Spent a wonderful day on the water

The view from the hull: spent the day paddling around West Branch State Park in my new kayak

If it's gotta be summer, this is how I want to spend it: floating around silently in the water on a bright day. This is how I spent today. Kayaking is wonderful because, like dog sledding, it is silent and eco-friendly and allows one to get an up-close-and-personal view of wildlife and be close to the earth.

Today, two sandhill cranes sqwaking at each other on an embankment caught my attention so I paddled toward them. One, obviously frazzled by the other, suddenly flew across the alcove into a tree; the other soon followed. I paddled silently, the orange kayak cutting the dark water until I was right underneath the cranes. I watched them for a few minutes and they looked down at me floating on the water. Then, in one swift movement, one flew away toward the north end of the lake, and the other followed.