Trying something new

Yesterday we decided to venture out of our comfort zone and try paddleboarding.

I see it at Lake Mission Viejo and I have always been intrigued by it, but as we have only been to our own lake once all summer, I haven't had the opportunity to try it.

Part of the fun of being in a new place is finding where you are supposed to go.  Luckily, we found this place pretty easily.

We got sized for our boards and paddles and headed out to the water.  The first thing that struck me is they gave us very little instruction.  Apparently they had faith that we would just 'pick it up'.    But I've been on a kayak, so how hard could it be, right???

Well did I mention that I have vertigo and balance problems? 

So, to throw me on a board, standing, with no side rails, and a lot of motion might not be the most sound decision I have made in a while.  But - it's and adventure, so what the heck, right?

Now, when we saw the pictures for paddleboarding, all the people were wearing clothes.  Apparently they were confident they weren't 'goin' in the drink' as mom calls it.  So I have my bathing suit under my shorts, and a spare outfit in the car, which turned out to be a good thing......

I gotta say, I was really proud of everyone, because as I looked around, we were all upright.  But I gotta say, it wasn't easy.  You have to be aware of the waves coming at you.  Not large waves, just a lot of bumping around....while you are standing on a board....with a stick......

After a while, we decided to sit down and hold our paddles together and floated next to each other.  It was probably my favorite part of everything.  But as we floated, the water kept pulling us closer and closer to shore, so we had to break off and try to get back together....which didn't work.  So we broke of and started heading back. 

Julie wanted to make sure we got pictures, so she ran back to the car to get pictures of us.  As we had all been sitting on our boards, we had to climb back up.  We was handing the camera off to a guy to take pictures and I stood up and waited.  She got on her board and started paddling to turn her board around and at that time, I don't know what happened, but I took this opportunity to look like a fool and fall off my board.  After almost an hour of staying steady, I lost it.  Dipped from head to toe!  And the worst part is, it was just a few feet of water!!!  It was so cold that I didn't want to climb back on the stupid board, but for the sake of the pictures, I tried!  And failed yet again.

I told Julie I was done!  And off we went!

Not a great ending, but I wouldn't change the experience at all!!  It was a bit more exerting than I thought, even though we didn't feel like it at the time.

After that we found a remote spot and had lunch that we brought from home.  And then we shopped a little.  It was a nice afternoon.  After that, we came home and relaxed for the rest of the night.

We are heading to Virginia City today.  It's an old town by Carson City.

The girls aren't happy about this.  They want to just put on their bathing suits and be at the lake.  But we adults aren't ready to go there......yet.

Happy Tuesday!