Today was a fabulous day! I was able to update the blog with yesterday’s info this morning so was able to start today fresh. We had breakfast here at the hotel and after that I went to pick up my cell phone that Kim had put into a bucket of rice along with her phone that went swimming. When I turned mine on, it worked perfectly. Whew! It only had an 80% charge and there was no time to top it off, but I was just happy it was working!

Kim’s phone made some encouraging sounds when she tried turning it on, but then apparently didn’t do much beyond that. She says she has insurance and will be able to get a new phone for free, though, so is not too worried about it. I feel pretty bad about not keeping a closer watch on it, though. 🙁 She’s been a really good sport about it and I appreciate that!

Anyway, then we loaded up in the van and headed to where we were meeting the fellows bringing the kayaks. The morning was a bit overcast and relatively cool, so for the most part we just enjoyed the scenery until the kayaks arrived. Jo was the only soul brave enough to test the water for a quick dip.

Once our guys arrived, it took a while to get everything set up and all of us outfitted, so there was a bit of standing around. It was fun to see us all figuring out what to put where on the boats, get our paddles set up, get our foot rests adjusted, and all that. The gear was great, though. The guys had dry bags for everyone and even cell phone sleeves for people to use. The safety vest was the most comfortable one I’ve ever used. It just had straps over the shoulders so it was cool and didn’t feel restrictive. The front and back was where all the padding was, and it had extra storage pockets!

All of us turned out to be experienced kayakers, so after a quick safety briefing, we were away. Well, most of us. Robyne decided it would be best to take a rest day and not tempt fate by getting her cast so close to the water. A dump over would have not been good, even if she had the outside covered. So she had a walking, browsing, and resting day planned instead. After the rest of us were off, one of the kayak guys turned into her personal guide for the morning, so she was well taken care of.

Nikki and I were paired up, and she took the steering position in the rear. You can see the kayak pictures–first one is over the front of our kayak with a view of the surrounding towns and a group of ducks. If you have eagle eyes, you’ll be able to see the big rock with the church on it (in the upper left corner) where we were yesterday looking down on the lake.

Next picture is one of the kayak fellas on the left and Andrea on the right. Next, in blue, is Patricia and Chris. After that you’ll see my big mouth and part of my face in a picture with part of Nikki’s face on the left. This was my poor attempt at a selfie. My excuse is that the screen was really hard to see, so I was just pointing in the general direction and hoping for the best. The best was not so good, but it’s all I’ve got! Last two kayak pics are of Jo and Kim in their blue kayak, and then Joe and Kim again with Trish beyond them in her orange kayak.

After that, my cell phone battery died. I had brought a waterproof case I was trying out, and since I hadn’t figured out all the nuances of the app that came with it, I was just leaving it on all the time. Should have put it to sleep more often, I guess. Anyway, I have no photos of the fabulous lunch our kayak folks brought to a road/lake-side park we stopped at, nor any other pictures of the great paddle we had around and across the lake and back, but trust me, it was wonderful! Robyn was able to join us for lunch, and it was nice to see her.

After about 6 hours on the lake, we finally headed back to our starting point. By this time, the clouds had thinned and it was really warm, so after beaching the kayaks, we all took a swim. It was just lovely.

Then it was back to the hotel for a cleanup and then out to dinner. After seeing how picturesque the town square looked the night before, I planned to set up my tripod to take some long-exposure night pictures tonight. The itinerary dinner was back at the same place we were last night, but some of us decided that was too much food that took too long, so went out on our own.

Robyne and I wandered around for a while, found a place that sold stamps so we can send the postcards we’ve been collecting, then decided on a restaurant. In the first night picture, the umbrellas closest to the camera is where we had dinner. Our table was the closest to the square so we had a great view of the goings-on in a great atmosphere. (I had lasagne, Robyne had pizza and a salad.)

Dinner took right until it started to get dark, so I set up my tripod and camera right at the table and then moved out to take some of the remaining photos you’ll see as it got progressively more dark. I was experimenting with the exposures and time so I’ll chalk most of the shots I took up to a learning experience, but I think I got a few good ones.

The lit-up buildings in the one shot with the moon in it are how the island looks from where we were sitting. The speck just under the ridge is that church on the rock up on the hill.

The town square pictures in the last two shots are long exposures, so even though it looks like hardly any people are there, it’s just that they were walking though so didn’t get caught by the camera. I may have to do some Photoshop work to really bring out the best in these, but I think they look pretty cool right out of the camera.

By the time it got this dark, it was after 10 PM when we had agreed to meet, so everyone else showed up. I packed up and we all headed back to the hotel.

Tomorrow is another hiking day. We check out of here in the morning and head to another mountain. This one’s apparently very scenic as far as landscape photography goes, so I’ll be in my element again.

So that’s all for tonight. Need to get some sleep so I can get up early enough to both pack up and upload this in the morning before we meet up to head out at 8:30 AM.

Another adventure awaits!