I wanted to paddle somewhere different. Sonora and Danelle were up for the challenge. I don’t remember who’s idea it was, but it doesn’t matter. We decided to paddle on the Mississippi river. Starting in a pool just off the river near the damn and working our way upriver just a bit. We didn’t want to take the beast (the 19′ 4 person), so we settled on Danelle sitting in the middle of the 17′ 2 person (and 3 if you make a seat in the middle) boat for the trip.
It may not look crowded from the photo, but there is a large group of people at the parking lot all fishing off the shore. I had to walk a ways from the normal put in area to get to boat somewhere where it could be launched. Technically, we’re not on the river, but the Alton Slough. The plan was to paddle around a bit before getting out on the river.
We’re both super happy here being out together on the water with one of our kids!
You can see from the map below that we did a circle before heading out to the river.
We made it to the highway 67 bridge that crosses over the Mississippi. By this time, the wind and waves were making things more difficult in the loaded canoe. There were only a few boats, but they made larger waves. Our goal was to get under and get back!
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More smiles from Danelle and I.
One last stop on our way back. In the Alton Slough, there is a GREON. If you don’t want to click on the link, its a research vessel collecting data about the river for science. You can easily see it from shore, but its cool to paddle right by and admire it. 
We had a great paddle and it sure made for a fun time out together!
Hogan Haake