I paddled the Don...

Happy Luke Skywalker Day to everyone! "May the 4th be with you...." :) Yes, geeky.... but that doesn't stop me from using it year after year :) What a weekend! I'm not even sure where to start. I guess it started at the end of last week, finishing off my Solaris 10 admin class. It was really enjoyable, but intense. Which brings me to Friday night... a fun night of a few (dozen) brews at Victory Cafe with some friends of friends. Cool peeps that I hope to party again with sometime in the near future.

Then Saturday came rolling along and my sister Laura and her friend Caroline came up for a visit. During the day we did some shopping at MEC and EuropeBound where I mainly studied maps and got excited about the Algonquin voyage at the end of July. Later on Saturday, we headed out to my Cousin Scott's in Scarborough for his annual BBQ & daughter's birthday. Then we headed back to the city to make it not too late a night. And why did it matter, because this morning I needed to be up bright and early.

And this takes me to what is most likely the highlight of the weekend... I Paddled the Don River with some of my coworkers. We started up at Leslie and Eglington and paddled our way down to the lake. There was some good current surging through the river, varying from slight riffles in the water to small rapids. Small... but not to be underestimated! Funny enough, my canoe partner Steve & I capsized! We rounded a corner and the river was tight and fast moving. Right infront of us was a "strainer": low hanging tree branches that were just barely hanging above the water's surface. In an effort to duck them, the canoe went over and we got strained by the strainer. Hilarious! And even better, I've got the "water-proof" video to go with it! Amazingly, when it happened, my camera turned on and started recording while underwater. It's really quite funny and once I get a chance to edit it out a bit, I'll post it for you to see. Stay tuned...

All in all, a great weekend! Even with the dip in the cold water, it was exciting and hilarious and definately makes for a better story than a dry trip down a river. In all my years of canoeing, this was my first (accidental) tip! LOL! Even in the class II & III rapids on the mighty Missinaibi, we swamped, but didn't go over. A first time for everything!

Anyway, I anticipate a big day at work tomorrow since I was on course all last week, so I'm going to stop here and hit the sack nice and early tonight. I've been up since 6 and today's been a LONG day. And I got my taxes done today too :) (Where did that come from?!?!). OK... g'nite!

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