I did it. I went canoeing for the first time in my life!
A few weeks ago when Aaron and I were at one of the lakes in the area, I noticed that they rent out canoes and kayaks. I decided that looked really interesting and like something that I wanted to try out. Lucky for me, Aaron just so happens to be canoe expert and agreed to go with me. We decided to go to Lake Calhoun because it is a part of Minneapolis’s Chain of Lakes and is connected to 3 other lakes. Once we had our plan made, I packed a backpack with snacks and Gatorade, just in case we got hungry on the lake. I also sought out these fancy zip-lock type bags for our phones. Obviously Instagram-ing is required during a first canoeing experience.
As usual, it was a very busy day in Uptown on Lake Calhoun! Even though rain was in the forecast (it never did actually rain), there were probably 20 people in line before us. We paid for our hour of canoe time, picked up some life jackets and went to find our canoe. Surprisingly, there was little to no direction from the people setting us up in the canoe. They just pointed to a canoe told us to get in, handed us our paddles and pushed us out into the lake. I’m glad Aaron knew what was up because I would have been terrified by myself.
Took a break from paddling for a canoe selfie!
Once we started going, I realized just how easy it was and how much fun I was having. There were a ton of people out on the lakes with those paddle boards. That’s definitely something I’d also like to try someday, but for now I just want to canoe EVERYDAY!
Oh hey, this is pretty fun.
The coolest part about being on the Chain of Lakes is that since we were in the middle of Minneapolis, there are all of these bridges that go over the lakes. They are pretty interesting to explore under, the photo below shows a bridge that also has a walking path under it and some people try to fish there!
On our way back to shore. I don’t want to stop canoeing!
Me.
