Camping! Summer of 2019

What’s the best way to end summer? Connecting with nature of course! Being a non driver, it makes things like camping difficult, so I love when I get invited along.  My good friend Tammy and her family were heading to Algonquin Park and they day before they were going, someone backed out and there was a spot available in a car so they invited me to come.  I was still not back to work, there were no heroclix events happening and I had zero other plans for the weekend so I jumped at the opportunity. 

Friday morning we packed the car and left.  We tried to stop in a small town for snacks and lunch but there was a combination of an accident and construction so we continued on and stopped at a diner closer to the park.  Against our better judgement, we stayed instead of walking out.  It was a super quiet place and only 1 person running the whole show – seating, waiter, cook, cash… he was doing it all. It had a vibe of being in a horror movie.  We had some good laughs around making psycho noises.  After about 10 minutes we were given a menu to look over and just asked for simple things like BLT and poutine with just water to drink.  The water tasted metallic so after the first sip, we all didn’t touch it.  Once the food came, it was ok.  Not great but passable as edible.  We really should have just waited 30 more minutes until we got to Algonquin and should have just eaten at the little restaurant they have there. 

We found the group site that we booked in Whitefish on Pog lake and got camp set up.  It was so nice having a group site instead of 2 smaller sites side by side like we’ve done in the past. There were 12 of us (5 of Tammy’s children, 2 of their partners, 3 babies, Tammy and me) and 4 tents between us.  I usually can get my tent set up myself but I needed some help this time because I had pulled something in my back so it was difficult to do all the bending needed.  Thankfully with 12 people, there were lots of extra hands around willing to help.  After all the tents were up we got our air mattresses filled and started the fire for dinner – burgers and salads.  Some of the boys decided to go out for a little canoeing before dark while the rest of us kept the fire going and when the night came we broke out the marshmallows, alcohol and campfire songs/games. Tick-booty and Grocery list were favorites for the night. 

Saturday.  The morning was much colder than I anticipated and I was wishing I had a heavier sweater with me instead of just my light one, but I was good once we got the morning fire going for breakfast.  Scrambled eggs!  Every time we go camping the eggs always become my job to cook.  Today was a pretty relaxing day around camp and other than hanging out around the fire, the only other thing we did was go swimming in the lake for a few hours.  4 of us decided to try and swim across to what looked like an island in the middle of the lake and we made it!  I think it took us about an hour to do the round trip. Back to camp for hot dogs, sandwiches and broke out the alcohol again. Some of the boys took off for a hike to a look-out point while the rest of us just stayed around camp. When night fell we continued with the campfire games and marshmallows.  Stefanie bought some neat little packets that you throw in the fire and it makes the flames change colour from green to blue to purple.  It was so memorizing!  

Sunday.  I woke up a little early before anyone was up and really enjoyed the quiet alone-ness and being in nature.  Took some time to self center and be reflective. Once I heard people up and about, I joined them for breakfast oatmeal and enjoying the last moments around the fire before it was time to break down camp. Check out time was 2, so we made sure we got all packed up in time to be off the site by then.  We didn’t leave right away though and decided to go on one of the easy hikes.  They had a outdoor logging museum that had all kinds of info on the history of logging.  It was a nice little walk and the kids all learned a bunch.  We debated going on another hike to a look out point but decided we were ready to just head back home, so away we went.  

I’m so glad that we got away and got to connect with nature and unplug from the world for a few days.  My cell phone didn’t have service at our site at all, so it really was unplugged.  When I go away like that, part of me is always panicked that there’s an emergency back home and no one can get a hold of me.  But the key people in my life knew where I was and that I was out of contact for a few days.  Thankfully there were no pending messages when my phone got service again.  All in all, a fantastic time away and I’m already looking forward to the next one.  The only thing I can’t stand about the trip is the bug bite aftermath.  The mosquitoes always love me and I always come home covered – no matter how much bug spray I use.  I couldn’t even attempt to guess how many bites I go, but you can see this cluster I came back with on my ankle and that’s only just a small portion of them! Let me know if you have any prevention tips to avoid them. Well, that’s it for this trip!

Until next time, xoxo