Tubing down the Delaware River

Labor Day weekend is the last few days of summer for us. We hate to see summer end but are happy that this is the weekend that most of the summer (and noisy) residents leave. Since it’s been a rainy summer, I was quite happily surprised that we had a hot and sunny day yesterday. Finally, we can go tubing!

I've never been tubing and didn’t realize it was over an hour’s drive (my wife did the driving) to the place where they rent the tubes, rafts and kayaks. They loaded us on a bus and drove us across the street to the entrance to the park. Yes, I guess we could have walked there but there probably was a liability issue for a bunch a people to cross the street with tubes in their arms. We walked down to the water’s edge and sat on our tubes and started floating down the Delaware River.

About 3 miles down river and 90 minutes later (that comes to about a float speed of about 2 miles an hour for all you math lovers out there), we came upon the Hot Dog Man; a place to pick up lunch and eat before we finished our trek. The Hot Dog Man is on a large raft and the picnic tables were in the water. Pretty cool, but we could have done without the bees!

Back on the river, I floated far away from my wife and daughter, as they seemed to be drifting towards the Pennsylvania side and I was keeping to the New Jersey side. When I noticed the pylons that marked the end of the trip, I paddled back to them so that we can float together for the rest of the way. The total adventure was 6 miles and about 3½ hours if you include the stop for lunch. Sitting on a tube basking in the sun as you lazily float is a wonderful way to relieve stress and forget about your troubles.

Of course, today we are all sunburned!