Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Archive for the ‘Activities’ Category

The organization that sponsors the Nelson Downriver Canoe and Kayak Race recently posted photos of the racers. There was a glitch and Dan B’s photo did not make it into the gallery, but we hope that will be rectified soon. In the meantime, for your viewing pleasure:

Kim in the Tequila Sunrise (this is my blog, so I get to go first)

Dan in the new yellow playboat – a tad low in the water there!

Alex looking cool and comfortable in the Mighty Pungo

And the second-place winners of the Tandem Canoe category – Paul and Nick

Last weekend, Dan and I rented a lodge at James River State Park with two other families (Danny, Sally and Alex, and Paul, Terry, Katie and Nick), our dog Pippen, and Danny and Sally’s dog Cody. The occasion was the Nelson Downriver Canoe and Kayak Race in Nelson County. After the race, we enjoyed a picnic by the river and then medals were awarded. Paul and Nick won second place in the Open Canoe/Father & Son class. Way to go, guys!

The lodge has a fully equipped kitchen, six bedrooms and three bathrooms. There is a back porch with rocking chairs, a picnic table and a large grill. We brought food and drinks, grilled dinner, and generally had a great time. I beat Sally and Terry at Scrabble, Danny beat everyone at poker, and we had a fabulous Sunday breakfast cooked by Paul.

When I have time, I’ll put up a regular photo album of the weekend, but here are some snaps for now:

Forgot to mention – after the boys went kayaking in Richmond on Sunday, we stopped at Legend Brewing, a microbrewery, for dinner. After their trip on the water, the guys needed some warming up, apparently, because they both ordered chili Spicy! I had a blackened tuna steak over linguine Alfredo – not bad, but the tuna was overdone. Still good. And they had live music! So that was fun.

So, last weekend, Dan, Danny B. and I decided to head up to James River Park in Richmond and get some kayaking in. Saturday was bright, warm and beautiful – we spent that day weeding and planting in the herb and veggie gardens. Sunday I was expecting more of the same weather, but nooooooo – it was cool and overcast. And on the drive up to Richmond, it started raining. Well, gee, that doesn’t sound like much fun – rainy, cloudy, cool and on the river, in 6-foot high water.

Dan and Danny went, but … I changed my mind, and went shopping instead Got some lovely pressed glass dessert dishes at Tuesday Morning, and wandered around an Asian grocery store. Didn’t see anything I had to have, but it was interesting to look around.

So here are Dan and Danny, checking out the river. Hmmm, do we really want to do this?

Yes! Yes, we do! Kim, are you sure you don’t want to go? Yes, I’m sure, you guys have fun. I’ll pick you up at the takeout.

And here they are actually going in. We got lucky – Danny had been in touch with a couple of people from Richmond’s wild and crazy paddling group, the Corn Youth Alliance, and they waited for us, so Dan and Danny had some people to paddle with.

Bye, guys! See you at Reedy Creek!

Next month, Dan and I are going on a trip to PA with some friends to be part of a kayaking race, and then Dan and I are going to do a rails-to-trails bike trip. Here’s a collection of links about the trip:

• Lehigh River Rafting – Pocono PA Lehigh Gorge Rafting
• Jim Thorpe, PA

This is my entry in this week’s Photo Friday challenge, The Good Life.

For the last few years, we’ve been going out on Friday night sailing races with Dan’s boss Laura and her husband Cap’n Steve and assorted other friends – usually Danny and Sally, Paul and Terri, sometimes others. It’s sponsored by the Portsmouth Boat Club, and it’s a blast After the race, we have appetizers and drinks on board and sometimes go to dinner at the Boat Club, or out somewhere.

We’ve had a few exciting moments out there. One night, I was steering and got a leee-tle too close to the Navy pier – the sentry there was not pleased. He actually had a rifle and shouted at us! Be careful out there