Canoeing!

Saturday, Lagniappe paid for all of the staff and interns to go on a 4.5 mile canoe trip so we could have some time away from the worksites in order to rest (somewhat) and have fun.

We parked our cars and then were shuttled up river where our canoes were. During the bus ride, the driver told us that we will pass under two bridges and on the right after the second bridge is where we would be picked up at 3:30. We proceeded to get off the bus and into our canoes and headed down river. This picture is from the first time we stopped because some of the boys were enjoying dumping people out of their canoes. :)

We continued to head down river and continued to be dumped out of our canoes. Next we stopped for lunch on a sandy bank, but we soon heard thunder rumbling in the distance and decided to proceed down river, passing the first bridge. Not much later, we had to pull onto an embankment because it was storming too hard. There was lighting striking all around us and rain pelting our skin. The storm soon eased up, we got back in our canoes and continued down river, stopping for a couple of rope swings along the way.

After we stopped at the 2nd rope swing, it was close to 3pm, still sprinkling, and we figured we should hurry and try to find the 2nd bridge where we were supposed to get out. We were paddling furiously and singing to keep a good attitude, but we were always expecting to see the bridge around each river bend and it just wasn't appearing. 5pm came around and we finally saw the second bridge! However, our rejoicing came too soon. There was no sight of a spot for them to pick us up at. We all pulled over and one person had a phone that wasn't soaked by the rain and/or dunking and we called the canoeing company. They told us that we had passed our pick up spot by about 10 miles!! Luckily, instead of having to paddle 10 miles upstream they had another pick up spot 2 miles downstream and would be there waiting for us. In the end, we paddled about 16 miles over 6 hours and were sore and worn out, but it was a blast!

"A joyful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones."

Proverbs 17:22 (ESV)