A Stunning Adventure

One of the most unbelievable days Susan and I have had in a long time was yesterday.  We got up a little early, worked out at Gold's gym in Front Royal, then stopped by the Front Royal Canoe Company, a little adventure operation right on the river.  Susan wanted a shorter trip, but I thought we ought to go for it - a 11.5 mile trip down the winding river, over class 1 and class 2 rapids, with 2 peanut butter and jelly sandwiches in our bag, a book and a Bible.  

It turned out to be spectacular, as you can see from the pictures above.  The Shenandoah is much like the James - shallow in many places, deeper in a few, with clear water awesome wildlife and friendly people.  The notable difference between the Shenandoah and the James (where we live) is the mountains.  The views are stunning.  

So we moseyed down the river, Susan giving me canoeing instructions (she used to teach it a camp many years ago), me paddling away.  One of the best parts of the day was reading the Bible together and talking some about how John portrays Jesus in a very different way than the synoptic gospels. 

Of course, any real adventure would have some unexpected parts.  It rained on us twice.  We got stuck on some rocks a few times.  We ventured close to a whole colony of sunning turtles and a group of cows cooling their hooves in the river. We even saw two folks sitting on their horses while their horses stood in the river - something I hadn't seen before.

And we rested.  And talked about where our life together has gone.  We talk a lot about the church, things that have happened, things we still hope to do.  We continued our journey through Replenish - a super valuable book, and read a lot of Grisham's book - that guy writes so well!  

But the highlight of our day yesterday was a 4+ hour canoe ride, alone, with our Bible, the mountains, our thoughts, and all the time in the world.  It sure does feel good to rest again.