A funny thing happened to Rush Sturges when he got to film school: he discovered that the direction he hoped to find — he already possessed.
“I felt like I had a better vision for what I wanted to do than the other kids,” says Sturges, who left after a semester.
Tuesday, I had one of the more exhausting times I’ve had in 20 years of covering outdoor adventure — and I was in an air-conditioned building. At a catered affair.
The affair was a media event sponsored by the North Carolina Division of Tourism, a gathering of tourism promotion types from around the state and the people they hoped would write about them. People such as myself.
Immediately upon walking in the door of the Contemporary Art Museum — CAM for short — in downtown Raleigh I was met by my old buddy, Suzanne Brown. Suzanne and I worked together for years in the Features Department of The News & Observer, Suz overseeing everything entertainment, me doing my outdoors thing. In 2008, we were both part of a massive newsroom exodus. I landed here, Suz at Tourism, a job that suits her as she wasted little time getting my attention.
“Do you know about the Southeast Coast Saltwater Paddle Trail?” she asked.
I didn’t, but I didn’t feel too bad upon learning that the trail is a work in progress, a proposed — though some of it exists — paddle trail running from Virginia south through the Carolinas and Georgia, where it will meet with the existing 1,515-mile Florida Circumnavigational Saltwater Paddling Trail. A kind of Appalachian Trail for paddlers.
“Cool!” I said.
“What about Jetpacks?” she wanted to know.
“And what about telephones with TV screens and flying cars?” I said.
No, she said, you can now rent a JetPak on the Outer Banks.
Then, in a Graduatesque nod to the Next Big Thing, she leaned in and whispered “Zip Lines.”
Yikes! Do the kids really start back to school in a little over a week? Summer 2012 is drawing to a close, my friends. You can’t afford to fritter away another weekend.
Coast
It’s been a long week, so we’re going to invoke playlay — sorta like the pirate’s parlay — which allows us to begin the weekend a little early, say, Friday afternoon at 3 p.m.? Which is convenient because that’s when a ranger will be leading a guided canoe trip on the coastal plain’s Jones Lake at the state park of the same name. You have to be able to swim; otherwise, no experience necessary. Canoes and equipment provided.
Today I’m heading down to the U.S. National Whitewater Center in Charlotte to do some … reporting. Yeah, that’s it, reporting.
That’s a taller task than you might imagine because the Whitewater Center is about more than just whitewater rafting and kayaking. It’s about flatwater paddling, about stand-up paddleboarding, about rock climbing, mountain biking, canopy tours … . In short, it’s a microcosm of everything adventurous you can do in North Carolina.
Another warm weekend is on tap, with highs around 90 forecast for much of the state. Typical for August, but still, by now most of us have had our fill of hot. How about some cool alternatives for a change?
Good idea — and we’ve got several.
On the water