V or the desired deeper route) in a completely uncontrolled manner.  Teela attempted to do a powerful sweep stroke to realign the canoe, but she could only get 1/3 of her paddle in the water, so nothing of note happened.  I then attempted to pull the nose over myself with a draw (definitely a bad move) and only succeeded in turning the canoe broadside to the quickly advancing water.

At this point, you are probably wondering what idiot taught Teela and I to canoe.  It might be hard to believe that we were actually both raised in canoes.  It turns out that did little for our navigation skills, but it did payoff in our ability to balance.

If you have canoed in rapids then you know that hitting them broadside is pretty much game over. If you add three kids to that equation you are guaranteed to tip.  But as we hit the rapids Teela and I both threw our weight upstream.  The boat lurched down stream and then back up again as Teela and I practically doggy paddled out the upstream side. We stayed up right and the boat became lodged in between a couple of rocks.

Teela: Don't worry Viola.  We are having fun.

Actually, we were.  In spite of how I have made it sound, the "rapids" were barely a ripple in the water.  That is why we thought it was ridiculous that anyone could tip their boat.  But we were saved only by a rock and years of riding in canoes.  The rapids were so mild, that once we got stuck, everyone just climbed out and we lifted the canoe out from between the rocks. Even Darwyn stood in the rapids with little difficulty.  Needless to say, the whole experience was a bit humbling.

And here are some of the best photos from the trip, but if you want to see more photos of lesser quality you can find them here.

Merlin risking life and limb to clean the eaves trough. 

Check out the size of this corn!  The people are only for scale.

Max is really into gardens.  He examined each food crop carefully.

She might be reading to Darwyn...more likely she is trying to keep her from taking the book.