braveheart

Today I did my first cold weather paddle. When I left the house this morning, it was just barely above freezing, but I was undaunted. I had my brand new paddle mitts to keep me nice and warm, in addition to all my other gear. Check out how cool these mitts are:

The mitt velcros over the paddle shaft, and then you just slip your hand in an viola! Your hand is warm and dry but unencumbered by gloves. Perfect. I just got these yesterday for fourteen dollars! What a bargain!

Anyway, the paddle was gorgeous with the added bonus of a pit-stop on a house boat! All summer as we paddled past houseboats in various places, we all fantasized about how cool it would be if we could stop at one, take a break, have some drinks, hang out and then head back to the boats. Well, today was our lucky day. A friend of the group was house-sitting a house boat on Sauvie Island and she offered to host us on a pit-stop. It was so, so sweet. The house itself was lovely, full of gorgeous art, (including an autographed photo of Reese Witherspoon in the daughter's room, which isn't exactly art, but it was interesting). There was a woodstove cranking out the heat, which was nice. And the beverages were great: hot, spiced cider spiked with Tuaca, a vanilla liqueur. Yum.

I stayed perfectly warm through the rest of the paddle, which was really gorgeous. Here are a couple more pictures. Jealous?