Three Generations of Kayakers

My Mom Beth started kayaking before I was born, and ultimately was the one who got me hooked on the sport. Last week, she came out to visit my family, and then spent a week kayaking my local rivers. She’s joined this Week of Rivers trip annually for the past few years, where she and a group of other paddlers stay at a bed and breakfast and are guided down local rivers by Kirk Eddlemon.

This year, I was able to join my Mom and her group on the river for one of the days. We paddled White Oak Creek, and had an amazing day picking our way through the rapids and surfing every small wave we came across. My Mom and I even tandom surfed two of the waves!
As my Mom is now 71 years old, every time we kayak together is special. Even more so, since we actually haven’t kayaked together in several years. We currently live on different sides of the country, which makes logistics difficult. The last time we paddled together was almost 2 years ago, my Mom kayaked while my husband and I took an inflatable kayak down with our then 2 year old daughter.

These days, I have a 1.5 year old and almost 4 year old. I can’t wait to get them out on the rivers more and have even more days together with three generations of kayakers! (Special thanks to Kirk Eddlemon for the photos! Except the photo of the Littles helping Grandma pack the car.) ~Diane Brasuell (Gaydos)