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.