Winterized!

Well the weather and my work schedule did not allow for any more camping so the camper has been winterized and we are done for the season. It was a great summer for our first year in the new Pop-up. With 30 nights of camping from Victoria Day to Labor Day we are certainly happy with the decision to move from tenting to buying the Pop-up. The folks at Jayco and our dealer have come through and honored the warranty so I think all the issues have been taken care of and with any luck next year should be closer to trouble free. Be sure to check back in the spring and follow along as the adventures continue.

Dan

We made our decision so now we have to live with it.

Earlier this week with the potential risk of "Earle" ending up in NL we made the decision to cancel the trip planned for the labor day long weekend in favor of a weekend or 2 later in September. Now that the weekend is here and the indecisive hurricane is headed to the other side of the island we are having a mild case of regret. Missing a weekend of camping when the weather is good is not sitting well with us. We will try to find a few things to do this weekend to take our minds off the now regretful decision. Perhaps dinner and a movie, take a special redhead for an afternoon of fun with Nana and Granddad, an evening campfire in the backyard fire pit, or a paddle in the local pond. I'm starting to feel better already. Tonight I'll sip on a few cold ones and relax. I have learned from this that timing is very important in making a decision and weather and weather forecasters are about as unpredictable as can be.

Notre Dame Provincial Park

We are just back from an amazing weekend in Notre Dame Park. We had great weather start to finish. My parents were able to join us for the weekend. My brother Jim, his wife Debbie, their daughter Alex and her friend Danika stopped in for a visit on Saturday. My son Richard and his girlfriend Keshia camped out with us Saturday night on their way to Gros Morne. Our campsite was on the ponds edge with an amazing view.

On Saturday morning I couldn't resist getting up a little early to go for a solo paddle around the pond. The water was as flat as I have ever seen and the sights and sounds during that hour long paddle were a highlight for me.

We saw many squirrels and birds but the wildlife highlights were a couple of beavers that were angry at Richard and I for intruding on their territory and these 2 loons that entertained us with their song.

Even my mom was unable to resist the temptation and went for her first ever ride in a canoe.

We had an amazing weekend and would recommend this park to anyone. This weekend puts us at 30 nights of camping in 2010 with a few more to go yet. Our expectations for this camping season have already been exceeded and there is still more to come.

Blue Fin RV Park

Last weekend we set up at the Blue Fin RV Park along with 3 other camper friends and their families. This RV park is more of a city of RV's and nothing like the country campground settings we have been visiting most of this summer. The facilities were top notch and the weekend was really more about enjoying the company of friends than enjoying the wilderness so the setting worked well. We are taking a break for a couple of weeks and our next trip will be in central NL where my parents have decided to join us for the weekend.

A trip to Northern Bay Sands.

After just a 2 day break we head out to Northern Bay Sands. This time our Granddaughter Kaitlyn comes along as this park is one of her favorite places. We arrive Wednesday and the weather is still cooperating. Our campsite is small but grassy and sheltered.

We take an afternoon walk to the beach and Kaitlyn finds 2 friends from her neighborhood. Although unplanned she manages to end up in the water. We have our first set of sand filled clothes to deal with but there is more sand to come...

Highlights of the trip are visits from our son Richard and his girlfriend Keshia and a surprise visit from our Daughter Robin, husband Dave and granddaughters Morgan and Alexis. Morgan spends the last night camping with us and has a great time roasting wieners over an evening fire, snuggling in for the night with big sister Kaitlyn, kite flying with big sister in the morning, and helping Sandy and I as we break camp and prepare for the trip home.

I have to return to work tomorrow with a few sore muscles but with a well rested head. One of the things that made this a true vacation was that we chose 2 parks in areas with no cellular service so for all but 2 days through 2 weeks I was not tempted to check the blackberry for updates from work. Vacation is over for this summer but after a little break we will be making a few weekend trips to finish out the rest of the camping season.

A week in La Manche Park

Just back from a week long stay at La Manche Provincial Park. The weather could not have been better and the park is still one of our favorite places to camp. We prepared the pop-up for our week long excursion and headed out last Sunday. Even the canoe made the trip.

The large campsite just a few feet from the pond was comfortable and sheltered. We got everything set up and turned in earlier than usual that first night.

