Water Chickens

We had a pretty good time camping, all things concidered.

Dave, Kate, Connor, Garrett, Julie and I went to the Rockwood Conservation Area which is about 10 minutes away from Acton. Since this was Garrett's first time camping, we decided to try it out somewhere relatively close to home so that if it went catastrophically bad, we wouldn't be faced with a 5 hour car ride home.

So we arrived at the campsite on Tuesday, which, if I remember correctly, was the day that the temperature in Southwestern Ontario reached something approximating the average surface temperature of THE SUN!

We got the tents set up and proceeded down to the lake for a dip in the water. The cool, cool, refreshing, goose crap filled water. It's actually a very nice little beach and the water was heavenly after basking in the hellish heat. I was very afraid to open my eyes underwater as the water had the colour of steeped tea without the hit of delectable cream.

Dave & I swam around for a while and played with Garrett & Connor for a bit but they wanted to hang out on the beach with their mommies and smash the neighbouring kids' sand castles. On the second day of our trip, Dave & I swam out to this little island in the middle of the lake and also paddled over to a giant cliff that overlooked the opposite shore of the lake. Thankfully it didn't crumble to dust around us when we tapped it.

Garrett added a new word to his ever expanding lexicon: Water Chicken. For some reason he insists on calling either the seagulls or the Canada Geese by this name. I'm pretty sure it's the seagulls as he tends to call Canada Geese ducks.

Late on Tuesday night, after everyone had gone to bed, Dave & I sat around the campfire yammering about whatever it is that brothers yammer about while sitting around a campfire on the hottest day of the year.

At 11pm, these guys show up at the site next to our's in their less than spectacular Ghettomobile. No word of a lie, these idiots talked like they had either grown up in Harlem or had spent the last week memorizing Ebonics for Dummies. To top it off, they insisted on hooting and hollering at the top of their lungs. Just to taunt us, they wandered away, leaving us to think that it would be nice and quiet. Then they came back. Then they drove away. THEN THEY DROVE BACK. At this point I'd reached my breaking point and told them to shut up. It came out kind of funny, sort of a "Shut........ UP!" Dave told me that he could tell I was restraining myself from adding a few other choice words into the mix, which was the truth in this case. All I demand from my fellow campers is some common decency and that the volume is turned down after 11pm, especially when there is a campsite with kids next to your own.

The yahoos finally drove away around midnight and never came back. I talked with the group camping in the site next to our's the next day and he apologized for the racket and we were cool after that.

Wednesday was much cooler than the previous day and Garrett & I went for an impromptu hike first thing in the morning. What was going to be just a quick trip down to look at the lake and the little dam while Julie used the washroom turned into a walk that took me almost all the way around the park. Garrett was convinced that Julie was not back at the camp, but was down this dark and forbidding trail that led off into the woods. Being the responsible adult that I am, I decided to follow the directions of a two-year old and off we went. Of course, 10 feet down the trail he insisted that I carry him so I did. I think I'm definately getting in shape... Lugging a 30 pound kid around must have some kind of aerobic benefit!

We finally got to a little lookout point and looked around for mommy, couldn't find her and we went back. At the bottom of the trail I looked at the map and realized that instead of walking about 1/3 of the way down the path, I'd actually walked 3/4's of the way around the park and only had a little way to go before I would have ended up back in the open area on the other side of the conservation area. Sigh.

Wednesday also brought with it several thunderstorms throughout the day. Thankfully it cleared up for most of the afternoon and evening and didn't bother to really rain again until the boys were in bed and we'd just gotten our campfire burning. Dave & I were able to get some fishing in during the evening. The boys went exploring in the caves and tried to find a bear with Julie & Kate. Dave & I both caught some fish, which made our newly renewed fishing licenses worthwhile. I think I caught 3 rock bass and a crayfish (a feat I've never done before and will never likely repeat) and Dave caught two rock bass, one of which was unlucky enough to get hooked in the side of the head. Dave kissed the fish's boo-boo better and they parted on excellent terms.

Thursday was the day we packed up our soggy tents, put away the amazing deflating air mattress (grr) and went to see some Creepy Critters at the nature pavilion on site. It was pretty cool. Garrett & Connor got to hold a ball python, a boa constrictor, a hissing cockroach, a tree frog and a Norwegian Rat. Unfortunately, we forgot to bring our camera along for the whole trip but Dave & Kate got some good shots... as long as Dave's computer didn't eat them when it died today.

All in all, it was a good trip. I miss camping and will have to do it more often. Garrett really seemed to like the whole experience and it was nice to have Dave, Kate & Connor along as the boys were able to keep each other company (when they weren't beating each other up).

Tomorrow brings us all together again for our next adventure... An African Lion Safari! Woooooo!