I stayed up a little later than normal the night before trying to edit all the latest pictures and write about our days. We had a fantastic fire going too, so it was nice to take a few minutes and enjoy it. After packing away my things and putting the fire out, I raced to my sleeping bag as it was quite chilly. Laney had thrown off our extra blanket so I snagged it to try to get my feet warm. I'd forgotten socks and there was no way I was going back out there. As I settled down I reminded my brain I wanted to get up at sunrise to get a few good pictures of the lake.
The party group next door was still up of course. Right as I closed my eyes guitar music and singing started. I tried to be annoyed by it but I don't think I even finished my thought before I fell asleep.
My feet weren't warming up no matter how much I ignored them or double- and triple-covered them! I kept waking up trying to get at least one warm so I could use the same technique with the other one later. I was sound asleep and it was still dark when I felt a gentle nudge on my elbow three times. Thinking I was dreaming, I ignored it. Then it came again.
I asked, "What?" to Laney next to me.
She said, "I feel sick."
I said quickly, "Like you think you're going to be sick?"
And she shook her head. I sleepily said, "Ok, let's go" pointing toward the tent door.
She was already out of her sleeping bag headed toward the door as I wiggled out of mine. She was having a bit of trouble with the zipper and that's when it happened. Yep, she got sick in the tent. All over our little pile of dirty clothes next to the door. All over her bag. All over my keys. All over the sweatshirt I was wearing.
I quickly unzipped the tent and escorted her out with my dripping keys in my hand. I had no way to wash them off so once she was finished we headed to the water pump. She was shivering by this point as was I. Once they were clean I opened my car to grab a towel to get her clean then threw it down for her to get back into her sleeping bag. I then grabbed a headlamp to survey the damamge. Oy.
I grabbed some wipes to clean the zipper and tent and used the towel for the rest. I don't have the gag type stomach after lots of clean up, but tonight with the smell concentrated in the tent....oh my. I clean everything up as quickly as possible and loaded all the clothes into the towel to head to the laundry. I checked my little laundry box with soap and money and saw I had just enough Canadian dollars for one load in the washer and dryer.
As I was rinsing and putting the clothes in the washer, I remembered I had hastily pulled out our food bags to get to the towels so they were now just sitting out on the ground behind my car. I moved a little quicker as I imagined a large bear family eating all our snacks. Just what I needed.
I went back to the car, practically in convulsions from the cold, and found all our food was safe. I grabbed another sweatshirt I'd luckily just bought and the shower bag. I was so glad these showers were free because I needed at least 10 minutes to thaw!
As I climbed back into the tent I checked Laney and saw she was back asleep so I assumed she was ok. I slipped into my sleeping bag and grabbed my phone. I was secretly hoping it was only 12:30, but once the screen popped up I saw it was 3:43am. So I could either stay up for the sunrise as I probably wouldn't be going back to sleep for awhile after all the excitement anyway. Or I could sleep in as much as possible because we were driving a few hours later that day.
I opted for the responsible choice and closed my eyes for sleep. There was only one person still (or already?) up from the party family next door so they weren't making any noise. I could hear owls talking back and forth and I smiled as I wiggled my toes and realized they were quite warm now.
We were to meet at Grammie's lodge for breakfast at 8:00 so once I started waking up I finally left the tent at 6:45. I needed to move the laundry to the dryer but packing up should be relatively quick once I got the kids up. I headed to the laundry with my other two dollars and moved the clothes to the dryer. Apparently I've figured out when to do laundry without any competition as the room was empty! As I reached to put my money in I noticed it was a little bit more expensive to dry than our last stop costing $2.50 here. I thought, "You have GOT to be kidding me!"
I walked back to the car shaking my head knowing I didn't have much change as I'd given it to the kids to donate to the park at our program the night before. I did NOT want to carry wet clothes to our next stop. I opened my wallet and found all I had were 2 American quarters and a few pennies. I grabbed them and headed to the laundry hoping for the best. I placed them in the slots and I couldn't even budge the tray. I switched them around and voila! My dryer was ready to start. I did a little happy dance and pressed the start button. It's the little things that make my day folks!