The next day we hiked the "Trail to the Falls". It's a short but scenic hike that takes us up the La Manche river valley to a beautiful falls. Sandy and I hiked to the falls once more together and my son Richard and I made the trip by canoe and kayak on Saturday while Sandy and Richard's girlfriend Keshia hiked up to meet us.

Richard and I are forced to tie up the boats and make our way up the last section of river on foot as it was not passable by boat. Sandy and Keshia wait for us at the lookout above the rocky section of river below.

One of the many squirrels that inhabit the area pays us a visit every mealtime looking for a free meal. We learned our lesson a couple of years ago and kept our supplies well secured this time.

A Wednesday afternoon road trip takes us whale watching in Ferryland, discovering shipwrecks in Port Kirwan, and to an amazing scene of 9 rather large wind turbines at the Fermuse wind power site.

Thursday we hike to the site of the former village of La Manche and the replica suspension bridge.

Saturday afternoon we tag along with Richard and Keshia on a road trip to the Cataracts Falls. This is an amazing site, a little off the beaten path but well worth the visit.

It was an amazing week and as I write this Sandy and I are planning our next excursion. Check back for updates.

Canada Day long weekend.

We finally went camping again. The 3 and 1/2 weeks since we were last camping seemed like an eternity. This was our first trip dry camping and of course we had some issues to deal with. The water tank/pump in the Pop-up stopped working after the first night so we had to rely on outside water containers for the remainder of the weekend.(Turned out to be a kinked hose). This was our first time using the refrigerator on propane and we could not find a setting that did not freeze everything. Other than that the weather was great and we had a excellent time. The park (Same one we visited on May 24th) was great as expected. The mosquitoes and black flies were out in full force but a good supply of Muskol kept them from being much of a problem.

This next photo put a smile on my face so I thought I would share it. The owners are very proud of "da Plywood Shindig" and like they were quick to point out they don't have to make payments on it.

That's it for now but we leave for our next trip in less than a week so check back for updates.

Camp Driveway

Our 5 nights in "Camp Driveway" at my folks place in Pasadena went very well. We celebrated with my Dad on his 80th birthday on Friday, even the rain couldn't dampen the spirit. He is quite proud of becoming the oldest of his family.

We had time to visit with Sandy's Dad in Deer Lake and to fit in a quick trip to Gros Morne National park. As strange as it may seem we did not see a moose any where in our 2 weeks of travels. We saw several places (stained road) on the highways where a moose and a vehicle had collided but we were, depending on your perspective fortunate or unfortunate enough not to see even one.

We had a total of 5 good weather days in the 16 days of our vacation. There was rain, snow, fog, mist and even frost. The only poor weather condition we did not have to endure was high winds. We didn't get to spend nearly as much time enjoying the outdoors as we would have liked but it was great when we did and having a comfortable place to relax when the weather was bad made this a pretty good start to the camping season.

Last night at Square Pond...

This is our last day at Square Pond Friends & Family RV Park near Gander NL. We head off to the west coast of the island in the morning. Our stay here has been near perfect, the staff and owners of this park are gracious hosts indeed. The only thing they couldn't provide was better weather. We endured through the poor weather for 3 days and 4 nights only to end our stay with a warmer and sunnier day today. BBQ'd steak for supper and an evening campfire almost erases the memories of the rain and cold. If you are ever RV'ing near here I highly recommend this park.

Our next stop is Pasadena, NL. My Dad turns 80 on Friday this week and we will be there to help him celebrate. We will park the Pop-up in their driveway and camp there for a few days. Depending on the weather forecast we may decide to overnight in a park somewhere along the way back to the East Coast on Saturday.

Next post from "Camp Driveway" in Pasadena.

Update from the camper.....

It's been 2 campgrounds and 5 nights of camping so far and we have seen weather rangeing from a warm spring day to near frost levels at night to snow squalls on one morning but through it all we are still having a wonderful trip. With a comfortable camper in which to ride out the poor weather and great surroundings to enjoy when the the weather allows we feel we do have it pretty good. We look forward to the rest of our trip and we're not looking forward to going back to work at all.

Camping May 2-4, 2010

Our first camping trip at Droghedea RV Park was great way to celebrate our 29th Anniversary on May 23rd. We had a very nice time spending the weekend with our 10 year old granddaughter Kaitlyn. Our daughter Robin and her husband and our other grandchildren Morgan and Alexis came for a visit on Saturday afternoon. Our son Richard and his girlfriend Keshia came in the evening for a fire. There was fireworks at the park as well for May 24th. We were invited to Richard's and Keshia's for breakfast the following morning. Even though it rained on our final day, we are ready to go and find another nice park to spend our time.

