Kayak Trips and Blistered Pinkies

Ok. So i did end up taking Lyle to Bethel by inflatable kayak for his birthday....
and it sucked.
lol. first off, we left at low tide, and decided to take the slough to make our trip shorter, but because the tide was so low, there were quite a few places where our kayak wouldn't float and so we had to get out and drag it through slimy, footsucking mudd.
and then when we finally did get out of the slough, we found that we were goign against the current and the wind, in order to get the next ten miles to bethel. we crossed from one bank of the river to the next about five times, each trip seeming to be endless.
and so, our trip was one long endeavor, with me screaming infuriatedly that i hate kayaks, and alaska, and nature, and that i'm never going to travel the river unless i've got a motorboat.
we left Oscarville at 3. and arrived in Bethel at 6. it took us three hours just to get there, and we had only an hour to spend with our friends. so i decided that i wasn't going to be in such a hurry to leave, and picked Lyle up from his girlfriends house at about 7:15 instead of 6:30.
we had to go back to the boat harbor and pump our evil inflatable kayak all over. by then the wind had died down, me and lyle were tired of kayaking, the sun had just begun its long descent towards the horizon, and the gnats were swarming like crazy.

i guess its kind of obvious that we weren't necessarily looking forward to our long trip home...

but guess what?
the wind had died completely down by the time we left
and this time we were going with the current
soo, instead of wasting our time struggling against the elements,
lyle and i drifted halfway home,
screaming out lyrics to our favorites songs along the whole way
and soo,
due to the lack of effort that we put into paddling home,
it till took us 3 hours to get back
so we were home at 10:30
with sore arms and stomach, sopping wet legs, and blisters gnawing away at our palms
[i even got a blister on my right pinky]

all in all, lyle and i paddled for six whole hours...
just to spend an hour and i half in bethel..
which doesnt even have a mall.
or a movie theatre.
or a McD's.

hahaha.
i feel like a moron.

Birthday Trip

so today we get off school early, due to the funeral of this guy that committed suicide across the river...
sad concept. but anyway.
i plan on taking advantage of this opportunity, and taking my brother Lyle in to bethel by kayak to see his girlfriend for his birthday.
i know. great sister, huh? lol. Especially since I hate kayaking. but it's really the only option, considering that my dad has been really stingy with the boat lately, and so i've got to spend about two hours laboring against the mighty kuskokwim, instead of taking twenty minutes to drive up in my big, comfy motorboat.
Sister's gotta do what a sister's gotta do, right?
lol i guess that i should confess now that my brother isn't the only reason I'm spending two hours clueless in a kayak to paddle 13 miles upriver. I'm already bored in Oscarville, and I've only been home for four days. crazy concept. I love the fact that my brother's birthday came up as an opportunity for an excuse to leave :).
Best part is, I get to drive dad's car once we get there.
}:)

sorry that the events are all jumbled up, but welcome back -- heres how my summer went

so hey
im back
schools just started
aaand.... im tired.
lol.
i had a pretty exciting summer this year, we went on a roadtrip again, kind of on a similar route, but we went from michigan to the keys instead of michigan to florida then new york.
it was pretty crazy, because i swear that it took us longer to get from crawfordville, Florida to Marathon key [nineteen hours] than it did to get from Hastings Michigan to Florida [thirteen hours].
i got to spend a lot of time with my emo cousin amber, since she came with us on the trip. we had lots of fun snorkeling with huuuge cobia fish in a big saltwater pond, and snorkeling off the coast of the island too on the fourth of july.
[by the way, cobia fish are like huge, overgrown carp... a full-sized cobia fish can weigh up to 100 lbs.]
oh yeah, and i got my provisional drivers license this summer, so that was pretty aweseom. i ended up becoming the one and only grandchild that my grandma let drive her car... something that she ended up freaking out about later, because i turned into the wrong lane... =D
we spent quite a bit in florida i guess, mostly to visit with my grandma and my uncle chuck. i saw my "nieces" for the first time, theyre my cousin sadie's kids, claire, 4, and lucy, im pretty sure she just turned one.


[to be continued...]