30 before 30: Go Kayaking and Surfing

I grew up on the shores of the Gulf of Mexico.  Days of running through the sand, snorkeling in the ocean and searching for periwinkles are typical memories of my childhood. 

Being back in a beach town feels just like home to me.

But, the one and only time I ever headed out past my waist into the depths of the sea was with a high school/college friend of mine who was determined to teach me how to surf.  Without embarrassing myself with details, let's just say that I gave up after loosing my top for the 500th time and having the board smack me in the head over and over again.  He never gave me a lesson again. 

That was 11 years ago.

And I thought I wanted to try again.  And, I thought I wanted to go kayaking (we have a great inter-coastal waterway), but when Jer started talking about Paddle Boarding, I got so excited.

See, it is essentially surfing and kayaking at the same time.

So, because I am super wife, I set up a paddle board lesson for the two of us in honor of hubs birthday (and to be honest here, mine too).

And we treated it like a date.  Got a babysitter and everything.  And we even took the Harley out. 

We have a great ski and surf store here in town.  I was hoping to get a paddle board for Hub's birthday (along with the help of our sweet families), but we just haven't pulled the trigger yet.  

We had an instructor and everything.  I opted for a private lesson, so it was just the three of us.  Luckily, our instructor transported the paddle boards (I don't think they would have fit on the Harley :)  )

Our boards were 10 and 11 feet long and weighed around 30 pounds!  I carried my own board the whole way to the beach (and had a bruise on my hip to prove it)

I don't have any pictures of us out on the boards (no place to keep a camera safe!), but we were out there for over an hour.  Jer was up and paddling pretty quickly, but the waves kept me paddling from my knees for a while.  Once I go the hang of flowing with the waves, I was up for good. 

Then I looked over to see my crazy husband surfing/paddling the surf! 

We had a blast, but man!  We were worn out.  It is such a fun, but hard, workout.

We both loved it so much.  I'm not normally one to rave about a physical activity, but this was an absolutely amazing experience. 

We can't wait to get boards of our own.

So thankful for my list to push me to try something new.