Father's Day, 2011

How can a Father's Day be perfect? Let me count the ways . . . start with Eggs Benedict for breakfast, kayak the quiet, flowing waters of Arcadia Wildlife Sanctuary at noon, watch your older boy play ball in the early afternoon, do a bit of gardening after that, grab a quick hot tub, then finish the Day with some ribs and a College World Series game. It was such a great day.

A map of Arcadia; our route is in blue.

     I've already spoke a bit about Arcadia (see post: Kayaking the Oxbow) but on this day we got to go deeper into the Area on the Mill River. The current was really flowing toward the river, which meant a tough pull into the Santuaruy, but on our way out we were flying. This is a great spot to paddle because it is so quiet and usually so full of observable wildlife. Today we didn't see much, however, only a solitary heron and a few turtles. But the ride was fun, and Chris was zooming along with the current on the way back out toward the Oxbow. The only negative part of the event was the number of folks fishing off the bridge near the put-in. We were concerned about getting tied up in a line or two, and whether it was us or them, neither Chris nor I felt really welcome as we put in. Maybe the fishermen thought we'd scare the fish away? Maybe we were in a bad spot? Who knows, but next time we'll get a different put-in spot with fewer people and fewer fishing lines. Once again the LL Bean Kayak cart proved itself to be one of the greatest inventions of the Modern Era. If you kayak or canoe, you have to have one of these . . . here's the link one more time: http://www.llbean.com/llb/shop/48787?feat=502150-GN3 .
      After kayaking we caught a few innings of Patrick's Legion game against Easthampton. Here's a great one: Just as Chris and I were pulling into our parking spot I noticed Patrick loosening up getting ready to hit. I told Chris to hustle up and let's get to the field. We got around the dugout just as Patrick was stepping in, and then CRACK!!! he crushes a ball to deep left-center--the first steps by both the leftfielder and the centerfielder were backwards. He ended up with a beautiful RBI double. I turned to some of the parents there and I couldn't resist: "That's my Father's Day gift, Baby, yes!!!" We stayed a few more innings and left--ultimately Patrick's team lost, but I got my present out of it . . .
     The rest of the day we were homebound, doing a bit of garden work, sitting in my hot tub for a bit, and manging on some Babyback ribs in chipolte marinade. I caught a bit of Rory McIlroy's US Open win and watched a few innings of South Carolina and Texas A&M. It was a great day--lots of love going around the Dragon house . . .