Bumps in the Night

I was going to post about my camping trip while it's still somewhat fresh in my mind. I'm typing this, still not 100% sure if that's my intention. It's the weekend and I'm on call for emergency claims. My mind is soooo not on my blog, so bear with me - I'm winging it.

Adam's parents flew in on Saturday, July 15. We had spent the two days prior running around, getting things ready for our trip (ie: our vehicles), not so much for our house at it was pretty much a disaster. That entire day is still a blur to me. It basically consisted of getting things ready, dropping off cats at their "hotel" and buying groceries.

Sunday, we all woke up early, showered, dressed, scarfed down breakfast (except Adam and I, as we were the chickens with the cut-off heads). We pack, load up, get things ready and are finally off some time between 10 and11am.

The drive to Beaver Lake Resort is about 4 hours. Unless you stop a few times, as we did. (Kids = bathroom stops and food). It actually took a lot longer than I had anticipated. When we finally turned off the highway to take the road to the resort I was rapidly losing steam.

I had picked this campsite off the Tourism BC website - it was recommended and since it had it's own website, I was able to check it out and it looked pretty good. Last year we went to Cultus Lake, which is local, so this year I wanted to actually go somewhere. The Okanagan was somewhere that it was far enough away that Adam and his parents would be going somewhere that they most likely hadn't been, but not too far.

So we're driving up this road to the campsite. On the website, it says that it's about 10kms up the road. It doesn't mention that it's a rather rough, dirt road for about half the way. Now this is where I should mention that Adam's father isn't well - last December they discovered that he has cirrhosis of the liver. On top of that, he also has a pretty serious hernia. And a bumpy road does not help either of these two things.

Adam and his father were in Adam's truck. In my vehicle were the three kids, Adam's mom and their weiner dog, WD. About halfway up this terrible road, Olivia tells me she has to pee. She's 3. She does not squat well. It just doesn't happen. She needs a toilet. I tell her we're almost there and ask if she can hold it. She says yes. We're about 2 kms away from the resort and she starts crying. Yep, she's had an accident. But the drama doesn't end there. Adam's mom then, getting a little nervous and worried, suddenly tells me that there's no way his dad can be on this bumpy road. So I say OK, and try calling Adam. No service. We turn around and drive a bit down the road and get service and call. The response? "What are you talking about? This road is fine!". Apparently, the shocks in my truck suck compared to his. So, we carry on.

We finally arrive and get our vehicles into the campsite and discover that Adam's truck has had some serious clutch problems the whole way. We find out where there's a transmission place in Kelowna, the nearest city about 20 minutes away, and make arrangements to take his truck in. For now, we just need to settle in.

I'm shot - with all the drama and me driving that many people (I had expected at least one of the kids to be in his truck for the whole way), I can't keep up any more of the positive energy. There's only so much one person is able to hold up when there's negativity all around. Thank God Adam is the type who can deal. He basically took over from here on in. I went to bed almost right after the kids.

The next day, we deal with Adam's truck, get it dropped off, pick up more groceries (fresh Okanaga fruit!) and, of course, the long-awaited, much-deserved alcoholic beverages. Aaaaaaaaaahhhhhh.....

The day is spent exploring the resort - there's a coffee shop that also sells pastry and sandwiches (at Starbuck's prices), about a dozen little motor boats you can rent (at reasonable prices), a huge playground and even a petting zoo (a few goats, bunnies, two ponies). Great stuff for the kids.

In the Okanagan, it doesn't rain nearly as much as it does here on the Coast. You can also expect it to be a few degrees hotter here in the summer and much more dry. Up where we were, in the mountains, it was actually a bit cooler. We still got the sunshine, but at the site we were at, we were surrounded by trees and it didn't warm up a whole lot during the day. Which was actually good - it meant more comfortable sleeping. (If any of you have ever tented in the summer, you know how stifling it can get).

That evening, the kids are in bed, Adam's mom decided to go to bed early, Dad is sitting by the fire reading his book, so Adam and I decided to go for a stroll. We walk down to the water, onto the wharf and just stare at the lake, taking it all in. It's a beautiful place - the perfect place to have a cozy little cabin. It's getting dark - I mean, really dark - so we decide to walk back. I think we had a flashlight, but I'm not sure.

We're walking up the little hill to our site and in front of the site next to us is the garbage. In BC, pretty much anywhere, you need to have proper garbages to keep the bears out. But apparently it was a busy day and the garbage was full, so some people, instead of finding another can, just put their garbage bags next to the cans. We're yapping away, in full conversation, when we suddenly hear a noise in the garbage. Its dark, hard to see - all we can see is a big, black figure. Adam's gives a "What the...?" and I suddenly burst out laughing. We're about 3 feet away from a big, black......

"It's a frickin' COW!" I suddenly blurt out. I don't know why I laughed so hard, I guess it's just funny that you would normally expect a bear and instead you get ol' Bessie visiting your campsite.

She wanders through some sites, takes a big piss in the one just up from us, scares a few more people and, with a Safeway bag in her mouth the whole time, finally wanders off. I tried snapping a few pictures, but in the dark taking pictures of a black cow just doesn't seem to work.

That's about as eventful as it gets. We spend the rest of the week taking the kids out on the boat, riding bikes, visiting the bunnies and goats, attempting fishing, eating like kings (we bought the greatest camping grill!), playing cards, feeding squirrels, making s'mores and relaxing on the lakeshore. And, I just need to add (because it IS all about me) that I had almost NO allergies while I was there. Except for when I visited the goats and bunnies. It was a great time, from what I've heard Adam's parents had a great time and fully enjoyed the kids (and vice versa).

Although, as much fun as we had, it is a lot of work and it's kind of nice to come home too.

Now Adam and I need a vacation.

*And I just want to add, if you go on the Beaver Lake Resort website and turn up the volume, that IS what you hear when you're there. I've never heard live Loons before and it's just amazing.