"Rowed" Trip

Leaving Kevin in charge of the "farm," I headed south for Oak Ridge, TN, the home the the Southern Intercollegiate Rowing Association's Regatta where the Florida Institute of Technology Crew team would be for the weekend.  Since I hadn't seen my boy since early March, I decided a six hour car ride to watch him row was in order, especially since I had not yet seen him compete.  When I did see him, I had to do a double-take.  He now dons a full red beard even though he has dark brown hair.  It's hard for my brain to process that one!

If you ever get the chance to attend a rowing competition, I highly recommend it.  My friend described it as "Majestically Nordic" as teams propel their boats head to head from the start line 2000 meters to the finish, as fast and smoothly as they can manage. Watching the boats from a distance, it seems like they are just gliding along without a care in the world, but in reality it is an athletic and engineering feat to have the entire crew in sync.  It is quite exciting to watch, even though the boat color and oar blade design are really all the details you can make out from the sidelines.   These athletes are so powerful, and fun to watch!

The sunshine was fabulous, and another bonus to the weekend was seeing Sarah's bff Barbara who rows for my alma mater, PURDUE, who was the loudest and proudest team there.  Their "Boiler Up!" resonated through out the valley anytime one of the Purdue boats was in a race.

Barbara in stroke seat for Purdue

The one disappointment of the weekend for Eric was that his beloved dog Derby did not ride along to TN with us.  I decided it would be too much, especially since I was a newby to the whole rowing competition thing.  Good thing we didn't have her to worry about as we ran from the 1000m to the  2000m finish and then back to the starting line, several times over!  Needless to say, we got our exercise.  When I returned home, Derby started "crying" out loud.  I realized then that she could smell Eric on my clothing since I had given him a great big hug before heading home.  Here is the funny video I shot of Derby:

The next competition is Dad Vail in Philadelphia Mother's Day weekend.  Good Luck!