Lemony Zest :: Kim Lewandowski

Archive for the ‘Activities’ Category

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

L-R: Nick, Danny, Dan, Josi, Katie, Paul and Kim.

Yesterday, Sept. 10, Dan and Josi and I, with several friends – Danny, Paul and his kids, Nick and Katie – went to kayak the James River again, from Pony Pasture to Reedy Creek. The river was high, the day was warm and sometimes sunny, and it was just glorious. We had a few newbies along (and you know who you are), but they did great and we had a lot of fun.

At one point, Katie ran into a rock and got stuck, and then Josi ran into Katie and tipped over. Then Paul had to get out of his boat (he was paddling the canoe with Nick) and Dan held it while Paul helped Josi empty the water out of her boat so she could continue on.

We had a few other minor mishaps like that, but nothing we couldn’t handle.

We got a late start, so we ended up getting home around 11 p.m. We had dinner at the fanciest Arby’s I’ve ever seen – fresh sandwiches and salads, fresh cookies and brownies – it was surprisingly good.

Another great day on the water. More pics are here.

Our new passion is kayaking, so now I have my own We bought it Saturday morning, and Saturday afternoon Josi and I went out for a paddle. It handles beautifully, in flat water anyway. Maybe in a couple of weeks we’ll head back up to Richmond and hit the whitewater.

Specs: It’s a 9-foot Dagger Zydeco and we bought it at Appomattox River Company in Yorktown. And the color is mango