They did it.

Four of us went canoeing last weekend on the Red Deer River and had a great time, despite a couple of mishaps. We left early Saturday morning, stayed in a campground by the river on Saturday night, and finished Sunday afternoon. We had two in each canoe. Within an hour of casting off on Saturday morning, our canoe snagged on a beaver dam and capsized.

Thankfully, most of our stuff was in waterproof (and buoyant) dry packs and we managed to rescue just about everything. I was dumped out of the canoe and swam to shore, grabbing as much of our stuff as I could on the way, while Wendy managed to climb on to the beaver dam before the current wedged the canoe under the top of the dam. I lost my glasses when I swam back to help dislodge the canoe.

In retrospect, I should have just left them on the shore. As they say, hind sight is 20/20. My vision, however, is not. I've often thought that I should have a spare pair of glasses in case I ever lost my main pair. But, as with a lot of good "what if" ideas, I never got around to it. The next three days were interesting as I stumbled around trying not to look like an idiot when I couldn't read signs or tell people apart from a distance. I missed most of the scenery, Wendy had to drive my car back, and I missed work on Monday.

On the plus side, I'd been meaning to get new glasses for a while and my new ones are far more comfortable than my old ones. The people at my optometrist's office said I was the second person that day who had lost his glasses canoeing on the weekend. Must have been the first weekend out for a lot of people.

My iPod arrived yesterday. It's been running almost continuously since then.

Anyone want to go to Lollapalooza in Seattle (or elsewhere)?