Beautiful Paddles!

Don't you just love the feeling of receiving packages in the mail? Exciting boxes keep arriving and we never know what will be in them. What could this box be?

Beautiful, beautiful paddles! Bending Branches helped us pick out some great paddles to help propel us around Lake Michigan. They have a carbon fiber shaft and red alder, black willow, and basswood laminate blade. They are so light too - around 14 ounces!

The blades are also reinforced to make the paddle more durable. Even though they are made to take a beating, I feel like Mary and I will be very careful paddling with them at first. They are just too beautiful to ding up! But alas, I'm sure after 1000 miles on the lake they will be showing some wear and tear. We can't wait to try them out on the lake, but since we were being so careful with them, Mary decided to try one out on the hammock first...

And then she wiped out...

Maybe we'll take them out on the actual water this afternoon. I think we may have better luck!