Kayak Klutz U.S.A.

Well, in short, the fishermen of the Kinni River in River Falls, Wis., will not forget me anytime soon. The pic above of me kayaking perpendicular to the river pretty much sums it up: I am a sucky, sucky kayaker. (I will say that I did navigate through the tricky gap in the branch on my first try.)

Here is a summary of our 2-hour kayaking experience:

1. Numerous beachings on the river rock (the water often was as shallow as six inches)

2. One loss of paddle (subsequently recovered by doggy paddling in my kayak)

3. Numerous run-ins with branches on the river bank (scratches on my arms and foliage ALL OVER my kayak to prove it)

4. Semi-capsizing after attempting to navigate first eddy while kayaking backward (not by choice) as kayak filled completely with water (no flip flops or sunglasses were lost, just pride)

5. Help from fisherman who is laughing uncontrollably as he dumps out my kayak. While thanking him and blushing profusely, tangle oar in his fishing line

I did get much better kayaking the second half (I swear), and I still had fun. Thank God! we didn't end up kayaking the sea caves on rough Lake Superior. Disaster!

UPDATE: It could have been worse! Sarah just sent me this article about two guys who needed rescued on the river we kayaked on.