May 24

Well we are back safe and sound after an awesome weekend of camping. The weather was pretty good for a May 24 weekend in this area. We had clear sky's for most of the weekend and although it got quite cold at night we were dressed for it so it didn't dampen our spirits. Rain came during our last night, I think the camping God's wanted to give us a little taste of packing up a wet pop-up. By the time we got home in the afternoon the skies had cleared and we popped the camper up in the driveway to dry out.


Here is a shot of our weekend getaway.

It was also our 29th anniversary on Sunday. A little celebrating was bound to happen.

Our Granddaughter Kaitlyn wanted to get in on the celebrating as well.

First night camping and .............

....nobody got hurt.

Well it was pretty good I guess except for the towing experience. We had more tongue weight than we should have (first time so we expected a few mistakes to learn from) and as we slowly passed over the dip at the end of our driveway the leg of the lift on the pop-up starts to bottom out against the pavement. The grinding sound sent chills through me. After some careful calculations(GUESSES) we attacked from an alternate angle and successfully navigated out of the driveway and onto public streets. Now for the scary drive to the campsite worrying about every bump in the road. This is spring in Newfoundland so there are lot's of bumps in the road trust me. The last part of the drive is the gravel road into and around the campground. Driving slowly and listening carefully as we make our way to #39. Backing in wasn't too bad so there we are carefully parked in our very first campsite I was so relieved.

The set up started well and with Sandy & Kaitlyn unpacking inside the camper I decided to tackle the awning. I had the instructions in front of me and nothing made sense until I realized the dealer had installed the awning upside down!!!!!! Now I had to remove the darn thing and flip it while the camper was set up, not exactly the best way to do this. With some help from Sandy I finally managed to get the awning properly installed and up. We were cold and it was getting dark so we went inside turned on the furnace and poured a drink.

We had a snack, listened to some music and talked for a couple of hours before calling it a night. The sound of a light rain against the camper roof brought back memories of camping with my parents in their Bellvue popup many years ago.

Life is good.

Getting ready.

In less than a week we will be setting up at Droghedea RV Park for the Victoria Day long weekend. The Pop-Up has been de-winterized and much of the necessary camping gear has been pulled out of storage or repurchased. Sandy is looking after the weekend menu and making the grocery shopping list. Sandy, Granddaughter Kaitlyn, and I are hoping for better weather than we have been having but we are preparing for all possibilities. Sure we had snow this past Friday just a week before we will be camping! As long as we are well prepared we will have a great time I'm sure.

Victoria Day or "May TwoFour" as it is more commonly called here in Newfoundland is traditionally the beginning of the camping season. Sandy and I generally waited for a few weeks later as we were tenting in the past. The campgrounds, RV parks, and Gravel Pits are packed with campers and tents for May 24 weekend every year regardless of the weather. Gravel Pit Camping or Boondocking as it is called in other areas is another Newfoundland tradition. Sandy and I have never done gravel pit camping but may try it for a weekend sometime this summer if we find the right spot.

If we can get a connection you may even see a post from the park this coming weekend.

Dan

Labrador

I'm in Labrador working this week and it's my first time here so when I had a break with some free time I went sightseeing. Considering it's still quite cold here this scene was not one I expected to come across. It's not exactly Pop-up camping but I thought it was worthy of sharing.

The next photo is looking out the bay from the marine terminal in Goose Bay. Snow covered mountains in the distance and the icy waterfront in the foreground paints a cold picture for mid April.

The next photo is looking upstream at Goose river.

I imagine this area would be much more spectacular in the summer but I am glad I had a chance to see the area anyway.

First post.

First photos of our new pop up camper, a 2007 Jayco 1006. Purchased new Spring 2010.

Sitting in our driveway waiting for the camping season to begin.

Interior shot of the Dinette, couch and the double bed.

The kitchen area with the king size bed.












Sandy and I are looking forward to our first trip scheduled for The Victoria Day Weekend. We are gathering up all the items we need. Most things are existing from our tenting trips over the last couple of years but we can up scale many items now with more room. Our oldest granddaughter Kaitlyn is planning on joining us and may even bring her best friend Brooklyn.

I'll try to post a few updates as we de-winterize and prepare for the camping season.