Natural Resources

We live about a stone's throw from the Jordan River. This waterway has long had a bad reputation for pollution and waste, but the cities that line it have really tried to clean it up in the past few years. As a family we frequently use the parkway that follows the banks for walking, jogging, and riding our bikes. Sometimes we'll go out in the evening and watch the bats eat bugs, but that's creepy enough that I don't agree to go very often. The river itself hasn't been much of a draw for us. Until two weeks ago, that is. Ryan and Jared decided to try out the kayaks on it. They had so much fun that Jared made me go with him last week. I must admit that I was a little nervous about our adventure. I'm not sure why because I'm pretty comfortable on the water. Jared assured me that he could guide me through.

Wow. We started upriver from our house by about 1.5 miles, and it took around 40 minutes, but seemed like only 10 minutes. It was so relaxing. It is a slow river with only a few mild ripples, so there wasn't any section that made your heart get going or anything. Ryan dropped us off and we just called on the cell phone to have him pick us up when we were done since he could be there in about two minutes.

It was amazingly gorgeous actually being on the river. There is so much beauty to it that I had taken for granted. Jared loved following ducks and scaring them. And we only saw one submerged bicycle tire and one abandoned fishing chair, and maybe a few empty soda bottles on the banks. Maybe next time I'll bring a garbage bag and we can contribute a little to the clean up effort. We'll definitely be going out onto the river again soon.