Ka-yaking on the Suquehanna

The view from my kayak.

Last week, I did a first person account of my trip down the Susquehanna for the paper.

It was quite a doozy, and I wanted to share it with you here.

HUMMELS WHARF — Knowing myself, I wasn’t all that surprised that my adventure down the Susquehanna ended early, escorted back to the Shady Nook Boat Launch after losing my lunch on a river island.

I tend to somehow get myself into these conundrums.

But one thing really stands out to me about my ill-fated trip: I really had a good time. And that photographer Rob Inglis and I are much stronger on our right sides than our left.

When we heard about the opportunity to take part in the legislative and media kayak trip down the Susquehanna in a two-person floating vessel, we were ecstatic.

It was my first time in a kayak and the first time in a long time for Rob.

Our fellow kayakers included state Rep. Lynda Schlegel Culver, R-108, of Sunbury, who said that if she went overboard, she was taking as many people as possible with her, and Kurt Masser, R-107, of Elysburg, and his son, who just took his bar exam, but told anyone who got injured on the trip to give him a call.

Immediately, the first thing we noticed was that we were pulling hard to the left. Like every 15 seconds or so we would noticeably headed left.

“You can tell we’re both right-handed,” Rob joked.

But we weren’t laughing when we had to make a hard right to go around some rapids and ended up stuck in the shallow water, needing to be rescued by the very helpful and friendly Jim Charles, of the Isle of Que River Guides in Selinsgrove. We were the only people to get stuck, but we kept in good spirits.

As we made it to the first stop, on a rocky river island, I was feeling good. Not too tired, not too hot.

That changed when, as our guides were talking about the river’s history, the sun came out. And I was hot.

That’s when it happened. I lost it — or, more accurately, my stomach contents.

Everyone was so nice about it, giving me water and a snack to calm my stomach. But I was embarrassed.

And that’s when our river adventure ended. Charles took us back in his motorboat and we went back to the office to cool down.

But I swear, I only have fond memories of the trip.

Though maybe next time, I’m making sure that I’m able to take a dip in the river to cool down if need be. Hopefully that will add up to a little more “ka” a little less “yak.”

Reader Photos: animals and children beating the heat!

I say this every time i post Reader Photos, but I really am so impressed with the photos we receive each week from readers and post in our photo galleries.

This week, the theme seems to be animals and children beating  the heat – which luckily has passed us by this week.

This batch also includes my favorite reader photo ever. Check below to see it:

Lewisburg Area high school sweethearts Sarah and Kyle are married on May 18, 2013. In honor of being high school sweethearts the couple rented a school bus and traveled to their high school to get pictures at the school where they met!
Photo by Sarah and Kyle Mumper, Lewisburg

“Bow, a Gordon Setter, takes a swim in Penns Creek on a hot summer day,” by Bruce Ferster, Lewisburg

 

“Sunrise over Wayne Kauffman’s hayfield,”
by Danita Stoltzfus, Mount Pleasant Mills.
Probably my favorite reader photo ever.

Motorists in Danville: Water main-gate 2013 has hit my neighborhood.

This is Spruce Street in Danville as it has looked the last three days.

There was a water main break three days ago which left me without water for the night – but by morning the water was back on in my house. But the trucks and workers are still working, leaving the street completely blocked off.

Motorists be warned: they are completely detouring traffic around the lower half of the street, normally a pretty busy intersection.

I’m referring to this situation as Water main-gate because I feel like it has reached epic proportions – I’m not sure I’ll ever be able to park on Spruce Street again.

OK, maybe I’m being dramatic. But it’s very frustrating – and I continue to pray every time I reach for a faucet because I don’t want to go through that again.

There’s also huge puddles of water forming near the intersection of Ferry Street and Bloom Road – another huge intersection.

It’s not looking good.

I’ll keep you updated as to how it goes!

‘Sugar not so sweet’

Yesterday, I attended a presentation about nutrition for kids. But I also learned a lot about what is in the stuff I drink.

And it wasn’t pretty.

Instructor Cynthia Clayton had participants measure out sugars in a variety of drinks to see how that all adds up.

Here’s that demonstration:

It was really shocking. It’s definitely interesting to see how much pure sugar is in your drink.

Here’s some facts about the sugars in our drinks:

• By cutting out a two soda a day habit, you can lose 31 pounds in one year.
• Bodies have to work to digest sodas and swweetened drinks, whereas water just hydrates. Therefore, drinking a soda when you’re hot will create more heat as your body works to digest it.
• Dividing the number of grams of sugar in a drink by four gives you the number of teaspoons of sugar in the drink.

It’s a lot to think about. I know I am definitely looking at my drink choices today.