Your Perfect Summer Day — Spend It Kayaking With Us!
What do you envision as a "perfect day?" Although it might depend on the season or weather, we all likely have some mental picture of ourselves, family, or friends doing something — from luxuriously reading an engaging book until its satisfying end at 2 a.m., winning at Pictionary because you suddenly have mad sketching skills, finding the GOAT ice cream flavor (mine is chocolate no-bake cookies in peanut butter ice cream by Moomers), to hiking through a sunlit October wood where you can smell the leaves.
As you may realize, perfect days are rarely made up of things. They are the result of doing things, and often the people we are doing those activities with (or without if you're getting away). A rich life is full of a long line of stitched together experiences. But in our modern auto-mode of busyness, we often fail to take, or make, the time to do things.
The greatest gift you can give yourself, and those you enjoy spending time with, is time. On a daily or weekly basis, remembering to carve out a few minutes to do something fun or relaxing is important for regaining the physical and mental energy for the next tasks. It can be hard. I have a stack of books on my nightstand that take a ridiculously long time to work through with my practice of reading 15 minutes before lights out while sipping Celestial Seasonings Sleepytime Peach tea. But that daily experience is important.
On a grander scale, summer vacations are often the most eagerly anticipated and biggest open chunk of time for many people and families — days full of potential experiences and adventures. My favorite childhood summer vacation was a 2-week road trip through South Dakota, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada, and a blur of the plains on our return home to Michigan. What do I remember most from that trip? The endless hours of listening to Casey Kasem's American Top 40, swimming in the frigid Missouri River, a thunderstorm over the Badlands, escaping the heat at a water park in Las Vegas, the grasslands of the Plains at dusk, and how much more tan my Dad's left arm was (our Bronco did not have air conditioning — it was 1985). We had few specific plans other than to "head west."
Today, the typical "up north" summer vacation itinerary we hear from so many people consists of trying to jam in as many known sightseeing hot-spots, rushing through in order to get to the next "must do" thing while jockeying with everyone else doing the same things. There is an alternative option that gets you out of your vehicle for a day, the kids off Tik-Tok, doesn't require searching for a parking spot at 6 a.m., waiting in line for 2 hours to see something, arguing over the next Spotify playlist, finding an alternative to fried something to eat, or wishing when you arrive back home that you would've relaxed more during your vacation.
We offer that alternative. You spend time gathered with those special individuals by booking a Perfect Day with Woods & Waters. A Perfect Day kayak trip is YOUR day. It is a private trip where you get to paddle the day away reconnecting, sharing an adventure, disconnecting from technology, soaking up the sun, getting wet feet, enjoying a chef-crafted picnic lunch (meeting dietary restrictions of course), and feeling comfortably spent at the end of the day from hours of fresh air, conversation, and physical activity.
Sounds like a perfect day, doesn't it? Perfect Days are not about racing around to see as much as you can. Lasting between 7- to 8-hours, including a leisurely lunch break, our Perfect Days are about quality time focusing your attention on your companions and not your phones. Learning new things and practicing paddling skills are only a small benefit to a day spent playing outdoors. And if your perfect day only lasts 6 hours...that's ok too. It's your day after all!
We handle the trip planning and the picnic lunch — you show up prepared to have fun and create memories. Trip costs vary based on the number of people in your party and the type of kayaks used (tandems or solos). Depending on those factors, we may need one or two guides with your group as we maintain a 1 guide to 6-boat ratio. We are happy to go over all the pricing information with you, as well as answer any questions you may have. Give us a call or drop us an email. We offer Perfect Day kayak trips in the Les Cheneaux Islands and on Drummond Island. The Les Cheneaux towns of Hessel and Cedarville are only 30 minutes from the Mackinac Straits and St. Ignace and Mackinac City, about 45 minutes from the Soo (Sault), and a little over an hour from Petoskey and Harbor Springs. If you are going toward Tahquamenon Falls or Pictured Rocks (Munising), we aren't that far out of the way.
We hope to see you this summer for your perfect summer day.