Summer Bucket List: River Excursion

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 Well, we really waited until the last minute to check this one off the summer bucket list, but we finally made our trip down the river this week (on Tuesday)!  Actually, I think waiting this late actually was a good thing for several reasons. {1}we were able to get a lot of our gear on sale, {2}it wasn't crazy hot and humid, and {3}the water level on the river was a little higher then it might have been in the middle of the summer (although IDK about this year with all the rain we had over the summer) which made it easier to get through without having to get out and walk the boat as much.  And let me tell you it was awesome! Defintely something we will be doing again! (in fact I even went back to AndThat! yesterday and got a second of the inflatable boats that we had so that my husband and I each have our own and we can be a little more comfortable and not be so cramped - and it was on clearance for $19.99 by now.... can't beat that!)
    The Rappahannock River begins in the Blue Ridge Mountains and flows down through Fredericksburg on it's way to the Chesapeake Bay.  Fredericksburg, in fact, was built right at the fall line of the river.  In Colonial times when shipping between the Colonies and England was vitally important we were the furthest inland the ships containing goods sent from England could travel on the Rappahannock (which is one of Virginia's Major rivers).  The area was also rich in iron ore, which was mined here (George Washington's father was involved in it), and became a tobacco port as well.  Of course the history of Fredericksburg and the river could go on for pages and pages (book and books even) and if you're interested definitely look it up because it really is an interesting little city we live in (in fact even come and have a visit.... we have quite a few historic sites ranging from colonial times and the places George Washington grew up and his family lived for many years, to Civil War sites, to nostalgic businesses that have been in operation since the 1950's).  But I'm supposed to be talking about our trip down the river right now..............
    We started our journey just north of Fredericksburg at Mott's Run. (there is a public boat launch there) and planned to travel the somewhere between 5 and 6 mile stretch of river down to City Dock (I think the sign at Mott's Run said it was something like 5.5 miles). We passed under interstate 95, past the site where the Embrey Damn, once stood, and (had we actually made it the whole way would have passed) under US 1 and right past historic downtown Fredericksburg, to City Dock.  Now I will say we didn't actually make it all the way to City Dock, partly because we got a later start than we had intended (Someone *coughmyhusbandcough* left the valves for the boat at home and a friend had to come pick me up to take me back to the house to get them (although on the bright side he was able to come with us, which he thought he wasn't going to be able to do, since we were starting out later), but we did make it to the point the river runs right next to Fall Hill Ave. in Fredericksburg (check out the Friends of The Rappahannock website for more info about this leg of the river..... they also have maps of it... not sure if they are online or not though).  It was really a great trip.  There were calm stretches of river were we were able to just stretch out and relax, there was one area that was nice and deep so my husband and our friend got out and swam for a while (we were afraid the water was going to be cold but it was actually just right), there are areas where you have to paddle and steer your way around rocks (or sometimes get out and walk the boat over real shallow areas) and there are even a few little rapids.  Most of the pictures I got were of the calm areas, because that was the only place I really felt comfortable taking my phone out of it's two ziploc bags to take pictures (I've been wanting one for a while anyway but now I think I definitely need to look into getting a waterproof digital camera! (I used to have a waterproof film camera and loved it)).  So enjoy the pictures I do have of our excursion, and maybe even do a little research and think about planning a trip of your own :)

The view of the river from the top of the boat launch at Mott's Run

My husband inflating our boat...... we got a good deal on this, it came with two oars (not great ones, he managed to break them both by the time we were done, but still) and a pump to inflate it for $40.00 originally, and then our friend got one the day we went and I got another one the day after on clearance for $20.00 each!)

Finally on the water

you can get an idea of why I went and got us a second boat.... lol this is me trying to stretch out. Once I figured out to put my legs over the side though I was quite comfortable on the calm stretches of the river.  Also I actually got a sunburn on my legs which I don't ever remember having before except maybe once..... I'm assuming it was from spending so much time with my legs up like this.

I threw this one in there for comic relief..... I couldn't see my phone's screen very well as I was taking pictures because of the sunlight and didn't realize there was a little something extra in this one until looking at the pictures later...... that's the corner of the two bags I had my phone in to keep it dry.

One of the little rapids we went over after we passed it. Definitely a fun part of the trip (even if they were little) 

This cute little island would have been a nice place to stop for lunch, but we didn't see it until we were too far past

we saw a lot of wildlife, especially birds, along the way.  This is an enlargement of this picture so the quality is not great but it's one of the Herons we saw out that day

The I95 bridge in the distance as we're nearing it

going under I95

one of several man made stone walls we saw along the way.  Also the last picture I have from the trip we still had a little stretch of river we travelled after this before calling it a day, but my phone had been already telling me the battery was low for a while when I took this and I didn't want it to die in case we needed it for an emergency call (which we kind of did since we got off the river earlier then expected and needed to call my mom to come pick us up) (although we were at that point technically within walking distance from our house, but it's a pretty good walk from there - I've done it before - and we were tired and had a bunch of gear lol)