Thursday, September 01, 2005
Back Early...
Day 1
We were on the road by 10 am... because we had two vehicles, we had room to spare. Dorothy and I drove the van, with the dogs in their new crate and we listened to music on the way.
Eric and Dad went in the car with Owen and Oliver. We decided they could all have their "boy fun" (ie. burping and farting) without us present. Three hours of solid fun. We stopped at a gas station / restaurant after about 1 1/2 hours, and arrived at Sandbanks by 2:30 pm.
We spent about two hours setting up a fantastic camp, including two tarps and three tents. We got to go swimming, made subs for dinner and after dinner took the dogs to the beach for their first time. They were both a bit nervous about swimming, but soon enjoyed it.
After watching the sun go down, we went back to our site and had our first fire. It was great and we played euchre for quite a while after Owen had gone to bed.
Day 2
We had simple breakfasts (went and got ice/coffee), and then washed the dishes and packed a picnic lunch to go to the beach. Eric took Owen to the beach while we were packing things up, later Dorothy, Oliver and I joined them. We spent most of the afternoon at the beach and had a wonderful day. Dad spent most of the afternoon at the site with the dogs as he wasn't as interested in the beach.
For dinner, we had homemade spaghetti sauce with pasta which Dad made. Owen loves his cooking, so he ate tons of dinner. In the evening we took the dogs down again for a great romp at the beach and a swim. This time they loved it and we met lots of other dogs there.
That night, we put the boys to bed earlier as they were both really tired and crabby. We stayed up quite late playing cards, and later Eric and I went for a shower. While we were gone, apparently Oliver and Owen were talking to each other in their sleep (saying bizarre things to each other). Dorothy and Dad heard them and reported it back to us when we came back. The stars were breathtaking... and we talked about going down to the beach the next night with the boys.
Day 3
The boys told us they wanted to go to the giant Dunes Beach, so Eric and I packed them up and we went for the afternoon. It wasn't that great - the boys got to swim, play at the park and had lunch at the restaurant, but it was kind of hot and the water wasn't great there so I didn't swim.
We headed back and had hot dogs for dinner. The plan was that later we would head out to look at the stars at the beach. Meanwhile, after dinner we did our usual dog walk to the beach and enjoyed it.
Then we headed back to the camp site to enjoy our fire and warm up. We stopped at the washroom at this point, and overheard a woman saying that a hurricane was heading up into Canada (right over where we were). We could still see the stars at this point so we found it hard to believe. We did put up our third tarp and moved dad's and Dorothy's tents closer into the site so that they were under the tarps.
We built a huge fire and had a great singalong, roasting marshmallows. By about 9 pm it had started raining a bit, but not enough to stop us from having our fire. The boys went to bed by about 11 - by then it was pouring, but still not too bad. We actually stayed up very late, drinking and playing euchre. By then the water was coming down in huge sheets and the wind was getting stronger. We dumped as much water as we could off of the tarps and decided to go to bed and hope for the best.
None of us got much sleep - the storm was so noisy - and at about 4 am, my dad's tent collapsed due to the weight of the water on the tarp. (We found out later that about 6 inches of rain had fallen that night, with 60 mph winds). As well, the other two tarps were billowing up, being stretched far above our site. My dad came to our tent and said he thought we should consider leaving. He thought it wasn't safe to stay. When I looked out side the tent, there was a huge lake (about 3-4 inches deep) covering our entire site. Our tent was leaking on two sides, and Dorothy's was soaked as well. Dad's tent was down. The wind was so strong it was hard to hear each other. It was pretty scary... and the flooding was a continual problem as our site was in a gully. I talked to Eric and we agreed that our best option was to pack up and get out.
It took us about two hours to pack up. Owen stayed in our tent most of the time as he was afraid of the storm. We finally headed out and stopped at the bathroom where we met lots of other campers struggling to stay dry. Trees were falling, tents were flooding... what a mess.
When we got back to Ottawa, it was still raining. Who knows if we made the right decision to leave, but it wasn't fun anymore and every single thing we owened was soaked.
Oh well, we did have a couple of really nice days. I am pretty happy to be back home.
We were on the road by 10 am... because we had two vehicles, we had room to spare. Dorothy and I drove the van, with the dogs in their new crate and we listened to music on the way.
