Life is Good: Kettle at 3000cfs & Dinner Party

What a perfect run! The only thing: It was over so quickly, because the current was pretty swift at this level. As David said, "we weren't afloat, we were azoom!" In fact, I caught myself attempting my first backward ferry in my desperate attempt to catch an eddy that was zooming past me and to slow down at least a little.

What a wonderful group of people! I didn't know anybody of them, but have I ever met paddlers who weren't good folks to be with? There was Susan & Rob, David, Carol, Charlie & Nancy, Dean & Sarah & Emma and Ann & Scott.

Lunch time at Big Eddy with Nancy's scrumptious "Canoe Trip Brownies". Yumm!

Scott and Ann surfing their IOC2 an inflatable canoe they clearly had a lot of fun in!!!

The water was fun, some nice big waves to bob in, no rocks to worry about. (Actually I was glad to see a rock at some point. Had to have an eddy behind it :-) Quite the contrast, when I ran this stretch last year, when it was an arrid bone yard with hardly a channel to keep afloat in for any length of time and my kayak only needs about 8 inches... I also ran it a couple of weeks ago at a mid level and was surprised, that one eddy line on river left behind a sharp cliff I thought would be unpassable at that level for me was really very mild, where another I hadn't even worried about on river right after a cliff had developed a white border between the water directions. Nice and visible as that line was, I did not follow Ann & Scott into that eddy but joined the others on river left.

In an eddy, enjoying the river beautiful and nearly at the end of our run.

What a nice experience meeting new paddlers and seeing how canoists do it. The group dynamic is a little different than I was used to from kayakers, but fun and good to see, that such a mixed group works well too! But I do appreciate, that there was Susan and Carol with their kayaks, so I wasn't the only one so close to the water. You gotta love Susan, she makes the cutest little seal noises, when she launches :-)

Inevitabley the run was at it's end at Kennedy Landing I was off to catch a dinner party with some friends! Luckily I had brought the dessert along in my cooler...

Frank was hosting at his lovely townhouse, which eventually I actually found after several phone call. I am suburb impared, what can I do...

Laura and Frank laying on some finishing touches.

Tom, Roxanne and Frank. (Not sure, how Courtney got out of having her picture taken... sneaky!)

Ah, you can't beat sitting down with a bunch of good friends with good conversation and good food! Everything was absolutely delicious and mediterranean goodness: Courtney & Tom's Antipasti with cheese, prociutto, olives, fire grilled peppers and asparagus and caprese salad as well as a very surprising grilled corn nibble with a kick. Then there was Franks fantastic chicken dish with a chunky mushroom tomato sauce complemented by Roxanne's flavor rich oven roasted ratatouille and Laura's creamy risotto. I brought up the rear with one of my greek favorites, strained yoghurt with walnuts and honey, which everybody seemed to like as well.

I can't wait for our next dinner circle installment in 2 months :-)

Now doesn't that dinner table look dreamy :-)

Look at that!

Did I already mention, that live is good?