May 24 Weekend

We had a wonderful time going camping for the first time in Alberta with some friends. We had purchased a large tent from Costco last year, and never had a chance to use it. This was our first time!

We drove down to the mountains, and set up in a valley, close to the belly river. It was chilly, and very windy. We built a fire and cooked hot dogs. Nicole, then asked, "Is it time to go home yet?"

It was so windy that the first day, our tent broke! The metal poles holding the porch, bent, and we had to tether down the fly as far to the ground as we could. Unfortunately, the wind came up under the tethered fly, and blew into the screened top of the tent. That was just the first day!
The kids spent most of the day outside playing, running and standing near the fire. They had a wonderful time.

One day Daddy took two of the girls and walked down to the river. They had hoped to cross the river, and walk up the mountain, but the river was too high and too fast. So they just played down at the river instead. Sarah was balancing on a log and actually fell into the river, with a belly flop. She says she was trying to jump to the small island, and missed! She was fine, but did have to walk the hour back to camp wet!

Kenny spent a lot of time in the cook kitchen, on a picnic blanket, or Mommys lap, playing with toys or eating. This was a large building for picnic tables, and a wood stove. This was a sealed building with windows and doors that are locked overnight. Here is where you keep all your food, to keep things safe from the bears, mountain lions and any other animals that might like to visit the camp site.

Courtney was out rock collector. She brought home many many rocks. She always found something interesting and strange. We ended up with a large coffee can full of rocks!

The last night the wind picked up even more. After putting our kids to bed, we went back to the camp kitchen to play games. We taught some people how to play euchre. Someone came over and said they have not seen that game for the 25 years they have been in Alberta. We invited them to play. (No one in Alberta plays euchre, they play rook) After some small talk, it came out that he once knew Robin Shortt(Gramps) from Ontario, 32 years ago. What a small world!

We climbed into bed, and hen heard people shouting beside us. Their tent had collapsed in the wind. Daddy went out to help, and they packed up their ripped and shredded tent to go home for the night. Their neighbor also had their tent destroyed in the wind.

The next thing you know, our tent started blowing down as well. The fly was ripping, poles bending, and the tent collapsing on top of us. Poor Courtney was having the poles landing right on her head. We also abandoned our tent in the middle of the night. Kindly enough, someone invited us into there tent trailer, and we spent the night there. (Costco took the broken tent back and gave us our money back).

We drove into Waterton park the next day, and visited Red Rock Canyon. The girls played in the canyon, and climbed a 20 foot cliff with some help. They came back to the van, wet but very very happy!

We had a wonderful trip, and are excited about camping again, withfriend again, and a new tent!