Camping trip 2012 - day 6

July 19 - Day 6

Dean slept the whole night which meant I had to stay on the deflating mattress. In the morning Dan asked to switch then and I was happy to not be touching the ground.

We all awoke and started the day. Dean had one tiny accident before breakfast, then one more just after... I'm ready for home. This has been the enough accidents.

So mommy and Dean went and watched a slide show on camping cooking while I took everything down and packed it away.

Then it was a drive home and unpack again... I feel beat.

Camping trip 2012 - day 2

July 15 - Day 2

So we start the day out with me sleeping on the small mattress and Dean and Mandy on the "double"  mattress (I put two on top of each other). That is until theirs became so deflated that it caused Mandy to sink in the middle and Dean rolling into her. So we switched. Yay, comfort.

Then I couldn't stay asleep after I kept hear noises like someone walking around our tent. I'm somewhat used to that while camping, but it was continuous enough that I was curious. It was light enough so I stuck my head out to see...

... A skunk stuck in our dining tent. Apparently it's a great animal trap. It couldn't get out... And after half an hour or so I knew I bad to intervene. So I crept to the one flap (nearest the tent) and unzipped it. It saw me and raised so I backed away. It kept trying the far side so I went around and tried to get it to go towards the now open flap... No dice as it raised again.... So I backed off some more. Eventually we played this dance a few time and it got out... 

Stupid skunk.

Now that we were up so early we decided we might as well have breakfast. Mmmmmm pancakes and chocolate chips. Following up that nice early breakfast we had a nap and slept in.

The rest of the day wasn't as eventful, we went for a walk. We visited the visitor centre and eventually Mandy's parents came by. We visited and then went to the beach and played there for a while. 

We came back and had sausages they brought with them. We had to improvise with some cutlery, but we did ok. 

On a side note... I bought 2 gadgets for this trip. A trickle solar charger for the car (in case charging up the inflator drained the battery) and a solar charger for my phone. The solar charger sucked. I let it charge for hours and nothing. It barely charged my phone. Obviously it's not charging faster than my phone was using, so I let it sit in the sun and build up its battery. After a few hours it only charged up my phone 1%

:-[

We got to experiment with banana boats as the neighbour to one side left us her left over wood. 

After dinner, grandpa and grandma left so we readied for bed. Dean was showing signs of being tired so no convincing needed. 

I thought I'd stay up, but it's kinda boring and was cooler than normal so I turned in as well.

[Not many photos today either]

taken while on a bit of a shortcut to the beach

Let's get you up to speed [38/61]

So... I just had a week's vacation!  Yay.  In that time period I've had some fun times.

Dean's first camping in a tent [77/92]

I guess I hadn't updated in a while -- been crazy busy at work, so I'll just post about our weekend impromptu camping trip to Kakabeka Falls.

It started with Mandy somehow getting her 4 days off in a row.  It's something she had asked for in the beginning of the year, hoping we'd have a lot of great weekends instead of taking off full weeks.

So we got one of them granted, and we just didn't know what to do.. 4 days off.  Is it enough time to go really anywhere?  I still had to work the regular days - and getting out after work would have been tricky timing...

...then as it turns out it was the Westfort Days on Saturday -- and Mandy couldn't miss that.  There was a 'train' for Dean to ride; super cheap deals at Westfort Foods.  Can't turn down that.  So we woke up and went for our walk down the street [well, we drove as we thought we'd just drive out of there straight to camping].

First things first - Mandy had to go get cash, as the deals at Westfort Foods were a cash only thing.  So we went to the atm and then walked down the street.  We didn't properly plan prior as we didn't bring coinage for the grocery carts (mandy really wanted to stock up) so we had to deal with just those little hand baskets.  We grab a bunch of stuff we really didn't need - but hey it's a sale.

Then we realize that it's now a bit of a walk back to the car - we really should have grabbed a cart.  So we kill our arms carrying the bags to the car.  Loaded up it's back to the fair for Dean's train ride.  The shriners always have that little train car thing and Dean loves it.  A few minutes later we're plowing through the crowds with the toot of the horn (which Dean notices is a funny train whistle).  Dean even gets into the regality of it by waving to the passerbys/dodgers.

About now it's time for something to eat - so we had some of the Phillippean booth treats... dang good.  While eating Dean saw the pony rides - and despite it's $8 cost and tiny little lot Mandy was intrigued.  Oh well... her money (...err... wait OUR money.. crap).  See Dean wanted to go, but got on and was quiet, reserved (as per normal with strangers), and I believe was taken off early.   Ah well.

Now we were going to head out to the campsite.  Oh, wait we have to drop off our deals first... then we have to go to her parents to get Dean's sleeping bag... oh and my dad's to get my sleeping bag, thermarest and borrow their bigger tent.

NOW we're off... except we wanted to get some groceries to eat (hotdogs, milk, etc...).  So one last stop and we're off.

We're there!  Hopefully they have room... which they do ... *phew*.

We find the spot and I set to and set up the campsite.  Seeing as it's really impromptu this means just the tent, my little camping seat.  I set up the inside of the tent and it's time to explore the grounds.  We visit the falls (Dean wasn't impressed with -- or just didn't like being picked up near the guardrail).  Then it was time for a visit in Kakabeka.  We went to Odeina foods (figured we'd need more drink stuff) while Mandy got ice cream.

On the way back in we picked up wood and debated if we needed 1 or 2 [turns out they only had 1 left anyways].

I cooked up the hot dogs on my spider stove (love that little thing) and we had a nice little dinner.  Mandy and Dean went for a walk while I split some of the wood and relaxed (read a little of the new comic "Witch Doctor" -- amazing read).

Then we just hung about, and slowly but surely the lights dimmed and I started the fire.  Dean was prompted to tell a ghost story -- and wow, were we surprised.   I had video, but lost it due to a faulty card.  Mandy has one on her facebook page.

Essentially:  "once upon a time, there was a ghost stomping on the house; then the bad policemen tried to kill him; so the ghost ran away -- and never came back.  The End"

He told it about a dozen times, with slight variances (sometimes it was the police house, sometimes he did one house, than another, etc...).  No matter how we tried to convince Dean that policemen are good, he just said "no" and shook his sad (kinda sadly like).

Then it was time for bed and Dean fell asleep instantly.  Sleep sucked - I got the thermarest and tossed and turned all night.

Morning... well Dean woke up nice and early and wouldn't stay asleep so we got up.  A series of unfortunate accidents from Dean precipitated our leaving earlier than we would have liked to.  But not after introducing Dean to the wildlife (a chipmunk came into the campsite and we fed it -- yah, i know, bad me -- and it came up right close to him a couple of times).

All in all -- a nice camping vacation.  Quick, short -- nothing major planned (such a vast contrast to my usual preparation for camping -- this felt like slumming it).

Maybe we can do one more before the snow gets here.  Dean I think really enjoyed it.

Photos - https://picasaweb.google.com/101838215348734826591/KakabekaFallsAugust2011

btw - 77/92 means I'm up to 83.7%