Foggy Bottom Canoe

I've been pestering Chad to take me canoeing on the Harpeth River recently and today we finally went! This weekend has been so beautiful and today was such a perfect day to be on the river. Now, I am not a "roughin' it" type of girl, and I don't think I've ever been canoeing in my adult life, so I wasn't sure what to expect exactly. I know Chad was afraid I would tip the canoe, so I got a lecture on proper canoeing etiquette...like don't stand up in the canoe. Really?? I was also instructed on how to row...basically the rowing for dummies lecture by Chad Church.

Heading to the river

And we're off!

The river was pretty calm, so there were only a couple of times that Chad's expertise came in handy. ;) The first time was pretty early on in the trip, there were some small rapids and we were heading for a big rock. I said, "there's a rock!," but Chad didn't hear me so BOOM, our canoe was stuck in a second. He's like, "next time use your couch voice. Pretend we're sitting on the couch watching tv." Lately he's been complaining that I'm practically yelling when I say something during a tv show.

We saw lots of turtles, a couple of baby snakes, and some hawks flying overhead. They said that around the bluffs is where the bald eagles are spotted, but we never saw one. I was hoping we would. :(

The Bluffs where the bald eagles are

One of the places we stopped

These trees behind me are where everyone got caught!

There was a particular place toward the end of the track that everyone got caught up in. It is right behind me in the picture above. I was standing on the bank and the current takes you straight into those trees you see behind me. Me, Chad, and another lady had to help these two people who got their canoe stuck under that tree. It got a little deep for me, so Chad kept motioning me back and telling me to go to the bank, but I wanted to help! I didn't do much good though. Pretty much Chad and the guy in the canoe got it out. It seemed like every single person went into the trees, but actually Chad and I didn't. We managed to dodge the trees, but ended up going down river backwards for a short stretch, so Chad asked if we wanted to stop here (probably to save face in front of these people on the bank :) ha. I said sure! So I got out and swam some, even though it was kind of a bad place because of the canoe dodging I had to do. Water felt great though!

  I am terrible at skipping rocks but Chad is pretty good! The picture to the right is the bridge at the end of the trip and I took a photo of the limbs underneath it, which we figured got caught there when the flood happened 2 years ago. It's crazy this river got to 20 feet!

We made it! Can't believe 4 hours flew by that fast. I could've gone longer.

Tuckered out after a long day of paddling :)

Hope everyone had a great weekend!