Vacation was a chance to play on water

When I was a child my family didn’t do much in the way of traveling or vacationing.

Sure, we’d spend some weekends at my aunt and uncle’s cabin along the Au Sable River in the northern part of Michigan’s lower peninsula.

Occasionally we’d take a weekend trip up to Mackinac Island, cross the Mackinac Bridge to Tahquamenon Falls State Park and Whitefish Point.

We’ve been over to the northwestern part of the Mitten to Traverse City and to the Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore.

But most of these trips were filled with sightseeing. Not too often did we partake in physical activities, such as boating, canoeing or kayaking.

When an opportunity arose while on vacation this past weekend to partake in water sports, there was no way I was going to pass up the opportunity.

Every year for the last decade, a big group of high school friends, along with significant others and now children, spend a weekend camping around the Fourth of July. About 20 of us usually camp at the family cabin of AJ, the host, in Au Gres, Michigan, along Saginaw Bay and Lake Huron.

The location changed this year to AJ’s aunt’s house on Duncan Lake in Caledonia, a couple hours west of my hometown of Saginaw and just south of Grand Rapids along I-96.

Chrissy and I spent a couple days with my family in Saginaw, and we arrived in Caledonia about 2 p.m. Friday. We unpacked and set up our rather large tent (that I borrowed from my brother and didn’t expect it to be as big as a bedroom), unloaded the rest of our belongings as others slowly started to arrive.

Once we got settled, the first thing we did is take out the kayaks.

Now, I had never been kayaking before, so I was looking forward to the opportunity, but I had no clue what I was doing.

Thankfully, Chrissy was able to coach me through it. We stepped into the kayaks along the shore and pushed ourselves into the water and away we went.

It was more of an abdomen workout than I was expecting, but over the course of the weekend I didn’t tip once. The biggest challenge was when we encountered waves from speedboats zipping up and down the lake. I quickly figured the best way to approach the waves was to take them head on rather than sideways to eliminate any chance of rolling.

Chrissy and I used the kayaks more than anyone else that weekend, and even got caught in the rain on Friday. We were heading back to shore and noticed everyone get out of their chairs and beeline up toward the house. We looked behind us and saw a wall of rain making its way toward us. We weren’t able to get to shore in time, but it just made for a more fun experience.

On Sunday — our last day — Chrissy and I made sure to get one final excursion in on cool, calm waters.

Now we want to buy kayaks.

Saturday I went paddle boarding for the first time, and did a lot better than expected. Again, Chrissy — who was limited because of a knee injury — coached me through it. I was told it would be a tremendous core workout, but it turned out to be most painful for my feet muscles in constantly trying to keep balance.

Once I got the hang of it, maneuvering wasn’t difficult, but taking on those waves from the boats was the hardest part. I tried the same strategy — taking them head on — as with the kayak, but didn’t always have the luxury. There was one time, when I was out about 50 feet from shore next to Mike and Jake who were kayaking, that I encountered what seemed like 10 huge waves, and took them each sideways.

I’ve always thought I had pretty good balance for someone of my stature, and this proved my point, as I managed to stay atop the board and not fall.

And later that evening, as Drew and Dave attempted — and succeeded — to swim the 600 or so feet to the other side of the lake, I was right there with them on the paddle board.

Now I want to buy a paddle board.

Also on Saturday, perhaps the most fun part of my time on the water, I finally got to get on a tube for the first time.

AJ and I were sitting on a two-person, couch-like tube, and we only crashed once. But it was hard. His uncle Mark was whipping us back and forth along the wake, and once while we were skidding across the water we dipped too far and AJ, who was sitting on my left, rolled on top of me and we got ejected from the tube.

I’m told we got thrown pretty far, but I don’t recall.

All I was concerned about was the copious amounts of water I had inhaled once I hit the water and trying to catch my breath once I reached the surface.

For an asthmatic such as myself, my biggest fear is not being able to breathe, and for a couple moments I was unable to do so.

But we survived.

And now I want a boat (and a tube).