Paddleboards!!!

Here we go again to try and keep this blog up to date (HA!). As a quick recap Kris and I have now finished all our classwork for our DMA's. We will be taking the written portion of our comprehensive exams this summer in August (eek!). Which answers the question of what we will be doing all summer...Studying!!!!

In the meantime we will try to find ways to relax a bit, and those will hopefully be what mostly fills this blog this summer.

This first post actually goes back to last summer. Last July we took a mini vacation to Deep Creek Lake. We stayed a few days at the WISP resort and enjoyed some of the summer activities in the area. One of the activities we tried Stand-Up Paddleboarding. Kris had been wanting to try this for a long time and luckily Deep Creek offered guided tours of the lake on paddleboards. After about the first 30 min we were both hooked. It is a relatively easy activity (as long as you can balance standing up on the board) but is a great full body workout. In addition, this is one of the few sports where we are mostly equally matched. Part of the appeal of SUP's (the abbreviation) is that they can be manuvered into tight spots which makes them perfect for wildlife watching and just general exploring. It also means speed is not really a concern. After returning we bit the bullet and got our own inflatable SUP's from a company called "Tower Paddleboards".

We immediately put them to good use on our trip last year to Michigan and througout August/September in WV. We explored a few local lakes and luckily we live only 1 mile from Cheat Lake making it a very convenient entry point.

This past week was the first time we got the paddleboards out for this summer! As Cheat Lake is normally busy with boats we tend to frequent the end of the lake away from the main docks. However, as it is still early in the season, not a lot of boats are out so we've been taking the time to explore the other end of the lake. On our first outing we got caught in a thunderstorm (opps!) and didn't make it very far. The next day, however, was amazing. We got to paddle down the Cheat River and explore a beautiful little waterfall. See pictures below....

Courtney relaxing on the paddleboard

In addition we also got to see 2 beavers paddling around. Kris startled one of them and we even got the tail slap on the water to warn us away! Unfortunately we didn't get any pictures of them.

Here's to the start of summer and hopefully many more adventures on our paddleboards!