Hike Haliburton Festival

I meant to post about this event last week, before the actual festival, but there were some computer issues.  Sorry about that.

Hike Haliburton is a weekend full of guided, educational hikes through out all of Haliburton County.  It was tons of fun, even though the weather wasn't great, and we only got to do a few hikes.  There was something for everyone on the schedule, everything from learning about mineral deposits, to ghosts, to sled dogs.

The hikes have a registration system, which was a little complicated when I tried to do the online one, but calling was easy.

We kept the kids out of school so we could get to the Can You Dig It? hike in Tory Hill since it's all about minerals and the kids could find samples to take home.  We got there a few minutes late thanks to construction on main street in Haliburton, and when we got to the meeting place, there was nobody there.  Not sure if they just didn't wait, or if there was no one registered except us so the guide didn't come. (we called that morning, so maybe he didn't get informed there were people coming?) Anyway, that was disappointing for the kids but we made it up to them by going to Jake's BBQ Shack in Gooderham, then hit the Ghost Walk hike in Haliburton.

I grew up in Haliburton and was happy to learn so much about the history of the town.  The tour guides were interesting, good speakers and shared lots of interesting highlights from the town's past.  Not all of it was about ghosts, but still very interesting.  I thought the kids would be bored, but they weren't and when we quizzed them afterwards to see if they'd actually paid attention, it was clear they had.

The next day, we went on the Sciensational Snakes hike and wow, so much fun.  Weather was crappy, but the kids are now set on getting pet snakes, and are spending lots of time researching everything they need to know to take care of them.  The guide for this hike had lots of captive bread snakes that the kids got to hold, and I don't think a single child there was afraid to get their hands on them, even the fairly large fox snake.

Next year, I'm hoping to take in more of the hikes.  There were some really interesting ones that we just couldn't get to including one where you ride horseback for part of the way.  How fun would that be?  Or a canoe trip?  There were celebrity hikers, including Kevin Callan, but we didn't see any of them.  Hopefully I'll manage to get the info up early so if anyone is interested in attending next year, they won't miss it.

Random find in the garage...

Chris spent the day cleaning out the garage...actually he's still at it and it's well past dark.  There were a lot of things out there I'd forgotten about, but the one thing he came across completely had me floored.  There was a rusty cast iron frying pan hidden among the junk and I have no memory what so ever of buying one before this spring (which is not rusty)

So, this week I'll try researching ways to de-rust it, and will try to re-season it.  I'll take pics and show you the progress or lack there of as I go.

Sort of jealous...

My parents bought a pop-up trailer last week and are taking it on a maiden-for-them voyage as we speak.  The kids and I really wanted to go too but they went on Sunday night, and won't be back until today so the kids would miss 2 days of school.  While I normally wouldn't have a problem with this, pulling them from classes for camping on the second week?  Probably not a good idea.

This morning, with the temperature having dropped a fair bit, I asked the kids how they thought Papa and Lala were doing.  They were hopeful that there would be less annoying people around since it's after summer.  They also wondered what they'd be doing to occupy themselves without us there.

Camping without the kids can be hard to get used to when you are used to having them there.  There's no one to keep entertained, you can nap when you want, eat whenever you feel like it, and if all you do is hang out around the campsite and read, well that's your choice. Also, you can try recipes for meals the kids are likely to turn their noses up at, or go on hikes that would have them complaining about being tired. Like I said, I'm kind of jealous.  We tried a few times to get out for a romantic trip for just Chris and I, but having a sick dog kind of put a stop to those plans.  Next year for sure though.

First Day of School

Summer is officially over.  Very sad.  While there is a good chance we might get a weekend or two of camping in before it's too cold, it's not guaranteed.

What this does mean, is more hiking trips and after school activities.  I'm not sure if I mentioned the kids want to train to do a few triathlons next summer, so swimming lessons are going to be a priority.  They both do okay, but not good enough to be in a competitive race...okay they can't really do any more than doggie paddle.  Also, they try out for the school's cross country team every year, and usually make it to the big county meet up, so we'll be working on their running a lot in September...I hope.