Kayaking down the Toccoa River

This was the summer of Kayaking! We took not one, but two trips down the Toccoa River this year. One was a little more eventful than the other, but both were fun.

Our first trip was actually right before we left for our trip to Grandfather Mountain. We took off for NC a couple of days early so we decided to take the girls tubing/kayaking. Granny T was determined to be in a tube (we convinced her to change that idea in a later trip), but the rest of us preferred kayaks.

Granny T and the girls ready to go down the river.

Miss Priss discovered that she quite enjoyed paddling and made me ride down most of the river backwards!

Little Bit paddling Daddy!

I did get to paddle for a few short minutes.

Granny T was riding in a tube tied to the back of Pop's kayak. She managed to find herself riding through the tree branches a great deal for some reason. She has since determined this is not the way to go!

Little Bit moved around a lot. Here she is riding with Pop in his ever so slowly deflating kayak!

Daddy and Little Bit getting out in front of us all.

The crew... The Woodsman and Little Bit on the left. Miss Priss, Pop and Granny T on the right. My feet in the middle!

After this the trip got a little interesting! It started to sprinkle, then rain and finally STORM! Oh My Word did it storm. Little Bit and Daddy made it back first with me and Miss Priss fairly close behind. Pop and Granny T ended up pulling out of the water and waiting out the storm on some guys porch. What started out as a relaxing trip ended up a big wet mess!

The next adventure down the Toccoa wasn't as eventful, thankfully! It was a beautiful, sunny day with NO rain! The girls and I were lucky enough to catch a ride back to the cabin for a second summer trip with Papa Jim, Granny T, Robert, Turner and Taylor.

Me and my kayakin' girlies.

Super excited we were able to have Taylor join our girlie group for this trip.

Riding the short bus to the 3 mile drop off point.

Turner getting ready to launch.

Little Bit started off in the hard kayak with me at the beginning of the trip.

That's Miss Priss in her OWN inflatable kayak way out in front of us!

Miss Priss taking on the open river all on her own. This was SO cool for both of us. She couldn't believe I let her have her own boat and I couldn't believe I said yes to her having her own boat. She really proved herself on the first trip of the summer though. She did an excellent job and I can't wait to get a family set of kayaks so we can do this more often.

We caught up to her and Turner racing.

She was even paddling circles around Granny T and Papa Jim!

I had to include this picture just because I thought it was funny! Miss Priss in front being all independent and Little Bit trying her hardest to keep up from turning in circles. I guess her tongue is somehow giving her just the right edge!

Granny T's viewpoint of Miss Priss and Turner racing. 

Robert and Taylor strolling along. Taylor was enjoying the cold water on her feet.

Little Bit paddling her little heart out in our tiny kayak.

There goes that tongue again! I think it was directed at all my picture taking this time though!

She made me give her the camera for a while! She did a pretty good job with it too. I don't normally like pictures of myself, but I actually kind of like this one of me in my big hat!

Little Bit finally decided the hard kayak was just too small for the two of us and jumped in the boat with Robert and Taylor.

Robert, Taylor and Little Bit

While Little Bit was out of the kayak, I gave Miss Priss the chance to test out her skills in the smaller, more nimble hard kayak. Needless to say I never got it back! Its a lot easier to handle than the inflatable rubber ones. And a lot more fun!

Now that we had a larger kayak, Little Bit decided to rejoin mom. I got to ride the rest of the trip backwards while she paddled. I am still not completely ready to put her in her own boat yet, but she's not far from it! She did an awesome job.

On the way back to the cabin Selfies!

Three happy, tired little kayakin' gals!

What a great experience for all. We love paddling and spending time at the cabin for sure! Can't beat two trips in one summer!