Fall Adventure
Days have less sunlight, the leaves are finally changing colors and the weather is cooling off (kind of). Even though the temperatures are not cooperating it is officially fall in the Northeast. Now that fall is here it is time to take the adventures outdoors to enjoy the weather and the foliage.
This year my friends and I decided to do a fall foliage kayaking tour through L.L. Bean. L.L. Bean has outdoor discovery programs that anyone can sign up. Their offerings range from archery to adventure trips. We found the kayaking tour last fall, but by the time we figured out a date and time that fit into our schedule the tour was booked full. This year we made a decision early to book the tour so we were able to get the tour date and time that worked best for all of us.
In our area we had two locations we could choose from so we chose the afternoon session at Marsh Creek State Park. When we first arrived we had a bit of a snafu – we didn’t go to the correct location. If you know us you know this is the norm rather than abnormal. We called the customer service number on our confirmation and they were able to point us in the correct location and the tour guide called us to ensure we were still showing. Jason was great and waited for us.
We found out that L.L. Bean has their own ‘Adventure House’ that they used as a headquarters for their outdoor programs. When we arrived activities were in full swing – one group was doing archery while another was learning fly fishing casting. We also found out that the tour was not sold out and it was just the 4 of us and another gentleman taking the tour. The tour was scheduled for 3 hours on the water. Before we could get into the kayak we had our safety meeting – put on our life vest, learned how to hold the paddle, the best way to paddle, turn, and stop. One we mastered the basics is was time to hit the water!
One by one our guide got us settled in our kayak and onto the water. Once we were each settled we headed our on our tour. Thankfully even though the weather hasn’t been too cool in the Northeast this fall the leaves have changed and we were able to peep the fall foliage from the weather. As we paddled along the water we say herons, ducks, fisherman, and sailors. We lucked out to have beautiful blue skies with little clouds and sun.
It was peaceful being out gliding along the water. Of course we passed the area we originally started out looking for the tour. We eventually went to an area that we dead-ended in a location where houses sat along the banks. We turned around and started heading back to the spot we launched from.
Overall the paddling wasn’t too bad, but there was a spot were we were paddling with the current/waves and we had to put a little more arm muscle into the paddling. You would think going with the current/waves would be easier but since you are paddling against the way the waves are breaking you are actually fighting against the current/wave. Other than that spot it wasn’t too strenuous.
We made it back to the spot we launched from safely and fairly dry.
I would definitely be interested in doing another L.L. Bean Adventure!
