It's Monday, I'm home, and I'm tired. I think those are all good things this time (except for the Monday part). What a beautiful weekend. We did our 6th annual (although we did miss one year) girls trip to Lundbreck Falls. I cannot express in words how tranquil and relaxing these Falls are. I will post a picture at the end of the blog, because that might have been the reason I got locked out of the blog this morning.
Let's start at the beginning; Friday morning, Janice, JB and myself left Calgary by 10:00. We had all taken Friday off so we could leave early and get a prime spot for our camping weekend. Except for a couple of pit stops (bathroom break in Nanton and a missed turn before Fort MacLeod) our drive was smooth sailing. I blame the missed turn on the good music and great conversation. We arrive at Lundbreck Falls after 12:00ish and much to our surprise we have a good selection of spots. We have two main criteria for picking our spot: 1) it must be near the water with easy access to a shallow area and 2) if possible we would like to be near the washrooms (aka outhouses) but not downwind from the same said washroom. After a bit of looking around, we found the perfect spot and we set up camp. Our site was right next to the spot where my Dad used to set up the trailer when we were younger. It was the last spot, right against the hill. It is now called Skunk Hollow (wonder why).We got the tent set up right away, and just as we were furnishing the site, the caretaker of the campground pulls up and asks us if we are tenting (1st clue was the tent). When we confirmed his suspicions, he told us tents were not allowed anywhere except in the walk-in tent area. This part of the campsite was reserved for "units". Thankfully before we tried to argue our case, he said we could stay because our tent was already set up; but next time..... Yeah right! (I have since written to the owner and voiced our complaint) That put a little bit of negative energy on the moment, but it passed quickly. So we put a few more items in their place and we make a quick drive into Cowley for some steaks. Janice had heard of this butcher shop (meat market didn't sound right) where they had great steak - well they did have great steak, as well as the best beef jerky I've ever tasted (even better than Longview) Once back at camp, we also had to approach our caretakers for wood. I could go into many stories about Irvine or who we liked to call IrVINE, but the blog would be way too long, so I have one word to describe him - pervert!!! We received our wood delivered and our fire was blazing hot. Our supper that night consisted of steak, baked potatoes, caesar salad, fried mushrooms, and garlic bread. I didn't think we would have to eat for the rest of the weekend. At some point during the evening, it was discovered that Janice's air mattress had a leak in it. We looked through all our supplies for a patch kit, but that was one thing we didn't have (that and the kitchen sink) So Janice and JB went over to Skunk Hollow to see if our fellow tenters (they said they never got told the tent rule) had a repair kit. They did and so the girls attended to the tiny pin hole in the air mattress. We now had a working air mattress and two new camping buddies - a father and son team - Pav and Petar (Mom and another brother were over in Norway) Turns out Dad, Pav was there to golf, and son, Petar was an avid fly fisherman. I think we had an early night on Friday, maybe sometime after midnight, but no one is really sure because we didn't bring a watch and the phones (that had no reception anyway) were turned off.
Saturday morning brought us beautiful weather from the get go in the morning. It also brought the realization that there was another hole in the girls air mattress. Janice was up early to get the coffee going. After breakfast and a few duties, we headed to the river with our chairs, our books, our footstool (rubber made container filled with rocks and water), music and of course our beverage of choice. My choice was of course tequila coolers. We invited Pav to join us and had an enjoyable afternoon. After a few hours on the river we straggled back camp and made an executive decision to drive into Blairmore for a late lunch, and possibly a repair kit for the air mattress. I love driving through Frank Slide - it brings back so many fond memories of my childhood camping trips. We had a nice lunch at a small cafe, whose food was surprisingly good (never judge a cafe by it's decor and rude owners). I also made an unexpected purchase of some shoes. Just happen to be walking by a store and seen these shoes I loved - they had my size and were on sale. Then it was off to the liquor store for a bit more booze variety (I was still enjoying my tequila coolers though) I did however by a small bottle (it's all about the bottle) of tequila - the skull stuff - for Bill. We headed back to the campsite. As were were winding down the gravel road, I dropped JB and Janice off at IrVINE's site to get more wood. (I like my campfires) Once it was delivered (that was the cost of the uncomfortable comments)by IrVINE and he had left, it was nap time, at least for me. I snuck into the tent and the girls hiked up the hill overlooking the river to lay in the sun. Saturday evening was spent laughing, visiting with Pa and Son, drinking, throwing giant marshmallows in the fire, roasting hot dogs, and life lessons for Stacey - from hummers to mushrooms. I should have been taking notes because I needed to google a lot of things. It was 2:30 am by the time and put out the fire and followed the ladies into the tent.
I was up early Sunday, and started the fire - not for coffee, but I really needed a face wash to wake me up. We packed up camp after breakfast and headed to the falls for our last bit of sunshine. You can walk down to the falls and there are some big, no gigantic, rocks. We sat/layed on them and the mist spray from the falls cools you right off. It is so perfect..... I can't explain how tranquil I felt. Then it was time to head home. We took the 22 highway home to go through Longview etc. (I've since heard on the news today, that there was a bad accident there in the evening) We stopped for some beef jerky(no where near as good as in Cowley) and our course of travelling bathroom break. Needless to say we were three tired and tanned ladies by the time we all got home.
The weather had also been hot in Calgary and the house was cooking when I got home. Emptied the cooler; made Bill a leftover hot-dog and I headed downstairs to the cool basement for a quick nap. Despite waking up around 7:00 pm, I had no problem falling asleep around ten at bed time.
Here is a couple of pictures from the falls.
The first photo is how close we were to the Falls and the second photo is JB, Janice and myself!
I better get some more camping stuff put away, and try and figure out why I have been humming Garth Brooks all day.
Later, Stacey
No comments:
Post a Comment