Andrew & Carrie & Lily & Nora & Charlotte & stuff: Labour Day weekend camping

After looking at cottaging opportunities for Labour Day weekend, we and another family decided that camping was a much cheaper way to spend the weekend. Having heard good things about a provincial park we hadn't yet been to, we decided to head there. Driftwood Provincial Park is on the Ottawa River, almost three hours' drive west and north of Ottawa.

All week, Lily talked about "go camping... on Friday... wif Mya and baby Chase". Baby Chase may well be bigger than she is (she's still 21 lbs). She was pretty excited about the prospect of using her camping chair and sleeping in a tent.

The forecast called for lots of wet weather, but that wasn't going to stop us. We made it there by Friday 6pm or so, to find our friends partially set up and in decidedly low spirits. Various things had gone wrong for them and, now that they'd partially set up camp, the site we were to share was looking far too small for our purposes. It didn't help that many sites were right on the water and ours was not. Carrie had made enquiries when we checked in, and so we walked over to the one waterfront site that someone had recently cancelled. It looked wonderful, so we guys told the ladies to sit tight with the kiddies while we sorted things out.

Off to the campground office. As we pull up, this ridiculously large fifth wheel has just arrived and the old American driver (we dubbed him "Texas") and his wife are walking into the office. We walk in right behind them; they get one teller, we get the other. We quickly ask to switch our site to the waterfront one they'd told us about, but the other couple, who haven't reserved a site, has already asked if any sites will fit their monstrosity. Their teller tells them that only one site will do the trick... of course, it's the site we're coveting. We halfheartedly argue that we were there first and want this site way more. But the tellers decide that we were there second, and since Texas has had a bad day and isn't likely to be swayed by our whining, we leave without further ado.

We go back to the waterfront site, which the others are enjoying while they can. A minute later, the house on wheels roars by. We wonder why it's not stopping. Texas goes to the end of the one-way lane and comes roaring past us again, taking out some innocent branches on his way out. Well, not sure what that was about, but we figure we'll head back to the office. The fifth wheel is nowhere to be seen. Apparently they didn't think their beast would fit on the very large site. Long story short (can one say that, after giving the long version?), we got the site after all. Woohoo!

Now, where were we? Oh yes, something about camping. Much of the weekend is a big drippy blur. Lots of rain, if I remember correctly. Torrential downpours, I think you call it. Once I went into the tent to check if it was keeping out the water when I noticed the floor was very squishy! There was a considerable river/puddle underneath the tent and it felt a little like a waterbed. Fortunately it all stayed outside, so all went well in that respect.

It didn't rain quite the whole time, and we took opportunities to go canoeing and fishing, play games, make disappointing fires with wet expensive wood, and run around rain-proofing stuff as needed.

Monday's weather turned out quite lovely, which meant at least we didn't have to pack up in the rain. We stayed right until our 2pm checkout time and then headed home. Lily (not surprisingly) stayed awake the whole way home, but was (surprisingly) quite well-behaved for having missed her nap.

I still haven't laid everything out to dry. Only yesterday I finally picked up the items our friends had taken in their trailer (our car no longer fits us and our camping gear).