The "big picture" at the Gutter. Note convenient line to dry clothes!
Wendy, working on her kayak squirts at the Gutter
Andy, spinning at the Gutter
Andy: What could be more fun than playing in the Gutter? Its a great place to kayak! Just need to wear your nose and ear plugs extra tight to keep all the biological elements out.... We spent the day working on our kayak spins at a place called the Gutter on the Main Payette. It's a man made kayak park formed out of concrete (hence the name) - not very pretty - but definitely fun. At this flow (2100 cfs), the Gutter is a darn fine play spot - its just real shallow so we received a few concrete scratches on our helmet and paddles. Good thing we have facemasks!
Wendy: I did my first real flat spin, an accomplishment for me! For those non-kayakers, a flat spin is when you surf your boat on a wave, then rotate it 360 degrees by using the wave. Pretty fun! We had the gutter to ourselves, and spent several hours practicing surfing (sitting on a wave), squirting (sticking the back of your boat deep in the water so the front stands straight up) and spins.
We also bought farm fresh sweet corn from a local fruit stand. Low point of the day was when Andy boiled the cobs, went to drain them, and dropped them in the dirt. Of course they rolled down the hill, and were completely covered in dirt! The 10-second rule turns into the 2-minute rule when in the mountains (we're always changing the rules), so we quickly ran after the cobs, rescued them from under the bushes, and washed them off. Good thing we did, too, since the corn was so sweet and fresh the dirt only added a little texture but didn't take away from the flavor. One other funny today was when Andy and I were sitting in the van watching the very intense DVD "Black Hawk Down." It was dark in the van, and I asked Andy to hand me the lotion from one of our side pockets. We both had our eyes on the movie, and Andy handed me what he thought was the lotion, which I then proceeded to put all over my hands, legs and feet. At some point one of us looked at the lotion bottle and realized I was putting sun block on, not hand lotion! My dreams were tropical in nature last night, perhaps related to the coconut smell pervading our bed.
The "big picture" at the Gutter. Note convenient line to dry clothes! |
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Wendy, working on her kayak squirts at the Gutter |
Andy, spinning at the Gutter |