As I lie in bed on a 70-degree Saturday morning, the sunshine streaming in through my window is an immediate invitation to the outdoors.

I rub my eyes, swing my legs around the edge of the mattress, and for the first time since September, the cool hardwood floor is a welcome sensation against my bare feet. I take a step to the curtain-less window to view the Space Needle in all its glory. My eyes slowly scan downward as cars whiz along the University Bridge. Then, just underneath the highway, a sparkle catches my eye.

It’s Lake Union coyly beckoning— and I’m easily persuaded.

I throw on a skirt that’s spent eight months praying for sun, and call a friend, Anna, who’s looking for something to take her mind off her 60-hour workweek. We walk down the Ave toward Boat Street, welcoming the warm breeze.

The sight of a small green house tucked among large, brick University buildings tells us we’ve arrived at our destination: Agua Verde Café and Paddle Club. As a Mexican-cuisine enthusiast, I had been to the restaurant plenty of times. But I never got around to renting a kayak — or maybe I just never had the “cojones,” as the establishment’s owners might say.

Around the restaurant’s corner, we see a line of 10 narrow docks with equally narrow boats idling next to them. Roy G. Biv comes to mind as the vibrantly colored kayaks bob up and down in a row. The water sparkles as a flying duck lands; its skidding creates gentle ripples.

After admiring the glimmer of Portage Bay, we take our place in line, which at 1 p.m. is pouring out the rental shack’s door. While waiting, we consider a white board, decorated in colorful Expo markers to show the two routes the paddle club offers. One is the Lake Union side, which features the Chihuly Glass Studio, Gasworks Park, downtown and the Sleepless in Seattle houseboat as potential destinations. The other is the Lake Washington side with the Washington Park Arboretum and its wildlife.

A city girl at heart, I chose Lake Union. Anna and I look forward to a new view of Gasworks and downtown during the 25-minute wait.

Later I find out this wait is standard, if not lucky, for a sunny Saturday. Mother’s Day and the days leading up to and after graduation are also popular times for Agua Verde, weather permitting, says Ric Clayton, one of the paddle club’s owners.

But Clayton says when it’s cooler and slightly wet, kayaking can be better because the water is flat and you don’t get overheated while paddling.

With warm days being so few and far between this spring, Anna and I look forward to soaking up the sun from our kayak. After leaving my ID card at the desk and clipping on our life jackets, we walk to a narrow dock, where a kayak awaits.

An employee tells us to sit on the dock first, and then place one hand each on the bars of our paddles, which are placed just behind the kayak’s seats. Using our upper-body strength we lift our bodies up while stepping into each seat. We slide in naturally and take up our paddles.

“It’s a very intuitive, innate thing. … When you put someone in a kayak with a paddle, they turn left or right and start rowing,” says Rey Lopez, “El Presidente,” the paddle club owner and manager. “There’s a certain kind of connection people get from being in this kind of boat.”

Though neither of us are experienced kayakers, Anna takes up the more demanding backseat, where small foot pedals control steering. Known as rudders, these pedals are less about turning the boat (though they do that) than keeping it in a straight line, Clayton says.

“A common mistake is steering the kayak like a car — going harder to turn,” Clayton says. “All you do is stress the boat. You don’t need to.”

Even though the dock staff gives beginners some instruction, many, like Anna and I, underestimate the kayaking workout. After paddling for about 10 minutes, I start to feel it. I try to act tough as we gently pass docked boats, but when we near Gasworks, I can’t take it anymore.

Luckily Anna feels the burn, too, and admits it as we wrap around a cluster of houseboats next to the park. We break for a while and soak in the scenery. Though we’ve seen Seattle many times, it was never from this perspective. From our low position in the water, the Gasworks pipes seemed enormous, and the daylight skyline was unusually defined.

Anna breaks the water’s tranquility by throwing a slight splash that coolly stings the back of my neck. A water fight ensues as I dig my paddle into the lake and hurl a massive splash backwards. Her soaked face drips as she calls a truce between hearty laughs.

We back out by paddling backwards and set out forward again, rowing in sync, from left to right. We follow “the rules of the road,” which we learn also apply to waterways, and stay to the right-hand side of the lake.

“You have to be careful,” Clayton says. “You’re on a navigable waterway and you’re the smallest thing out there.”

Clayton and Lopez say that Agua Verde hasn’t seen any major accidents. But if your kayak tips, it’s best to swim to shore and leave the kayak, a staff member will come to retrieve it.

“It’s a buddy sport,” Clayton says.

Since your body is at almost zero gravity, a kayak is less likely to tip than a canoe or a rowboat, in which you’re situated above water, Clayton adds.

Anna and I maneuvered into the dock with ease. We hoisted ourselves out of the boat, our hands positioned similarly to when we slipped in.

At the rental desk, we are surprised to hear we paddled for almost three hours. I pay the discounted student rate, and we head upstairs to replenish the calories we had just burned — and then some — with fish tacos.

Our margarita-inspired walk home is satisfying. The Agua Verde staff says kayaking is an enjoyable activity for any skill level, and for us, it was true.

“People are so nervous about flipping over,” says Heather Walker, a paddle club staff member and junior in environmental studies and political science. “It’s a really relaxing experience if you let it be. It’s a sport you don’t have to be technical about. You don’t have to get everything down perfectly.”