05.27.08
Posted in Road Trip, kayaking, recreation at 4:39 pm by heidihoho7
So this is one of the busiest times of year for us. This is the time where I head off to go paddling whenever i can sneak it in, which also happens to coincide when folks start climbing more. This year Bela ended up having to work some shifts at the gym for memorial day weekend as his managers wanted to go climbing. So I decided to head out east with my paddling friends to get on some fun rivers in PA/WV. This has become an annual event, mostly known as the “Yough Trip” and we normally get a lot of folks showing up. this year we had 15 people in a B&B where we rented the whole house and had another 10 or so people from our paddle club in and around the area as well.
A group of 6 of us headed out early Thursday morning. We got to PA in time to sneak in a paddle on the Upper Slippery Rock. The river is just to the east of New Castle and was just beautiful with fun rapids and a few playspots. I hadn’t paddled a lot so this was a nice run for me, and it ended up being one of the hardest runs of the weekend for me as well. I ended up flipping once but my roll actually worked 
!
After our wonderful first run we grabbed a bite to eat and made our way to the B&B. After some confusion with locked doors we got in and got settled. The next morning was a bit crazy as we ended up referring to the B&B as the B*tch & Bed, as we were exposed to the caretaker of the house who must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed- that and she took our breakfast items away…. After a long morning of sour faces, we finally got things rolling and Pat made us some superb cherry and cranberry scones. This breakfast really improved spirits and we decided to get on the river.
Due to all the rain PA had been getting many of the rivers were quite high, which also made some of the easier rivers a bit more fun. We decided to run the Casselman river from a little town- i’m not actually sure which one- possibly Rockwood and took out near Fort Hill. It ended up being a long run about 11 miles. The first half of the run was superb, fast moving water with lots of little playholes. We all surfed as we floated down the river. As the day went on it got colder and started to rain. Many of us got a bit chilly and were looking forward to the takeout. I of course forgot to put people’s change of clothes in the takout car so it made for a wet and cold shuttle – sorry guys! they paid me back by pretending to urinate in our boats- evil guys!
– well its been a year and i never finished this! so i’ll try to remember the full story!
The next day i did my usual run to Seneca to hang out with the old buds- Andy and Neely came in from Texas and even Joe and Annette came from DC. had a fun day of climbing while the rest of the folks went to the Narrows to paddle since the lower was too high.
the next day i did my first margarita float down the Middle Yough with Diana, Steve and Anna. we actually had a great time just cruising – played a little but there really wasn’t much on the river and we never really found flipper. its also not a short run, so it took a bit longer than we expected. one of the more memorable parts of that run was diana trying to fling her strawberry flavored beverage either at me or to me and it sinking- we were very sad and she kept paddling to try to find it- why isn’t it floating!?
I think the rest of the crew did end up doing the lower, even with the high water. We opted not to paddle on monday and started the long drive home. I was pretty tired and somewhere in Ohio or maybe it was Indiana at that point but all of a sudden i hear a beep (now keep in mind i had just gotten my car so i wasn’t that in tune to her messages yet). we didn’t figure out what it meant and just kept going. next thing i know there are red flashing icons and the car is stopping, no electric to glide on, and we’d run out of gas! Luckily we were caravanning so our very good friends pat, humberto and jack went to go get us some gas- which unforunatley took a while since we were on the interstate. we did have fun making fun of diana til they got back and humberto topped it with his arrival in the crazy mexican poncho & leopard print glasses – it was a sight!
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04.11.08
Posted in recreation at 3:50 pm by heidihoho7
well its kinda spring… temps are dipping back down to freezing this coming weekend but its no big surprise, its Illinois!
This past weekend Bela and I split up and ended up doing our own fun things. He went up to Devil’s Lake with Ian to scope out some climbing areas for groups and get in some quality climbing of their own. It was a gorgeous weekend and they were glad to take advantage of that.
I signed up for a photo lighting class so i went to that in the morning and afternoon and then joined up with the williams clan for a 2nd bday party for Steven. We enjoyed looking at old photos, eating oysters (my first time), and just hanging out.
