I woke up in the middle of the night hurting. Bad. My first thought was I guess I'll just post...

Can't move my arms. Will explain when it's better.

But once I got moving I am feeling better. So now for the explanation.

I went kayaking for the first time last night with a group of ladies. There were 18 of us. I have to say, this was not a scary thing for me. I was really looking forward to it. I love the water. I love adventure. They assured us we would not tip. And hey, I am not bringing my family, so I get a break. Sounds good to me.

We get there and there are 16 kayaks to choose from (four were brought by some in our group). Most everyone has never been kayaking so picking one was figuring out what color you wanted. I know there were different styles but when you've never done it before, that means diddly.

We get a couple instructions on how to paddle. Then get in our kayaks. Mine felt a little tipsy, but I guess that is what kayaks are supposed to feel like, right? We get paddling. Figuring out how to steer is the biggest obstacle for some of us. If you have more strength in one arm, you tend to drift that direction. At least that's my theory.

We paddle across the lake and are looking for this swampy little marshy area that is a passage way to Dark Lake. Totally cool. We all have to stop before we go in, just to regroup (our group had 10 in it). I was about to hit someone's boat so I throw my paddle into reverse.

Wrong thing to do...but the water felt great!

Yeah, I tipped my boat. Not a bad thing in my world.

Except...

I tipped in a pretty shallow area. Which would have been a good thing.

Except...

There was 6 inches of muck at the bottom of the lake right there. And the only panic attack I've had, it had to do with underwater ickies. So I'm trying to keep my whole body up away from the muck in 3 feet of water while our wonderful guide tried to clear some of the water from my boat and get it tipped upright. During this process I lost my brand new, never opened bag of trail mix. It was tied onto the boat, but one of the other paddlers *edited to give credit where credit is due*who was "helping" me helped herself to my snack! A small price to pay for not having to swim back across the lake. (In reality she did ask and I gave her my permission to munch and share the snack). **If anyone ends up posting the pictures of my swim I will post them here. Only great friends would take the time to take a picture before helping!**

We did get back onto Dark Lake where there was a boat of men, who probably were thinking their fantasies were coming true because all of a sudden, out of the marsh comes 10 female paddlers. So they start yelling. Some of the women start getting real uncomfortable with the "Ladies, come here and have a beer!" comments and the waving. I was about to scare them off myself. It would have been so easy. "Hey guys, Jesus loves you! Come here, we have some literature we would like to give you!" That would have sent them running for sure. But they left on their own.

We did make it back to the campground we took off from. We were probably on the lake 2 1/2 hours. When we were done, I was not real sore. But it did hit later. Apparently, I'm not real used to paddling like that.

I did have a great time and plan on doing it again. I called my mom to see if she would want to go, but she is resting up right now. She was going off the rope swing, landed hard on her foot. It's not broke, but she can't walk on it real well.

I wonder where I get my adventurous spirit from.

Off to the pool today. Are you feeling sorry for me yet? ;-)