Little Kayaking Adventures

Ever since we took part of the DNR's intro to kayaking, while we stayed at the Honey Creek Resort on Rathbun lake in Iowa, did Oskar want to kayaking.  One night after sailing at Big Creek we rented kayaks from the marina and took them for a spin.  We got to check out some blue-green algae really close up.  These were the sit-on-top type that I don't care much for.

This weekend we rented rented two single and one tandem kayaks from ISU's recreational services.  Saturday we went to Brushy Creek state park.  The dammed lake is fairly new and has lot of dead trees in it.  That makes exploring the lake with kayaks that much more fun.  A drawback that the lake has is that the shore doesn't offer places to beach a kayak for lunch.  So we ended up eating it on the lake. 

Oskar kayaking on Brushy Creek lake

Heidi and Melissa kayaking on Brushy Creek lake

Lunch on Brushy Creek lake

Its amazing how well Oskar can handle the kayak by himself and how far he can paddle.  Heidi isn't bad either in the tandem.  She keeps a fairly steady rhythm so I could paddle along without colliding with her paddles.  Of course she's not very strong and doesn't contribute to the propulsion.  None the less, she knows how it works.

Melissa and Oskar kayaking on Brushy Creek lake

Hollow log in Brushy Creek lake

Heidi and Claus kayaking on Brushy Creek lake

Heidi pulling Oskar on shore lake

Brushy Creek is nice little lake.  The water was good and the algae/sea weed that grew only at the tips of the fingers were the good kind.  After kayaking we went to the sand beach and spend a while swimming, sun bathing and playing in the sand before heading home.

Sunday we took the kayaks out again on Ada Hayden Park here in town.  Again it was a nice day for kayaking and the kids had fun watching the fish.  Although they were a little mad about not having caught one with their hand.