Birthday Adventure 2011

I did something truly amazing for my birthday this year. It may not seem amazing to a lot of people, but it was amazing for me. I went KAYAKING! The old me would have NEVER even considered the thought of getting in a kayak. But I have made a committment to LIVE LIFE and stop being afraid - and it was soooo worth it!

My friend Kathy and her sister Kristina went kayaking together (both for the 1st time) in June using a Groupon Deal. Over 4th of July weekend they were telling me how awesome it was and that is what put the spark in my head. It made me curious and I felt slightly more comfortable knowing someone that had done it and really enjoyed it! Their Mom's birthday was the same weekend as mine, so we decided to make a trip out of it.

We drove down to Seward on Friday night and camped at Millers Landing. In the morning we woke up, got dressed, made breakfast, took down camp and headed to the beach. Our guide was Monika, she got us all set up in our kayaks and gave us a quick lesson and some helpful tips. There were just a total of 6 of us (2 per kayak) plus Monika in her own single kayak.

As we were sitting there in our kayaks waiting to be pushed into the water I felt a little nervous, but Kathy had warned me that if you start freaking out and moving around a lot the kayak will get very wobbly which can then flip...and that wouldn't be very fun. So as soon as we were pushed in I was the calmest I had felt in such a long time. I just started paddling like Monika taught us and we were off from there!

The paddle was a lot longer than I was prepared for. It was 5 miles and took us about 3 hours. We had to battle some winds in the middle which was super frustrating. We would paddle and paddle and paddle and still be in the same spot. But if you took a break you would go backwards, so we had to keep paddling. We tried letting one person take a break while the other paddled, but you really needed both people paddling to make any real progress.

Despite the wind and some drizzly rain during that one part, the weather was PERFECT. It was overcast and with our layers we were at the perfect temperature. If it had been sunny we would've been so hot and sunburnt. One thing that I didn't like about the kayaking is how long it took to get somewhere. Once we could finally see our landing point, it took about 40 minutes to get there...and it wasn't that far away. I was so glad to make it!

However, I totally forgot that our trip had a 4 mile hike at the end. 2 miles up the mountain to Fort McGilroy and then 2 miles back down. I hate hiking. I've never liked it and I totally complained in my head the whole way up the mountain. But when I saw the view we had from the top it was so worth it - it was stunningly beautiful. I wish I had a camera that could've accurately captured the views.

After we hiked back down we took a water taxi back to Millers Landing (thank GOD! Because I would've rather been air lifted out of there than kayaked 3 more hours back. I was exhausted! I think I lost 5lbs that day!

It was a wonderful trip and I am so proud of myself for doing something adventurous. Most people know I am not a water person - I never went on the boats, tubing, would never swim to the dock or further than I could touch the ground. I missed out on so many fun things and I don't want to live the rest of my life like that. And I definitely don't want Jordan to be afraid of having fun either. So I need to set a good example for her, and have fun in the process!

I decided that each year for my birthday I will be doing some type of an adventure. (Whatever that means, haha). It should be interesting to see how they progress over the years.