Kayaking to Please

This is how you know you’re a recovering helicopter parent—you worry about your 24-year old kayaking on the north branch of the Chicago River at dusk.  Why not stick your finger into an electrical outlet while we’re at it?

But Elmhurst College thought it would be a fun activity for alums, and so did Clare and her boyfriend Chris.  Nothing like hearing stories about running into embankments or being rammed by other craft.  Oh, yeah, we’re talking fun.  They know the Eastland rolled over in the very same river, yes?

But the river is all the rage these days; non-carp fish have moved in, and it’s more recreational than commercial, thanks to a post-industrial economy.  No more Medusa Challengers or other big ore boats working their way up the river to the turning basin at North Avenue.  Now we have those little kayakers propelled by men and women who still look like boys and girls to their parents.

But the girl and her boy survived their trip, to tell us all about it just as the White Sox were finishing up their third consecutive shutout to a sub-.500 team.  There’s good news somewhere in that sentence.