Paddling with Reene

Mom (whose adventure alter-ego is named Reene) talked me into doing something with her this past weekend that she's been wanting to do for awhile. It is a yearly event called Project Aware and it is basically a 5 day long trip in which like-minded Iowans camp and canoe along a river picking up trash along the way. It is a river clean-up project and this year focused on cleaning up the Wapsipinicon River.

Mom and I tagged along for an overnight of camping and 1 day of canoeing/clean up. We had a great time and any time I can spend with my mama is time well spent. Bonus is if it is time spent in and with nature. She has influenced me the most to be a nature/outdoor/get dirty and care for the earth lover. 

We could not believe the trash we found along the river and what people were finding and piling in their canoes! Canoes were piled high with huge tires, pieces of scrap metal, dumpsters!, car parts, wire, random funny things, barrels, and bags and bags and bags of trash and recycling. Mom and I contributed a couple bags of trash, a big rusty metal rim that we cut out of tree roots from the side of a dirt bank, a baseball and a hunters arrow. We found ourselves cramming our canoe in between dams of brush and branches to reach cans and bottles and styrofoam. We got dirty and enjoyed a beautiful canoe ride while we were at it. Other fun things we did in our down time were nature weaving and exploring a fen which was fascinating! 

Overall a great experience we are glad we tried. We were sore and tired by the end of the day but these beautiful watersheds in our state are sure worth cleaning up.

who knew a fen was so cool?cute Reene among wildflowers, where she belongs

tent camping! 

sleeping on cots! 

stopping to hunt for trash

dirty legs! 

the pretty Wapsipinicon River 

how cute is my mama? can you believe she is 65 and has this much energy for life?