Our Kayaking Adventure

Since I've been trying to include more exercise into my life I've had a difficult time pulling the hubby along. Micah, my naturally tall and skinny husband, just isn't a fan of traditional workouts. He hates the gym, and since we have such a difference in athletic ability it's been very hard to find active things that we can do together. 

Despite his strong dislike for running, he did agree to go with me to try it out. We had a plan that we would do week one of my couch-to-5K program; me sprinting and Micah slowly jogging. (ok this guy is ALL legs...) The hope was that using this method we would be able to stick together. It worked OK I guess. I was really struggling to keep up with his slow jog so he ended up switching between that and power walking. I am just at that awkward speed where I'm too fast for him to walk but too slow for him to run. Even though it didn't work out as planned I had so much fun! It was so encouraging to have the love of my life out there with me! In an otherwise pretty isolating journey I truly felt supported. After the run I reached out on my facebook page for other ideas of active things that we could do together. I received so many amazing ideas (thanks everyone!!!) ! We decided to rent some kayaks for the weekend and go on an adventure! 

We woke up bright and early Saturday morning to pick up our kayaks! Our college has an amazing outdoor adventure program which offers services like kayak rental for a great price. I'm surprised we didn't take advantage of their services earlier! We loaded up the jeep and headed north into the Keweenaw Peninsula! 

We ended up at Schlatter Lake. It's a remote lake that took some serious off-roading to reach. We unloaded the kayaks, and had a great time paddling around the lake! It was absolutely beautiful! 

We attempted to get some pictures of us together but my front-facing camera was being annoying and washed out all the pictures.

We were sad that the camera wasn't working....

One of the highlights of the trip was finding a river off of the lake to explore! It was a blast trying to navigate all of the fallen trees and other obstacles. It was a great workout too! My arms and shoulders were definitely burning by the end! 

After we were done paddling we headed out to the Keweenaw rocket range for a cookout! It's a really cool spot on Lake Superior ! It was the location of Michigan's first rocket launch!

I built the fire and was pretty proud of myself. The campfire pit and logs were already set up from previous visitors!

Micah cooked the brats right over the fire! 

Can't forget the veggies! Even if they are from a can :)

It was such a great adventure! I loved that we were able to do something active together without out having a huge ability difference. We had such a great time that we hope to purchase kayaks of our own in the future. Thanks everybody for your awesome suggestions! 

If you are working on adding more activity to your life I'd highly suggest getting your spouse or significant other involved! It is super motivating and a great step towards maintaining your healthy lifestyle changes. 

Do you have any healthy activities that you like to do (or want to try) with your family?

On our future list: Badminton, biking, hiking, and rock climbing!

God Bless,

Sarah