Camping Adventures

I would love to camp all summer. My dream life would be one where we were able to take off to a campground and live there for entire summer. We probably wouldn't do it in a tent though, cause the ground is hard and tents are cold. So I suppose somewhere in my dream we acquire a trailer or a cabin in the woods. Irregardless, I love living in the wild and everything that goes with it (even the occasional cold night).

In July we made our usual camping trip to Bridal Falls, but in August we decided to try out a different HTR site and went to Sunshine Valley. I have to admit I was a little bit worried about camping here. And there were some things that we didn't like about this site. But all in all, it was a fantastic trip.

 We arrived on the second, and set up camp. The sites are HUGE. It's not as rustic and wooded as I like, but there's something to be said for a large, flat site. We situated ourselves and got down to the heavy business of reading. Nothing says vacation like a good book.

We happened to choose the weekend where they were holding a big mud run. So there were LOTS of quads and dirt bikes and rowdy people on the campground. There was also a live band that played until well after 1 am. It was not a family friendly weekend to be there! Oh well, live and learn.

One thing about camping that far away from town and way up in the mountains was the sunsets were unbelievable. And it was very windy.

 Okay, so we got there on Saturday which meant that Saturday was basically set up camp day. We planned easy food for dinner (we always cook together because, four kids and so easy).

Sunday we lounged around the pool and explored the river. Both of which were full of bearded tattooed people drinking and driving quads (okay, they didn't have quads in the pool. But there were a lot of toys. Whoa).

 I think we spent a lot of time comparing this site to Bridal Falls. Which has it's own issues, but it's what we're used to. And they have a Ziggy who patrols the whole grounds constantly making sure that everyone is behaving and that everything is in good repair, well stocked and running like it should.

At SV, they ran out of ice, and ice cream. They don't stock bread in their store because apparently there's no demand for it. The bathrooms were yucky and constantly out of paper towels. There are two pools, but one or the other was always closed because of vandalism. But they don't believe in posting signs, so you'd plan your whole day around hanging at the pool and then get there in the morning and find it locked because it was vandalized the night before and they had to drain and refill. But they didn't post signs and were hostile when you asked questions.

It was very different from our usual site.

On the other hand, the pool deck was lovely. When we were able to be out there, it was awesome, and the kids had no trouble spending an entire day in the pool. Once all the rednecks left, we'd have the pool to ourselves and a few other families and it was bliss.

 On Monday we drove up to Manning Park and hiked half the Lightning Lake loop. Which was just as gorgeous as I remember it being. Also, there were ground hogs everywhere.

 We made plans to come back on Wednesday and rent canoes to try fishing and canoeing.

And then we went back to the lodge and met Dave, Alexis and Ada for lunch. They were in Manning for the annual Rossi Camp Out. Which looks amazing and so fun and almost makes me wish we had a huge family to do those kind of things with.

 Then, on Dave's say so, we did the second scariest drive ever (in Canada) and went up to the viewpoint. Guess what? I have a phobia about scary mountain roads. The view was also scary and my legs were jello the whole time we were up there. The kids are much braver than me.

I have always wanted to do a hike up in the alpine meadows, but then I found out you have to drive FOREVER up this scary road. So we went back to the campsite.

 Here's one more picture of Ada to tide you over till I finish talking about our trip.