White Mountains

This month we went on what is technically our second biennial outing to the White Mountains in New Hampshire. The last time we went, Lily was all of two months old.

Aside:

Since Carrie really wanted one of those Vitamix blenders, we thought we'd try to acquire one. Vitamix blenders are available in Canada, but they are prohibitively expensive. In the US, Vitamix sells reconditioned units at a considerable discount. The problem is that they don't like to sell these to Canadians. So of course I went about trying to acquire one.

The Internet told me that if you call Vitamix to order a reconditioned blender and the credit card you use to pay for it has a Canadian billing address, they'll politely tell you "nuh-uh". So I had to add a US billing address to my card (or at least I tried, but since Carrie is the primary cardholder for our card of choice, they insisted that she call to add the address). I used the address of the home we rented for our week in New Hampshire. The next problem was shipping and delivery. I had to order early enough to ensure that the item was delivered before our holiday was over, but also late enough that the unit didn't arrive before we did. So I tracked the package once it shipped, and sure enough, it was to be delivered a full week before we were to arrive. The shipper, UPS, could hold it at a depot, but they led me to believe I needed proof of residence at the initial delivery address. (Also, the depot was nowhere near where we would be.) So I had find another solution. Enter Kinek, one of several delivery services that will let you ship your package to one of their locations and they'll hold your package for you. It's great if you live near the border and need to order something that ships only within the US. So I picked a location at the Vermont border and then called Vitamix to redirect the package to that address (they waived a $25 fee to do this); the packaged arrived there a week early and sat patiently to be picked up.

Easy-peasy, huh?

Fast forward to our holidays, during a particular day of shopping: we step into a kitchen-stuff store, and lo and behold, the same reconditioned Vitamix blender I'd jumped through a thousand hoops to acquire, and for the same price! AAARRRRRRRRRGGGHHH!

It felt like a thousand hoops anyway. Sigh.

In the end, we have our new blender and Carrie is deeply in love with it.

Now, where were we? Oh right, vacation.

On the VRBO website we found a vacation home rental for a week, situated in the town of North Conway, New Hampshire. We hoped to do a bunch of hiking, enjoy the fall colours, and indulge in some tax-free shopping. The drive--without stops--is only 5.5 hours. A midday, midweek drive meant a fairly uneventful trip.

The weather forecast wasn't looking great, but it turned to be a wonderful week. Our first hike was up South Moat Mountain, with an elevation gain of about 2100 feet. It's a moderate trek, but challenging enough for our first time out. We'd mostly sought out 4-hour round trip hikes, and it proved to be an ideal length for us all. It was pretty cold and windy at the top, so we stayed for a bite to eat and then headed right back down.

Lily tended to sleep for half an hour on the return leg of our hikes; this was a nice quiet time, but we felt sorry for her very bad posture (though it doesn't seem to bother kids). We eventually used a scarf to prop her head up so it wouldn't fall off.

When she wasn't sleeping, she was often heard singing boisterously or reciting her favourite Curious George books with surprising accuracy.

Another day's hike took us up a mountain named Kearsarge North, with an elevation gain of 2600 feet. Its trailhead was conveniently only a couple of miles from our lodgings.

Some colour.

Snack break. Better bundled than on the previous hike.

There was a fire tower on the peak, and the view was expansive. Maybe not as colourful as we might have liked, but we couldn't have asked for better weather.

We discovered the joy of candy necklaces. Made for a messy but quiet child.

One day we drove up to a local lookout called Cathedral Ledge. We also took a walk to Diana's Baths, a interesting series of waterfalls over smooth eroded rock formations.

View of the valley from Cathedral Ledge.

Diana's Baths.

Our little adventurer.

We were in the vicinity of the Presidential Range, and we thought it would be nice to scale a presidential peak. We chose Mt. Jackson, which tops out at just over 4000 feet. (As it turns out, this mountain was named after some geologist and not the president.) We were in surprisingly better shape by this time, and seemingly interminable climbs were not nearly as discouraging or difficult as they'd been a few days earlier. This hike's elevation gain was 2500 feet.

Directions at the top. There's a whole network of trails connecting various peaks.

Bold little thieves.

Made it!

And another peak; we did a side trip to Mt. Webster on the way back down.

