Summer: Mon., 7/1
What a great day. I woke the kids up at 9am so we could eat some pancakes and then venture into Vermont, to the Great River Outfitters, where we rented a raft for our annual river-rafting adventure. We were driven to the starting point along with some groups of canoe-ers and kayakers, and then launched our raft into the river for the five-mile journey. It was amazingly fun. The water was really high, and the current was pretty fast, so we didn't have to do too much work to keep moving forward. (Last year we had to do a LOT of paddling in the very slow-moving water.) We stopped several times along the way to eat snacks from our cooler (cheese, pepperoni, beef jerky, Chips Ahoy), collect rocks, and swim. L&G often slid off the moving raft into the river and floated along behind, holding onto the rope surrounding the raft. We all wore life jackets, of course.
The water was high enough that we were able to travel around Hart Island, which was really fun because around the back of the island was a lagoon-like area, no current, where the girls had a blast swimming. Tiny tadpole/minnow things were swimming along the shoreline, and Greta caught a couple in her cupped hands. (TBH there were way way way too many of these little wriggling critters. One or two would have been cute, but there were solid writhing masses of them. The girls were unperturbed, launching themselves right into the clouds of them, squealing.) We stayed there for a long time, then completed the trip and exited the river at the put-in. There's always a bit of anxiety (mine and Lucia's) about overshooting the put-in, but we made it.
One of the great things about this particular rafting trip is that the GRO office, where we left our car, is right next to the Harpoon Brewery, so after we dropped off our life jackets we changed clothes and went to the brewery for lunch. By then it was about 3pm and we were starving. While Andrew finished his beer, L&G went outside to play corn hole, one of several sets outside the brewery for anyone to use. Then--a stop at Silo (a small distillery; this whole complex is extremely Vermont) to buy a few cans of cider to take home.
Somehow, L&G still had energy after our day on the river, and they swam and played in the pond for the rest of the day. Since we'd eaten such a late lunch, we decided we'd have ice cream for dinner, and at 7pm drove to our favorite ice cream shop to close out the day.
Our days here are so full, and so fun. We were indoors for about five minutes total today. It's glorious. This is the second year we've done this rafting trip, and it's already become an important part of our annual Fourth of July stay.
The water was high enough that we were able to travel around Hart Island, which was really fun because around the back of the island was a lagoon-like area, no current, where the girls had a blast swimming. Tiny tadpole/minnow things were swimming along the shoreline, and Greta caught a couple in her cupped hands. (TBH there were way way way too many of these little wriggling critters. One or two would have been cute, but there were solid writhing masses of them. The girls were unperturbed, launching themselves right into the clouds of them, squealing.) We stayed there for a long time, then completed the trip and exited the river at the put-in. There's always a bit of anxiety (mine and Lucia's) about overshooting the put-in, but we made it.
One of the great things about this particular rafting trip is that the GRO office, where we left our car, is right next to the Harpoon Brewery, so after we dropped off our life jackets we changed clothes and went to the brewery for lunch. By then it was about 3pm and we were starving. While Andrew finished his beer, L&G went outside to play corn hole, one of several sets outside the brewery for anyone to use. Then--a stop at Silo (a small distillery; this whole complex is extremely Vermont) to buy a few cans of cider to take home.
Somehow, L&G still had energy after our day on the river, and they swam and played in the pond for the rest of the day. Since we'd eaten such a late lunch, we decided we'd have ice cream for dinner, and at 7pm drove to our favorite ice cream shop to close out the day.
Our days here are so full, and so fun. We were indoors for about five minutes total today. It's glorious. This is the second year we've done this rafting trip, and it's already become an important part of our annual Fourth of July stay.
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