Two days in my 7 years of North Carolina have really stood out: my wedding day, and a day about 4 years ago that I spent canoeing down the Haw River. Yesterday I got to combine the two: Barry and I paddled the Haw together. This was a different stretch: a little further north, class I rather than class II. We went from Saxapahaw to Swepsonville (or was it the other way around?); my last trip started in Bynum and ended close to Jordan Lake. The trip leader, Joe Jacobs, was the same, although he is now the proprietor of the Haw River Canoe & Kayak Company, rather than running trips for our former employer, Get:Outdoors.

We had perfect weather; the promised thunderstorms never appeared. The river was a bit low but not as bad as the time I canoed the Russian River in a drought, a trip which involved much more buttocks-scooting to lift off from sandbars than is really desirable. Barry’s last experience in a canoe was an aborted attempt to paddle the White Oak when it was littered with detritus from Hurricane Fran. Hopefully yesterday’s experience replaced that fiasco with a more pleasant memory. Now if I can just get him into a kayak…

Part II of the day, which is how I lured Barry out onto the water to begin with, was a wine pairing dinner at Benjamin Vineyards. The food was excellent, especially a sorbet flavored with wine and woodruff, which was an entirely new flavor to me. Their chardonnay was actually too oakey for me—didn’t think that was possible, since I like my chards oakey—but I enjoyed the sauvignon blanc and chardonel, and especially enjoyed the smooth, mellow merlot.

On the way home, we stopped by the casting call for the Fourth Annual Beaver Queen Pageant. As one of last year’s contestants, I won’t be competing, but I’m proud to say I’ve been asked to be the handler for Bedonna! So I’ll be backstage with the stars once again.