Spontaneous Paddle

Decided to go for a spontaneous paddle today.

I’d mentioned the possibility of doing a short trip on the West Branch of the Brandywine with Abigail from Harvey’s Bridge down to the take out on 162 just past Stargazer’s to Jen in the past. For some reason today, before the storms hit, seemed like the right day.

I got everything loaded up while Jen got the girl ready. In no time we were off.

Yeah, so she looks unhappy. This was right at the beginning and we couldn’t tell what her mood was. The way she was sitting in front of Jen, we couldn’t see her face, so Jen kept holding the camera around in front of her and snapping pictures to get a better look. Looks like she got annoyed at the camera.

We took Gretchen too. Once she got out front, things got a lot more interesting for Abigail.

Gretchen needed the exercise.

Abigail was most interested in Gretchen’s swimming.

Unfortunately Gretchen’s not in the physical condition she used to be in, and quickly fell behind. We pulled over and she gladly climbed aboard.

Can’t say I was too glad. Steering the boat got a lot more difficult once she was in there.

But Abigail didn’t mind. She went right back to playing with the water and lounging.

We brought along an old booster seat type thing for her to sit in. It really worked out nice. It kept her mostly out of the bottom of the boat, let her sit obviously, while combined with her life jacket gave her a way to lounge back and relax.

All-in-all, a decent 1 hour trip.

To see more photos (and comments my Mom’s left), check out the gallery photos here.

– b