Eric and Dad went in the car with Owen and Oliver. We decided they could all have their "boy fun" (ie. burping and farting) without us present. Three hours of solid fun. We stopped at a gas station / restaurant after about 1 1/2 hours, and arrived at Sandbanks by 2:30 pm.
We spent about two hours setting up a fantastic camp, including two tarps and three tents. We got to go swimming, made subs for dinner and after dinner took the dogs to the beach for their first time. They were both a bit nervous about swimming, but soon enjoyed it.
After watching the sun go down, we went back to our site and had our first fire. It was great and we played euchre for quite a while after Owen had gone to bed.
Day 2
We had simple breakfasts (went and got ice/coffee), and then washed the dishes and packed a picnic lunch to go to the beach. Eric took Owen to the beach while we were packing things up, later Dorothy, Oliver and I joined them. We spent most of the afternoon at the beach and had a wonderful day. Dad spent most of the afternoon at the site with the dogs as he wasn't as interested in the beach.
For dinner, we had homemade spaghetti sauce with pasta which Dad made. Owen loves his cooking, so he ate tons of dinner. In the evening we took the dogs down again for a great romp at the beach and a swim. This time they loved it and we met lots of other dogs there.
That night, we put the boys to bed earlier as they were both really tired and crabby. We stayed up quite late playing cards, and later Eric and I went for a shower. While we were gone, apparently Oliver and Owen were talking to each other in their sleep (saying bizarre things to each other). Dorothy and Dad heard them and reported it back to us when we came back. The stars were breathtaking... and we talked about going down to the beach the next night with the boys.
Day 3
The boys told us they wanted to go to the giant Dunes Beach, so Eric and I packed them up and we went for the afternoon. It wasn't that great - the boys got to swim, play at the park and had lunch at the restaurant, but it was kind of hot and the water wasn't great there so I didn't swim.
We headed back and had hot dogs for dinner. The plan was that later we would head out to look at the stars at the beach. Meanwhile, after dinner we did our usual dog walk to the beach and enjoyed it.
Then we headed back to the camp site to enjoy our fire and warm up. We stopped at the washroom at this point, and overheard a woman saying that a hurricane was heading up into Canada (right over where we were). We could still see the stars at this point so we found it hard to believe. We did put up our third tarp and moved dad's and Dorothy's tents closer into the site so that they were under the tarps.
We built a huge fire and had a great singalong, roasting marshmallows. By about 9 pm it had started raining a bit, but not enough to stop us from having our fire. The boys went to bed by about 11 - by then it was pouring, but still not too bad. We actually stayed up very late, drinking and playing euchre. By then the water was coming down in huge sheets and the wind was getting stronger. We dumped as much water as we could off of the tarps and decided to go to bed and hope for the best.
None of us got much sleep - the storm was so noisy - and at about 4 am, my dad's tent collapsed due to the weight of the water on the tarp. (We found out later that about 6 inches of rain had fallen that night, with 60 mph winds). As well, the other two tarps were billowing up, being stretched far above our site. My dad came to our tent and said he thought we should consider leaving. He thought it wasn't safe to stay. When I looked out side the tent, there was a huge lake (about 3-4 inches deep) covering our entire site. Our tent was leaking on two sides, and Dorothy's was soaked as well. Dad's tent was down. The wind was so strong it was hard to hear each other. It was pretty scary... and the flooding was a continual problem as our site was in a gully. I talked to Eric and we agreed that our best option was to pack up and get out.
It took us about two hours to pack up. Owen stayed in our tent most of the time as he was afraid of the storm. We finally headed out and stopped at the bathroom where we met lots of other campers struggling to stay dry. Trees were falling, tents were flooding... what a mess.
When we got back to Ottawa, it was still raining. Who knows if we made the right decision to leave, but it wasn't fun anymore and every single thing we owened was soaked.
Oh well, we did have a couple of really nice days. I am pretty happy to be back home.
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All good camping trips MUST have rain in the picture somewhere. It wouldn't be camping without it! Glad you had funa nd are all safe and well.
A sucky end to an otherwise great camping trip. Mother Nature had a pretty mean tantrum this time, I'm glad you came back early rather than risk a tree blowing over on top of you!
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