Outdoor Fun

Instead of driving back to Portland this week, I decided to stay in Corvallis with my friend Jess. She has the CUTEST dog and today we dicided to pack up shop and go canoe'ing. I actually came up with the plan at about 9am after breakfast. We packed up food and water for the dog, dropped the back seats down in the Jeep, and headed to the Outdoor Rec Center to snag a canoe... Well... as an Updenkelder, we are all aware of the phrase "closed on Monday's". We got the rec center at about 10am and of course they didnt open for another 2 hours due to summertime.

Determined to have our fun, we headed to WinCo for a sandwich and some munchies to take in the boat. Once our "nutritional" meal was packed up, we headed off to the park to throw the tennis ball for "Dahli". 11:50 and Matt was bangin on the doors at the rec-center (ok well, maybe I was just standing at the counter waiting for someone to help us). 12 bucks later, we were equipped with a canoe, 2 life-jackets, 4 foam car protectors, 2 paddles and a REALLY long rope for tying off.

A quick 45 min drive to Foster Lake (just outside of Sweet Home) landed us in the water and ready for action! We paddled through the windy stuff and found a somewhat secluded dock to anchor up and have lunch. After a brief swim in the FREEZING water, we decided to head back... On the way back, passing under a bridge, we were intregued to find a couple younger boys jumping off the bridge into the water. We said "meh, may as well"! A quick half-hitch knot on a tree, and we were both dangling our feet over the railing, contemplating our demise. I went first, and Jess came shortly afterwards... I was impressed :) Must have been about 25 feet or so.

Once the canoe was loaded and the dog was fed, we headed back to return the canoe before they closed at 6pm. This is a picture of the Jeep with a canoe. Yes, I realize I could probably make a Jeep commercial out of the pictures I have taken... but isnt it sexy?