Weekend Trip to the Coloma Lotus Valley
October 30, 2022 By Wendy Tippett I love get-away weekends, especially fall weekends at my brother’s property in Lotus, CA. For me, it’s an easy drive – it takes less than two hours and I always enjoy the scenery, the farms, and the history along Highway 49. And once I arrive I feel like I […]
“Give More Than You Take”
Ever since I was little my parents have supported my summer Keener trip partly because they believe that river skills taught at Keeners are life skills. This includes everything from blog writing, to public speaking, to packing and planning, to on-river risk mitigation, to traveling in the midst of pandemics, airline debacles, and most recently […]
International Raft Racing is so much fun!
A Few Photos: Opening Ceremonies in Banja Luka The California Poppies representing Team USA Sprint Training on the Vrbas Head2Head Training on the Vrbas USA Youth Women and USA Open Womenboth win Sprint Gold Safety kayaking on the Tara River Closing Ceremonies in Foca More Photos – My Family’s Photo Book https://www.mixbook.com/photo-books/interests/blank-canvas-27740008?vk=b9NWdwXWvwub9OO7BlVk Moonshine Ink […]
Growing up on whitewater
I’ve grown up on the river. And though some things have changed, many things have stayed the same – like my gear color choices. Me at 3 years oldInsisting on paddling my own IK Me at 10 years oldYouth Ambassador for Rivers for Change Me at 15 years oldTeam USA World Championships
California Poppies going to the World Championships!
Wow, our raft racing team was selected to represent the USA at the Raft Racing World Championships in Bosnia in May. I’ll be raft racing in Slalom, Sprint and Head to Head, and I’ll be kayaking lead to provide safety for the Downriver races. My Team USA Headshot Here’s an article about our team in […]
Back at it – February on the Futaleufu
So happy to finally be back to international kayak travel after 2 years of border closures. Hard not to love the Futaleufu river, especially at the BioBio Expeditions camp. Spent almost a month there with friends, kayaking with some of the best paddlers in the world. Below are photos from our trip. Unlike the boys, […]
West Virginia . . .
I wasn’t that eager to go to Keeners, without being able to cross the border to Canada and actually go to Keeners on the Ottawa. But my parents nudged me to go and signed me up for double sessions. The first session was with Quinn and Sabine and the second session was with Tobin and […]
Sharing High Water Stories
Below is my response to an NRS prompt for high water stories . . . . ___________________________________________________ I love big water. The bigger, the better. But, as I found out in Spring 2019, big water and high water are two different things. Winter 2019 was one of those huge winters where I live in Lake Tahoe, […]
On being grateful for what we have right here at home . . .
Melissa at Cali Collective asked me and the other Junior Ambassadors to think about our pandemic experiences and write about adversity that we have overcome. Below is an edited version of what I sent her last week (as always thanks to my mom for helping edit my posts). It seems appropriate to share on Thanksgiving […]
Go ahead, send your kids to class (kayak class, that is)
These days, it seems that more kids are getting into kayaking. At least it feels that way from how many people have suddenly been reaching out asking if my old boats are available to hand-down! And since kayaking is an inherently socially distant sport, it makes sense. When I was learning to kayak, just a […]