Once I packed as much as possible away I checked the time and saw I had about 15 minutes before I needed to wake up the kids. I grabbed my camera and walked down to the lake to see if there was anything interesting. I wasn't going to get the sunrise but I hadn't gotten many shots of the lake so a different perspective at least would be nice.
The water was beautiful of course. And the fog was sitting like cotton fluff stuck to all the trees. I snapped away and walked among 50 of my new closest feathered friends.
After I grabbed the laundry I woke up the kids and we packed everything up within about 15 minutes. Laney seemed better so I chalked it up to a giant raspberry pie dessert the night before. I'll pause so you can think about how painful that was to clean up!
Once Grammie and Ryan joined us we had a fantastic breakfast! Laney was very cautious to eat very much but she ended up with a good variety of things. We spent much of the breakfast doing a little detective work as Ryan had misplaced her sweatshirt. By the end we decided we must have left it at the art center so we would be stopping by on the way out of the park.
But first we had one other stop to make before we left. Ryan was very excited to show Brayden and Laney how to pet Freckles when he came to them for food. We went back to the cabin and waited patiently for him to run up. It didn't take long but it did take about 4 trips of him stuffing his little cheeks!
On our way to the art center, Grammie saw a line of cars temporarily parked on the road so knowing it was probably a wildlife siting she pulled off as well. I grabbed my camera and hopped out to cross the road and check it out with her. Sure enough there was a baby bear munching in the grass up the cliff just outside the woods. He was pretty well camoflauged and quite a distance away but he was adorable. We kept looking for mama bear, but figured she was back in the woods a ways watching us.
We were on the road headed to our next park with Ryan's sweatshirt before to long. We drove toward the coast again through some adorable little towns. We arrived pretty early to the town wher Grammie's hotel was so we went on to the park to check in, set up, and have lunch first. The trees here were spectacular! The maple trees towered above us at least 200 feet high! The campground was very shady nestled in these maple trees with giant birch trees competing for sun underneath them.
After a short walk down through the tall trees we reached the beach. Forest next to beach is still such a strange concept to me! We settled down at the picnic table enjoyed the view.
We'd stopped at a gas station/ice cream/fudge/candy store on the way so we had to enjoy some of the fudge we'd picked out too! Brayden snapped this one!
After lunch we hopped back in the car to check Grammie in to her hotel. The kids had been looking forward to this day ever since we met up with Grammie. Not so much for the hotel part but for the chance to skype with dad since there was a reliable wifi connection! They hadn't seen him in 23 days so the giggled and bounced on my lap as they talked with him. They loved seeing Austin and Milo almost as much!
Once everyone was all smiles again we headed back to the park. On the way I had to have Grammie stop at a store I'd seen a couple times called simple "The Beer Store" to (shhhh! Don't tell Dave!) pick up some local Canadian beer. My checkout guy was impressed with my selection and even suggested a couple more. I wasn't sure how I was going to fit it into the cooler. I guess we were just going to have to have a clean-out-the-cooler kind of dinner!
After a delicious snack dinner smorgasboard, we walked over to the first night program about bats. We'd been lucky to already catch several programs on bats this year but we all still learned something!
At check in I'd tried to figure out the very confusing program schedule and though a bird program would be next at the campground loop next door so we walked that way next. The walk was just beautiful through all the tall trees. Once we got there Grammie checked the schedule and it wasn't to start for another 45 minutes. With their drive back to the hotel, they opted out and walked back to our site to drive home. The two kids with me opted to play on the playground until the program. They met a few friends and learned a new game called "Sandman" to teach their friends back home.
This program was about birds and their feathers. After a very informative talk we headed to the field next door to play a game. It was very similar to "Sharks and Minnows" but being about birds I'll call it "Hawks and Little Birds". Ryan and a friend were the hawks and the other group of kids were warblers and finches. The little birds had to make it from one side of the field to the other without being eaten by the hawks.
Brayden was even in on all the fun! By the end of the game this guy was the only one left so he was declared the winner and the only little bird alive!
We walked back to our site and while the kids played on the playground I took a much needed shower. After Ryan and I read for awhile, we snuggle down for the night, talked about our next park, and fell quickly asleep.
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