Friday 07-Dec-2007
I left for the Ottawa Valley after work on friday as i had been invited to a party at Lara and Shannon's place.
It seemed real strange and depressing to be heading to the Valley with no boat on my car. It would be the first time since May with just me and no paddling gear.
Can the paddling season really be over? Say it isn't so.
I kept peeking over the sides of the roads and bridges and to my dismay everything seems to be frozen solid covered in snow.
I finally reached my dads place in Pet. He asked me if I was paddling and I had to unfortunately "no". I spent some time with the folks and finally had to go to bed after falling asleep in the chair I don't know how many times.
Saturday 08-Dec-2007
I left Pet around 11am and headed into Pembroke to do some shopping and visiting some friends. I finally made it to the Burg mid afternoon and dropped off my goodies for the party. I caught up with Lara and met Shannon and her friend Tanya.
I left and headed out to visit some of my friends that were close by in the Valley. I even stopped to check out the river at the McKoy's putin. It was really saddening to see the amount of ice on the river. I can't belive that I might have to admit the paddling season is finally over.
I headed back to party central to help out with the last minute details and cleanup. The party was fun. It was nice to catch up with others in a relaxing social setting versus sitting in a eddy on the side of the river.
I spent the evening drinking eggnog with Malibu. Don't knock it until you try it. It is really good. I forget how many of those I had plus the number of shots that went along with it. The party died down around 2am and some people crashed early.
Shannon was like the energizer bunny. She went on a cleaning spree (broke my crockpot lid) and insisted that Tanya and I kept drinking with her. She kept making the drinks and I think they we getting stronger each time in between the shots. We finally packed it in arounf 4:30am.
People started stirring just before 9am. Shannon's parents came back to the house and made up a great breakfast. Shortly after goodbyes were exchanged and I had to hit the road back to Innisfil. I took a different road home and it had the same result. The ice and snow are here to say and the paddling season is finally over.
Time to get the skis out!
