made in america: honeymoon canoe adventure

We also took a canoe trip from Boone, NC on the New River (which is oddly enough the 2nd oldest river in the world - of course I asked "how can a river be old?") and it was an adventure to say the least.

First, we took the 2 dogs. A feat in and of itself.

Then, at the advice of the canoe man, we started off with Winston in the water, walking alongside the canoe. He said it wasn't deep enough and with Winston in the canoe we would be dragging. He was right, but we were dragging without Winnie. Having him in the water made it worse because he was so panicked as to why he was the only one in the water, and the changing depth freaked him out, so he proceeded to try and jump in the boat. This lead to a severely unsturdy ride and copious splashing. We ended up putting him in the middle of the canoe, and instead of lying down he jumped out. WHAT?!

We realized he was trying to get to me when he immediately tried to jump back in the front of the canoe. So I got in the river and lifted him into the very front of the canoe and on we went.

Just about 10 minutes into the trip, downpour. We laughed that one off, basically because Jack was so sad and pathetic in the rain. He tried to bury himself under the life jackets, under my seat. Poor boy. Winston didn't mind so much, he was already soaked, as were we.

The next few hours went like this. Paddle, paddle, stuck on a rock. Get out, unstick canoe, get back in. Winston jumps out, runs for a little, tries to get back in. Get out, lift Win back into boat. Repeat. Jack was hysterical during all this. He had his front paws up on one side of the canoe and he was checking everything out, then he'd switch to the other side. He was like our 'little captain', ironic because that's exactly what schipperke means in Swedish (and that's what Jack is - a schipperke - Swedish ship dogs).

We finally get to a cut off point and we are presented with the option of getting out or continuing. Pat asks my opinion, I say I don't care it's up to him and he says no way it's my choice. I figured if he wanted to stop he would've said so, and I think "hey let's get our money's worth" and I said we'll go!

Pat returns to the canoe and we begin again. It is only when we are too far to turn back he tells me the canoe man informed him that there were class 1 rapids on this leg of the trip. Something that would have been helpful in my decision making. Oh well...

The rapids, as it turns out were the least of our worries as the skies began to turn black. The end is no where in sight as we start to hear thunder. And then it happens, the skies open, and we are stuck in the middle of nowhere in what could be a flash flood incident complete with lightning strikes. Cue: breakdown.

That's right, I broke down in the middle of the river rainstorm. Hyperventilation and all. Screaming we were going to die on the "God-forsaken river" and "this is the worst honeymoon ever". Obviously I didn't mean those things, but I was terrified! You would have been too, I promise.

Clearly we made it out alive, and now it's a great story that we'll have to tell for years and years to come.

Here we are at the midway point - still a happy family

Winston running through the river - right after he pooped in it!