In the Middle of the River

The river flowed steadily that warm afternoon. The water had the color of a thick hot chocolate, sans the aroma, due to rain the night before. The sun was beating down pretty hard but we had the tall lush trees along the edges of the river as our umbrellas. A couple of turtles hung out on a tree trunk that looked like it had fallen into the water a while ago. Seven ducks swam closely together while checking their surrounding. A friend kept saying, “Watch out for the branches, watch out for the branches!” as Jeff deliberately (and many times) stirred the canoe towards the low-hanging tree branches along the river. I did not hear anything else other than our laughter.

One of my friends was moving to the east coast for a new job this spring. My friends and I asked what he wanted to do to celebrate his accomplishments and he said, “Canoeing on the Grand River.” Hmmm…okay. I had never done canoeing before or imagined to be able to do it on the Grand River. But this summer, my theme is all about keeping an open mind and trying new things. So that Saturday eight friends drove to the Grand Fish, a canoe and kayak rental by one of the river’s access points in Lansing.

We rented two canoes and two kayaks. The owners of the Grand Fish recommended for us to go upstream to the river branch and take a left to the Red Cedar River, towards Potter Park Zoo. “Just paddle for about 10 minutes upstream, then after you get to the Red Cedar, it will be easy.” said one of the owners. Well, what was supposed to be a 10-minute paddling turned into 20 due to the strong current. After trying hard to race each other, we regrouped in the middle of the river, chatting, laughing, and being silly. It felt just like college days.

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