Kayaking

For the first time ever, Scott and I went kayaking today.  Being a water lover, it's something that I've been wanting to try for a very long time now.  When a Groupon deal came up recently for a local place, Scott grabbed it for us.  The deal was for half a day (4 hours) at half price: not a bad deal at all.

We went this morning.  Little did we know that it was going to be soooo windy today.  There were about 20mph winds that we had to struggle against just to get out of the canal (1.25 miles).  By that point, our arms were extremely weary to say the least but we had a goal to make it to a beach on nearby key.  I was bound and determined to make it.  I had to: my arms needed the rest.

Once we got out of the canal and hit open water, that's when the waves started.  I loved the waves!  I thought it was a blast riding over and through them.  Yes, the wind was still making it difficult but at least we weren't travelling directly into it anymore.  When we were, I felt like I wasn't making any headway; I kept paddling but it didn't feel like I was going anywhere.  We finally reached the shore!!

Scott got there first and towed me in when I got close.  =)  We had some ice cream and vegged on the beach for a few minutes until we realized that we needed to head back if we were going to make it in time.  Struggling against the wind, it took us about two hours to get to the key that should have taken about half that.



Heading back, we paddled a different route and saw a bunch of fabulous houses and some really amazing mangroves.

Overall, it's something that I will totally do again: on a day that's not so windy and when we have time to just tool around and explore.  Fighting the wind made it a physical challenge and also gave us very little time to check things out.  But I loved being outside, in the water, hanging out with Scott, and doing something different.  Can't wait to go again!

Make a Difference

In honor of Earth Day coming up in a few days (April 22), I'd like to talk about a grassroots campaign called Take Back the Filter. My friend Cat over at The Green Cat, posted about it recently. The purpose of the campaign is to get the US Brita company to start a take-back program for their filters. While the original European Brita GmbH company has created a take-back recycling program for its filter cartridges, Clorox (the US Brita company) has no such program in place for re-using or recycling Brita cartridges. This means million of plastic cartridges get dumped in landfills or incinerated each year.

The campaign is requesting that Clorox:
1. Redesign its Brita filter cartridges so that the plastic housing can be refilled rather than discarded each time the filter is changed.
2. Provide a take-back program, such as the one that exists in Europe, so that used cartridges can be returned to the company for recycling.
3. Create a system for the cartridges to be dismantled and the components recycled/reused domestically rather than landfilled, incinerated, or shipped overseas.

Please take a moment to go check out the official Take Back the Filter web page to learn more about it and find out how you can help (sign the petition, I did). This is truly a grassroots effort that can inspire some major environmental change, but it needs your help.

Make a difference in our world. Thank you.