1.7.13

Long Weekend

 

Corey and I finally managed to make it up north for a camping weekend.  It was a last-minute decision, but we escaped the city Saturday afternoon and just returned home.  It's amazing how 48 hours away from work and smartphones is able to relax you completely!

We camped in Bon Echo Provincial Park, which is where my family camped every summer for most of my childhood.  It's a few hours away, but worth the drive if you want a more rustic atmosphere.  It's amazing how little about the park has changed in the past twenty years and the place holds some of my happiest family memories, so I'm excited to continue the tradition by camping there with Corey each summer.

We had to leave The Bark at home this weekend... Our big suck wouldn't enjoy sleeping outdoors on a night when people are lighting scary fireworks.  He missed camping this time, but he got to spend a whole weekend snuggling with his grandma!

We spent the drive singing along to classic 90's rock and some modern pop (Call Me Maybe?) and chatting about how many greyhounds we'd rescue if we lived in the country... and then deciding we'd miss city life too much.  The rest of the weekend was spent hiking, fishing, lazily reading and just enjoying nature.  Last year, we paddled a canoe up to a giant rock in the middle of Mazinaw Lake to see the Ojibwe pictographs (below) but we forced ourselves to stay put and take a REAL rest this weekend.

Note: looking at this photo makes me realize how much I am loving our new camera.  Do you ever look at all photos and wish you had taken them with a better camera?  You'll see what I mean when you see the photos from camping this year.


We had to laugh when we woke up so easily in the morning and realized that the one drawback to having a bird alarm clock is that your body is programmed to wake up the second a bird chirps.

I thought I'd share few photos from our weekend:

We wanted a more isolated "hike in" site.  The scenery was beautiful but the mosquitoes were unforgiving.


Making Starbucks instant coffee with our Biolite stove helped us to start the day in a good mood.  Note: our stove uses dry twigs as fuel and also charges our phones!


Last year, we camped on Mazinaw Lake but this year, we hiked to Joe Perry Lake.  It is smaller and calmer... we're thinking of camping at a "canoe-in" campsite on this lake next year...


I can't wait until we have kids so we can get excited about things like tadpoles without feeling like dorks!


Our campfire... reading at night and cooking over the fire is always a highlight for us.


On a hike, we spotted this scary (but strangely pretty) spider web.  I don't mind this spider as long as she keeps her distance.


There were dragonflies everywhere! 


We both really enjoy fishing.  Corey caught a big one but it wasn't big enough to feed us both so we let it go.  Can't you just feel the quiet in this photo?

 
We fished until the sun set over the lake...
 


Our trip was pure bliss.  We thought it was appropriate to spend the Canada Day long weekend appreciating the beauty of our Canadian wilderness.  I hope you managed to relax and enjoy the long weekend as well!
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