Spending the Day on the Chattahoochee River: Atlanta, Georgia

July 30, 2012

On the first full day we were in Atlanta, Liz’s dad arranged for a canoe and kayak rental, and made plans for us to spend the day going down the Chattahoochee River.

I know going out on a river was on Liz’s to-do list this summer, so it worked out perfectly. The day was gorgeous, and we joined a large throng of people who had the same idea.

Near the launch point. A surprising number of people brought their own vessels, and a ton of folks simply went off in large inner-tubes.

In the water, looking back at a dam near the launch site.

Liz, looking out. We turned around and are actually facing the launch area – waiting for Kirt, Anne, Jackson and Isabelle to enter the water.

Team Holder! Front to back it’s Anne, Isabelle, Jackson and Kirt.

Not sure what this is, but this was somewhat near the beginning of our trip. Some kind of power station, or maybe a cleaning/processing plant?

Liz, taking a break and munching on a banana.

Note the small group up ahead. All along the river, we saw large groups of people (oftentimes teenagers) who were in multiple vessels that were sort of tied together. They’d be in this large clump of 15+ people, and just kind of floatded down in this large, slowly moving mass. It looked like a ton of fun.

Going under a bridge.

I debated bringing my camera, and I’m really glad I didn’t. I had my wallet, phone and Flip camera with me… and had them inside a ziplock bag. Most of the items got moist (with no damage), but bringing my actual camera would have been an absolute mistake. There was a lot of splashing, and it would have gotten totally soaked.

FYI all these photos were taken with my iPhone.

Here (above), we stopped off in a small area just off the main river. A lot of folks pulled over here to rest, to take advantage of the shade, and to walk along the small dam nearby. There were a few moments where I was worried, as Isabelle and Jackson were kind of trying to climb into our kayak… but luckily we didn’t tip.

While we were floating around here, one guy mentioned how he wished he had our kayak (instead of his innertube). I joked and said if he threw in a few beers, I’d consider a trade. Looking back, the idea of floating down the river in a single person innertube with a six pack of beer sounds pretty darn awesome.

A view of where our trip ended. Apparently, this was also another launching area, as everyone here was getting in the water and just beginning their trips.

Post-river, Isabelle and Jackson show off the t-shirts we got for our trip.

There was a bit of food nearby, and a duo playing music in the small picnic/rest area. And yes… one of the songs they played was the classic Alan Jackson song, Chattahoochee.

I had a really fun time, got to work out my arms a good deal, skipped a ton of rocks… and spent the day on a river. Great way to start off a vacation.