So we rented a canoe from Tip-A-Canoe and used their shuttle service.
This week we purchased both boys puddle jumpers since they are Class III rated and I figured they'd be much more comfortable in those than large vests that are pushing up on their necks (or those yucky orange ones that the paddling companies provide). I wanted to make sure that both boys could keep afloat while wearing them so we tried them out at Missy's neighborhood pool on Friday. Carter had it under control right away but it took Rylan awhile to figure it out. He still kept putting his face in the water and panicking. But we kept working on it and eventually Rylan was jumping off the steps and swimming a little loop in the water all by himself. He loved the independence that he's had for the first time in the pool. I think he'll keep using it there but Carter will be back to his vest since I'm trying to get him to be able to swim without any flotation assistance.
Anyway, back to the trip. When we got to Tip-A-Canoe, it was packed. I had expected there to be other people on the river, but I was surprised when we had to wait in line almost 30 minutes just to check in! But we eventually packed into a van with a large group and made it to the put-in (which was also packed - there are 3 other paddling companies in the area that were just as crowded).
We quickly got in our boat just throwing our stuff in anywhere and got on our way. The boys were so excited!!!
We got the boys set up after a couple of minutes with cushions to sit on and they seemed to be happy with the set up the entire time on the river.
Once we were paddling, it didn't feel as crowded. We could always see other boats, but they were usually pretty far ahead or behind us. So even though it was a little annoying getting to the river, it was great once we were on it.
We ended up stopping 3 times during the trip to get out and play in the water. Our first stop was the little sand bar after the grasses on the left in the picture above. When we stopped, there was one other canoe there with a family of five. They were really nice and even took a family picture for us.
The boys had fun tossing rocks in the water (this never gets old to them).
Eventually we copied the boys in the other family and started riding the current down the river.
Carter loved it!
I got to try it once with Carter too before our little sandbar got completely taken over by a large group of people with a lot of alcohol and loud music!
Not to be judgmental, but we wouldn't normally surround ourselves with the people we saw on the river. This woman is a great example - beer in the bra and smoking some little cigar.
So we headed on.
The boys each took turns paddling a little (luckily neither one lost one of our oars!).
Rylan ran his hand in the water a good portion of the trip. He seemed very relaxed.
The river was flowing and really didn't require you to paddle if you didn't want to (we didn't paddle all that much because we didn't want to be done too quickly). There were some class I rapids that made the river fun too.
Our second stop was at a more crowded sandbar but it was also much larger. The sandbar was across from a large wall on the other side of the river.
After wading in the water for awhile (and throwing lots of rocks), we got back in the canoe. The boys had found large reeds that they used for oars.
I put Carter in front of me for a little bit so he could be the boat captain :)
Our last stop was almost completely secluded. There were a ton of people on sandbars close by but we had paddled back upstream to a section that wasn't the main way down the river and had the area to ourselves.
The boys almost took off without us when we were leaving! (Not really - we just let them sit in our seats for a picture.)
Not far from our last stop, we arrived at the take-out spot.
We left our canoe just out of the water and walked back to the rental shop to drop off the oars and cushions.
Since we were already in the area, we decided to then go for a hike at the Narrows of the Harpeth. This is where a 5-mile-long section of the river nearly curves back on itself and is separated by slender and steep bluff.
I had brought along both boys Camelbaks and there were happy to hike (and not be carried) for awhile. Carter was the leader and kept telling everyone where to walk and to watch out for little rocks and roots. He took the job extremely seriously!
The hike up to the overlook was 0.7 miles. Carter hiked the entire way up and Rylan did most of it (he fell once and I carried him for awhile because he was hurting a little - we hadn't brought along the carriers this time).
There were major drop-offs on both sides of the trail for the last bit of the hike and it was a little nerve-whacking but both boys listened really well and neither one gave either of us a heart attack!
The hike started at the river so we were impressed with the boys hiking up so far!
About halfway back we took a side trail to see the exit of a tunnel that had been bored through the bluff in the early 1800s to divert part of the river and harness waterpower. The side trail was about 0.2 miles and I was carrying Rylan by this point.
Neither boy wanted to hike anymore so we carried them back to the beginning of the side trail where there was also a road. Brian decided to hike back the 0.3 miles to the car and pick us up instead of carry both the boys back. Amazing both kids had a ton of energy again and "juggled" gravel to entertain me (they were mostly throwing it up on their heads which they thought was hilarious - and I was tired enough not to care).
It was getting close to 6 pm so we decided to stop for some food before driving back down to Franklin. It took about 15 minutes though to get to anything and we had to torture Rylan to keep him awake (he kept dozing off and then yelling at us that he wasn't sleeping).
Luckily he had taken a nap on the way to Tip-A-Canoe in the morning which had made the day much more pleasant. But it had been a REALLY long day for us. We had started off with a 9 am make-up gymnastics class and then gone to Lowe's for the Build and Grow workshop before heading to the river.
We saw lots of our friends this week at Lowe's - Missy and Warren were there with Will and Luke as well as the twins from the boys' gardening class with both their parents.
We had a great day and can't wait to try out canoeing with the boys again soon - maybe with our own canoe next time!