On Sunday Bela ended up doing a lot of yard work while i went out and paddled the Vermilion River. It was a beautiful day yet again. I joined up with Diana and Jack for a nice float down the river. We ended up playing in a few good surf spots but made sure we didn’t flip as the water was still a bit chilly. We ran into a few other paddlers, and most notably a group of rec kayakers. There were 4 guys dressed in jeans and t-shirts toting along 4 coolers, grilling gear and i don’t think any PFDs. As you will probably guess there was some carnage to view as they swam 4 times (that we counted). the last time we ended up helping with the rescue seeing as how the 1 paddler and the boat kept floating down the river for at least 5-10 minutes. After many attempts we finally got the guy as well as the boat to the riverside. The other paddler was 100’s of feet upriver and now out of site. Diana decided to get check on him and she found him just standing on the side, stripped down to his boxers, staring at the water. She snapped him out of it, grabbed all the extra stuff and stuffed in his wet clothes in the cooler and started heading towards us. He just followed her like a little puppy. We were a little worried about hypothermia but turned down the emergency blanket we offered and decided to start a fire. So we left it to fate and continued our paddle. All in all a great weekend!!
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01.28.08
Posted in recreation at 2:45 pm by heidihoho7
As promised, bela and i went to Michigan to go luging. My paddle club – chicago whitewater- planned a social outing and we just couldn’t pass it up.
We met up with Diana, Steve, Pat & Lisa, Randy & Theresa, Humberto, Dave & Megan at the Muskegon Winter Sports Complex. It look probably 3-4 hours to get there and it was snowing pretty good when we got there. Muskegon is right on Lake Michigan and the complex is in the middle of a state park. The area was just beautiful with a lot of evergreen trees and a lot of white fluffy snow .
After getting all settled up at the complex (those pesky insurance cards had to be shown), we headed up to the luge course. We were joined by a few other groups with about 25 total student lugers. We were fitted with helmets and put on elbow/knee pads onto our forearms for protection. After a very quick lesson on steering and braking we were allowed to give it a go.
I ended up waiting to go so i could get pictures of just about everyone as they came down the run. It takes less than 20 seconds for each run so it went fairly quickly. Bela was the first one down, which frightened me just a little when near the end he had a bit of a crash landing. We soon found out that the last curve of Verizon (at least that’s what i think it was called) seemed to cause a lot of carnage as folks “stopped steering” we were told or possible weren’t steering at all (which is what i was for sure doing).
After most of the group had gone, i was forced to get in line. Bela was quite the gentleman and carried my sled for me to the top, but headed back down so he could get pictures as i figured i’d only be doing it once. Waiting was very nerve-wracking. We’d watch, but mostly listen as the announcer would commentate each run, most folks got an offiical time as well. We’d hear where the rider was or how they were doing. We’d occasionally hear the nasty sound of a sled hitting wood or a crash landing. We’d anxiously await the “all clear” which meant everyone was ok.
When it was finally my turn, i took a few deep breaths and let the girl push me down. I pretty much screamed for the first half and then couldn’t stop laughing, smiling, and screaming the rest of the way – “having fun in ping and pong”. I am told that the group at the bottom was guessing who the lugers were and had no problem guessing on my run haha. I had a bit of a crash landing but overall it was exhilarating.
Most everyone would run up and do another run, and i was eventually convinced by Diana to do 2 more runs – to double prove that we could do it. A few folks got bumps and bruises, me included. At one point we saw a lone sled coming down with no rider, we’ll let the cwa prez explain that one! At one point Diana and i realized that turning the sled was very similar to doing eddy turns and peel outs. You turn your head to the direction you want to go and lift the opposite knee. Our kayaking skills came in handy!
Our 2-1/2 hours of luge time came to close and I think everyone was tired but satisfied. The group went out for food and drink at a local bar before folks had to head back to either Chicago or the local hotels (for poker & more drinks).
I’ve included a few pics here, but we have many more to see of everyone else who joined in on the fun – visit the full site.
The next day our crew went back to the complex for some ice skating. A few more bumps and bruises were had, but mostly a good time hanging out with good friends. More pictures are available of that portion of the trip. Pics may be a bit dark, as i haven’t had a lot of time to lighten them up yet.
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