Duathalon

Today was the most active day I have had since arriving at the Waldheim.  I have come to enjoy the early morning wake up calls from the girls, I look forward to them.  They just make me smile and laugh whenever I am around them.  We had another good breakfast.  I have already locked in on my standard Waldheim breakfast order, OJ, oatmeal, scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee of course.  Breakfast is the one meal where the same choices are offered every day. Lunch and dinner I get to widen my food horizon.

We signed up to go on the boat/hike/lunch tour thing today.  A bunch of groups met on the dock at 11 to get on the big pontoon boat.  We then had a leisurely ride to the opposite end of the lake where we got off to start hiking.  Cadence and my dad were at the head of the pack, leading the way for a while which was surprising.  The  trail was steep at parts, mud filled at parts, with a lot of sections that required careful attention.  Dad was moving much faster than I had seen him the entire trip.  It almost seemed like having the large group of people somehow motivated him to keep moving, despite some of the mobility challenges he has.

Supposedly the hike was only 3/4 of a mile but it sure felt longer than that.  We arrived at the destination, another lake where they had a small shelter and clearing.  They hiked in with a number of these oversized baskets that staff carried on their backs.  In those baskets were food items and items needed to prepare them.

It was a pretty fascinating process watching the food being prepared, well at least at first.  It later became just flat out lengthy.  Over a campfire a huge cast iron pan was placed.  In that pan they first cooked about 5 pounds of bacon.  Then they made homemade hash browns with potatoes and onions that were cut on site. Next up they pulled the pan and cooked pieces of steak on the grill.  The last thing they made were pancakes on a skillet.

Because of my diet choices my main meal was just a big plate of the hash browns which was fine for me.  They were using water filtered from the lake to make lemonade and regular drinking water which made my eyebrows raise a little bit.  They also walked around with a few tins of cookies, I helped myself to two.  I mostly enjoyed my time in the clearing but it did take longer than I anticipated.  I had to retreat to some shade after feeling like I was baking in the sun.

As things were wrapping up I suggested to my dad that we head out a bit ahead of the rest of the group, anticipating his pace going back would be slower.  Myself, Teresa and him started hiking maybe 10 minutes before everyone else.  It worked out well as by the time we got back to the boat launch some of the group had caught up to us.  I was happy to see the boat driver ramped up the speed for the return trip.  We didn’t get back until something like 3:30.  We were all sort of tired.

Earlier Meg and Paul had mentioned they were going to rent kayaks, I told them I would go with them. They were going to postpone those plans because of the longer than expected adventure but they then decided to still do it.  I told them I was still down to go.

Paul and I got the kayaks in the water and we shoved off.  I have to be honest, I felt unstable for a little while as it had been a decade or two since I was last in a kayak.  However the longer I paddled the more comfortable I felt, except for being physically uncomfortable.  The position my long legs had to be in combined with the angle of the seat made it feel like I needed to be doing one long ab crunch to be in proper paddling position.

I was not the most consistent paddler either, many times I had to do multiple strokes to one side to course correct.  If a GPS was on me you would have seen a very zig zag style course.  Paul had brought some beers out which he shared.  We were out there over an hour and a half and covered a lot of distance.  My favorite part was when we stopped in the cove where this picture was taken and just relaxed, talked and drank for a few minutes.  I am positive my upper back, shoulders and arms are going to be quite sore tomorrow, it was a substantial workout.

We had dinner a little later than normal so they could clean up.  When I got in the dining room I saw something I had not seen up until this point, Cadence looking tired and low energy.  Evidently they slept once we got back from the hike and had to be awakened for dinner.  I guess they were still half asleep.  As the meal went on Cadence perked up a bit which was good to see.  They were too tired however to come visit after dinner so we split up for the night which brings me here, back in the library, by myself, punching this out.

The trip is now officially heading down the homestretch.  It has been enjoyable on many levels and reinforces why it’s important to extend your barriers, welcome new things/experiences into your life and most importantly make conscious efforts to be happy.  Your mind is the superhero or villain of your story.  Being content with unhappiness is a choice that is written with a pencil, not permanent marker.  You can choose to erase what is not working for you and move in different directions.  I plan to keep doing that exactly.  I appreciate the solitude this place has offered to bring more clarity for me as to what really matters.