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Saturday, March 30, 2013

Trip Log: Mew Lake March 28-30, 2013

First camping trip of the year!  And a fabulous birthday present for me.  I'm thinking I should make this a new tradition, to go camping for my birthday.

We'd been planning this trip for quite a while, since before Christmas at least.  Last year for Easter weekend, we spent a night in a yurt at Mew Lake, but this year, all the yurts were booked, so we thought we'd take a chance and see how well camping in mum and dad's tent trailer with the electric heater would be.  I couldn't see it being much different than hot tenting, except we wouldn't have to be up most of the night stoking the fire.

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Waiting Impatiently....

Back around Christmas, I noticed Kevin Callan had a new book coming out.  I love his books, and I love camping cook books, so you can imagine I was thrilled to see his next release was a camping cookbook.

Originally, the release date was March 5th...I'm sure it was because Squatch was waiting for the new Tomb Raider game which came out on the same day.  We were both bouncy with excitement, but when I went online to check availability in the local Chapters, I noticed the date had changed to March 19th.  I almost cried, I swear.

So, yesterday, I got up, and checked online again...and none of the stores nearby had it in stock.  I thought this was a little weird.  I could order it online, but not pick it up in stores.  I found this to be really strange.  As an author, even though my books aren't published straight to print format, I'd always assumed that when a book comes out on a certain date, it's actually available on that date.  I can't see it being any other way for a best selling author like Stephen King or Nora Roberts.  I know there's a difference between a best selling novel and a niche market reference book, but I just didn't expect there'd be any difference.  Even more, I would have thought the Peterborough Chapters would have had it since he's a local author.

Very disappointing.  I might just have to go ahead and order it online...though I might have run up the credit card booking camp sites for this summer...I'll have to check.  Here's the link if anyone else is interested in buying it.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Pictures from Arrowhead

Finally getting around to posting a few pics of our day trip to Arrowhead back at New Years.

Stubb's Falls in Winter

Chris and Squatch enjoying the Ice Trail

Kind of a dreary day...but still fun

Friday, March 8, 2013

Family Day Trip to Algonquin

We didn't make it up for the Winter Fest, but we headed up on Monday instead.  There wasn't a variety of interesting presentations, but the trails were mostly empty, and considering our lack of skill on skis, that was probably a better day to be there anyway.

Our first stop was, of course the west gate, to get our permit and then we did a very short loop directly from there.  Chris was a little disappointed...I think he wanted to do longer trails, but always forgets to take into account the kids slower pace...and my much lower fitness level.

After the short ski, we headed to Mew Lake Campground and found an empty site to heat up lunch.  I'm not entirely sure it's allowed, but since none of the roads to picnic areas have been cleared, and we didn't want to sit in the parking lot of a trail head, we didn't have much choice.

I'd made a pot of bean soup and a few loaves of crusty bread the day before, and we took the Vital Grill Stove with us to try out.  The kids had fun collecting twigs, and I was surprised at how easy it was to light as well as how quickly it brought a big pot of soup to a boil.

After lunch, we decided to ski to the waterfalls via the Track and Tower Trail leaving from the garbage area at Mew.  Only Chris, Squatch and I skied, while the others walked.  In hindsight, I wish I'd walked as well because having to stop, take off ski poles and then mitts in order to take a picture meant everyone behind me had to stop as well, and I didn't take any pictures while on the trail.

We spent a while at the falls, and I realized we'd been to this spot four times, and each time it had been very different.  The first time had been last April, when Chris and I went during our Yurt trip.  There had been lots of water going over the rocks that day, and no snow.

The second time, only Squatch and I went all the way to the falls...and there were tons of people laying about in the little pools.  It was about mid-summer.




The next time was late August, and though there were a few people around, there weren't as many as the previous time, and there wasn't as much water either.  This time, there was lots of water, lots of snow, and we were the only people there.