the squibix family blog

The last time we paddled on the Sudbury River the water was low. It's much higher now, thanks to the constant rain, but the channel from the launch was still plenty gross with algae. Out in the river itself the water was clean and beautiful, but the smell of decaying vegetation coming off the recently-flooded banks was not. So any thought of river swimming soon left us. Still, Fairhaven Bay is a pretty cool place to be regardless!

Thinking of a lunch picnic, we headed across towards the boathouse. Last fall the water was too low; now it's so high that the concrete pier around the boathouse is well underwater. So is a good bit of the building itself. We managed to land (coming ashore on the stairs that lead down from the hill above the boathouse) and found a dry spot for lunch and some tag. On the way out, we of course had to try to get the boats into the boathouse. It was a tight squeeze, but they fit! That's one life goal achieved.

On the shores of Fairhaven Bay I realized that we were only a little over a mile from the shore of Walden Pond—the shore by the railroad tracks where you can just walk down to and jump in regardless of how crowded the place is. So I asked the kids if they wanted to head over that way. They declined: a mile and a bit seemed like a little far to walk *after they swam, plus the paddling that would have to follow. And we hadn't brought the towels out of the car. So never mind, we headed for home.

But then, joy of joys! As we got to the car I checked my phone and learned that the pond had just opened again. So we made another stop and had another whole adventure: a couple hours of swimming! For the kids. Me, I just napped on the beach. Adventuring is tiring!