Spokane, Sailyaks and Book Seven

July 29th, 2007

Last weekend we were in Spokane again, this time for my brother-in-law's homecoming speech. He just returned from a two-year mission for the LDS church in southern Spain. He also spent time in the Canary Islands, so he had a very diverse cultural experience.

A couple of weeks ago I found a very cool sailing kayak ("sailyak") online that I wanted to test drive. So last Saturday I stopped in Sandpoint and rented the Hobie Mirage Adventure Island for four hours. It's a very cool boat because in addition to being a kayak, it also comes with sail, outrigger, and pedals. The pedals fit into the bottom of the boat and power two little flippers that act as a propulsion system. It's really an ingenious invention: I was cruising quite a bit faster than I can paddle, and using my legs (which for most people are much stronger than the muscles in the arm). If the boat didn't cost $3k I would already own it.

Most of my time in Spokane was spent indulging in a 24-hour Harry Potter bookfest. Book Seven was quite a bit different than the previous ones, and I'm still not sure I liked the ending, but it was good to put the final cap on the series.