Sep

23

Idle hands.

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In the interest of staying off the Devil’s playground for the last little week, I’ve been staying extraordinarily busy. It’s the best way I know to keep the brain busy, and a busy brain is a wrinkly brain is a happy brain.

Here’s a brief recap:

John and Steve kidnapped me a week ago Saturday while I was feeling glum and took me to the US National Whitewater Center here in Charlotte where we hiked a little and stood in the Catawba river for a few minutes.

catawba river

Whitewater rafting looked like so much fun, that we decided that we would have to give it a shot. There are no photos of us in the boat, but here is an image of John, Gilly and I wearing protective gear. It’s proof enough.

pre-rafting

We went on the water around 6:30 (it’s a man-made course, so it’s well lit after dark) and stayed out for about 2 hours. At one point the raft flipped over and all 6 of us (John, Steve, Gilly, Dre, Dre’s boyfriend Stephen and I) went flying out with our guide, Bear. After washing around a little bit and sustaining a scrape to my right knee, we get scooped back up into boats - first Steve and I into ours, then the girls into ours then John and Steven into someone else’s. It was very dramatic. At one point spectators on the side walls were cheering as Bear made us do something that I’ve forgotten as the adrenaline wears off, but that must have been pretty freakin’ impressive looking. I was glad that we were all thrown off the boat at once, it eliminated the stigma of being the first to go over, but I was almost the only person to go over by myself. My paddle got trapped under the boat in some rapids (I think I hit a rock) and it wrenched my left arm down and under the boat a little, which nearly pulled me over the edge. Luckily Steve pulled me back in. I’m so insanely sore that I think I may never walk again, but absolutely, without doubt want to go do it again.

Saturday, Bryan and I had a big adventure that involved meals and trying to find things in the University area that clearly don’t exist. But we did find the Alexandriana Historic Site, which is an important spot for celebrating the birth of Mecklenburg County and Mec Dec.

bryan at alexandriana

Noteworthy: I didn’t actually know what Alexandriana was until I wrote this. But if you’ve had the pleasure of taking a car trip with me, you’ll know that I need to make a stop at every “World’s biggest ball of twine” and “Man-eating walnut” tourist stop along the way. It’s Americana at it’s best.

This sign literally says “Duck bread is Duck dead”. And that makes me laugh. Laughing is a good thing.

duck bread

One may or may not know that I bake when I feel stress. I’m about to make cranberry oatmeal cookies. It’s really just an excuse to fire up my Kitchen Aid mixer. It smells like my grandmother’s kitchen and makes a reassuring noise. The cookies are just an added bonus.