With the competitive season finished for another year I found myself spending October getting caught up. And when I say getting caught up I mean visiting friends and family I’ve been neglecting since LAST YEAR! Bad, Ruth, Bad.

A trip home to Canada allowed me to paddle on the Ottawa with my valley buddies, take in the joys of being an aunt, attend a wedding of my good friend and catch up with mom, dad, my sisters, aunts and grandma.

Some highlights included watching the every move of my niece Madeline (including crawling), watching my nephew Cooper score two goals, enjoying the endless energy of my nephew Quinn, meeting Ava for the first time, singing around the campfire and beating Ed up ‘his’ hill.

My time on the river reminded me why the Ottawa river is a playboaters dream. I rallied the eddy at Push-button, reconnected with my friend Corner wave and realized Babyface is the BEST place for training for the worlds. Not only was the weather surprisingly warm but the leaves were in full bloom – it was awesome!

Back in Reno the adventures don’t stop. Biking in Moab and boating on the coast are both on the agenda… stay tuned.

Most people still don’t understand why I choose to spend SO much time in Reno, NV. Until they come to visit all I can do is tell them about the awesome outdoor community and the easy to access outdoor amenities.

This week just downstream of the current whitewater park another was completed. Though it is still not officially open I had the chance to test out the new features – and yes I got to be the first (there has to be some perks to being the world champ). This is the kind of park you want to bring your kids to: a picnic on the grass, swimming in the deep eddies.

I know I’ll be spending heaps of time here in the near future as they’ve managed to build a nice little wave for me to train on – thank you Jim and Mike!

Check out the pics and a quick video below:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KebqQcUyPOs