Tubing!

This summer, Jeff & I have taken up a new hobby.  Tubing!  We got our tubes at Wal-Mart & started small with a mile long tube on the Eno River.  Our small adventure ended up being several hours due to the slowness of the river, which taught us a lesson in planning our next trips.  We went with our friends Brian & Molly & had a lot of fun!  Below are some pics from that first trip in July.

 Our next adventure was on the Neuse River with a new Graduate student, Matt Fuller.  The Neuse was much faster & this time we opted for a longer trip, totaling miles on the river.  It took us 5 hours to do the entire trip but we had a great day of sunning & swimming!  The last mile of the float had a Class I rapid, which was really really fun to go over in the tubes!  At one point during the float, I fell asleep listening to Matt's iPod & was rudely woken up by the 2 guys yelling my name.  They were wayyy ahead of me down the river!

 
Our next river adventure, was a canoeing trip along the Dan River near Greensboro, NC.  It was a 4 hour canoe, roughly 10 miles along the river.  It was a slow moving river but we did get to see a lot of wildlife.  Cows, herons, turtles, foxes, & an otter!  We had a lot of fun canoeing together & relaxing on the peaceful river.

 Finally, we did the Neuse again but this time only spent 2 hours along the river, about 1.5 miles.  We really enjoyed those rapids though!  Sadly, no pictures this time ;)  But we had a great time hanging out with Kimberly & Matt on the river! 

In the cooking world, I have been channeling my inner Julia Child.  It started with ratatouille & the cookbook has not seemed to be put back, yet.  Jeff made me poached eggs with hollandaise one morning.  Last night, I made mousakka.  And coming soon I will be braising a 9-lb goose!  I am stuffing the goose with pork, veal, & chestnuts & serving braised chestnuts & leeks on the side.  For dessert, I will be making a strawberry tart.  And honestly, the tart is what frightens me the most...it looks so complicated!!  All of this cooking, is for Jeff's 27th Birthday which falls on Labor Day this year.  Wednesday I will be attempting Duck L'Orange because our CSA is slaughtering their ducks on Tuesday & we are planning on picking one up to eat!  I'm excited about this  :) 

In other news, Jeff is continuing to apply to jobs in various locations.  The most recent is a faculty position at the University of Maine.  I have been put on the Executive track at work & am hoping to get signed off for that promotion early next year.  My Grandma is finally out of the hospital & is doing really well.  My Grandpa & her moved back up to Colorado for the rest of the summer to beat the Phoenix heat.  We are looking forward to a lovely fall here in NC & towards our next vacation to Lake Tahoe in the middle of September!