Slawski Kayak Trip

History

Each year near the end of July, the entire Slawski family travels up to Luther, MI for a long weekend of kayaking on the Pine River.

This tradition started about 6 years ago when Grandpa Slawski invited the entire family (all 20+ of us) up to his cabin. His property as been in the family for decades and it sits right on a quiet section the Pine River.

The first few years of the kayak trip were a little more rustic. With so many of us, our overnight accommodations included blow-up mattresses on the second floor of his pole barn. Logistics were always pretty tough in such close quarters. You would be lucky to get even one shower the entire weekend. Usually we would just end up taking a dip in the ice cold Pine River.

However each year there was always some sort of improvement. One year grandpa decided to build an entire bathroom upstairs in the pole barn. This made it a little easier to get in a shower after a long day of kayaking.

Over the years the Slawski Family kayak trip has gotten more and more popular. We eventually got to the point where Grandpa’s pole barn could no longer contain us. This lead us to rent the beautiful cabin directly across the street. This will be our 3rd year staying here.

While the luxurious cabin has been nice, Katie and I do miss the humble beginnings of Grandpa’s pole barn. Even though where we stay might have changed, what we do on the kayak trip has not...

Kayaking, drinking, laughing, late night bonfires, morning runs up Raymond Road, and catching up with family....oh and also a lot of Johnny Cash.

This year

This year Katie and I took an extra long weekend and headed up there Wednesday after work. It takes about 3 hours to get there and we got a late start on the road, so we didn’t roll up until about 10:30pm.

By the time we arrived, the majority of the family was already there. My brother, Jared, was in from California and he decided to bring is VR headset. Everyone was taking turns, including Grandpa, being immersed in a “walk the plank” simulation.

That next morning we got to enjoy some coffee while we discussed which kayak route we wanted to do for the day. We decided to start from the cabin and head down river to Scoocumb Bridge. So about late morning we stocked our coolers, lugged 17 kayaks down to the river, and headed downstream.

About mid way through the trip, we stopped off at Grandpa’s place to have lunch in his pole barn. Here we had a full spread of sandwiches and a fridge stocked with Summer Shandy. It also wouldn’t be a proper stop at Grandpa’s place without taking a shot of whiskey before departing again.

Shortly after getting back on the river we stopped off again at a familiar rope swing. Those brave enough to attempt the swing were rewarded with a “refreshing” swim in the cold waters of the Pine River.

We then continued on and after a couple hours we finally hit our takeout spot. We lugged all our boats back up to the road, loaded them up onto the trailer, and headed back to the cabin for some dinner.

The rest of the evening was spent doing puzzles, playing board games, launching fireworks, and hanging out by the bonfire. This year was a new moon, so the stars were incredibly bright and numerous. We even saw a shooting star during our midnight walk out to Raymond Road.

The next couple of days were all pretty similar: Morning coffee by the river, kayaking during the day, and an evening full of games and relaxation.

Sunday morning is always bitter sweet. Everyone packs up their gear and says their goodbyes. As you pull away from the cabin there is always a feeling of sadness. But then you remember there is always next year, and you start counting down the days.