All over, trails were quite rugged and would have been treacherous if wet. Fortunately for us, we had a pretty dry week.

Almost as steep as it looks.

Totally as steep as it looks.

Climbing up was often easier than down, particularly with a child on my back. I fell backwards on top of her (sort of) only once; hooray for frame packs!

Whilst tripping over exposed roots, we could imagine an Ent looking down at us irately.

Easier going.

We did a bit of shopping, including my obligatory visit to the local cigar shop. I have my cigars, Lily has a bunch of fancy new clothes, and Carrie has her blender. I guess Christmas came early.

Oh, and chocolate. We were accosted by a Lindt store, so we helped ourselves to some deals. Looks like I have a few hundred Lindor chocolates to consume.

After a relaxing week, we headed back home, with a quick stop in Newport, Vermont for super deals on chicken. While Carrie loaded some things into the trunk at the grocery store, I helpfully whisked the (pretty much empty) cart away. Off we drove.

An hour and a half later, and we were approaching Montreal. Suddenly Carrie said, "Hey, where's my wallet?" We searched the car for ten minutes and then decided to call the store in Newport. Sure enough, someone had found the wallet and handed it in. The good news: mystery solved. The bad news: back to another country!

So we backtracked, talked to sympathetic border guards, retrieved the wallet, and sat down for dinner before heading north again. So, four hours after approaching Montreal, we were again approaching Montreal. Not the funnest trip ever, but at least all was well in the end.

Our little miss smarty-pants enjoyed the week away and has fond memories of it. She recently couldn't find something of hers, and exclaimed, "Hmm, maybe it's in New Ampshire, ackshly!"

And I end with the obligatory Lily photo dump.

The leaving-the-playground meltdown.

This one loves leaves. "Lily haffa leaf?"

"Onna big baloo skeeky [squeaky] swing wiff Mom."

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).

Fell asleep during a canoe ride.

Colouring is serious business. Also, tasting the colours.

Her barettes are mere adornments; they don't do much good.

GO [insert favourite sports team here -- I can't think of one]!!!

Private beach.

Have I mentioned lately how much we love our little snotnose?

Stay behind the log... ankle-deep is far enough.

I love the look of glee on her face!

Friends.

BC

A few weeks ago we embarked on our annual pilgrimage to BC. We flew into Kelowna and spent just over a week in Vernon, then headed to the Fraser Valley and stayed just under a week there, flying out of Vancouver. It was to be our last trip with Lily flying free as an under-two; her 2nd birthday arrived less than two hours after landing back in Ottawa.

The Okanagan was hot, far too hot. I guess people who live there do so because they like that sort of thing. Well, they can have it!

Monashee Provincial Park

Carrie's siblings from the Fraser Valley made it out for the long weekend, but before they all arrived, Carrie and I took off to Monashee Provincial Park for a two-night hike. We left Lily with the grandparents, our first time away from her overnight. Grandma had a blast babysitting, and we enjoyed a nice wilderness jaunt by ourselves.

Maybe "enjoyed" isn't the right word for it. There's a reason we don't do these hiking trips too often: it takes time to forget the agony and be left only with good memories. We drove off Monday in Dad's big fat gas guzzler V10 pickup, driving east out of Vernon for 40 minutes before heading north around Sugar Lake and on some forest service roads to the park. Upon leaving the highway I'd noticed that the gas gauge was a little on the low side but figured we'd make it where we had to go (and back). Well, the 50km after the highway portion took us almost an hour and a half on very bumpy roads, and by the time we got to the park and the trailhead, I wasn't so sure we had enough gas to make it back down. But that problem could wait a couple of days.

We hit the trail at 10:30, hoping to do lunch at Spectrum Lake two hours in. This leg was easy going, being quite level. In fact we gained only 300 feet in elevation during this time. The forest had a west coast feel, very wet and mossy in places and with a surprising number of cedar trees.

We got to Spectrum Lake at 12:30 and stopped for lunch. There had been no bugs to speak of, and walking in the trees had kept us out of the sun. At the lake, I searched for a geocache which led me across some very cold water to a little island; I was the first to discover this cache, so totally worth getting wet for!

Stealthy cache hunter.

After a nice lazy break, we headed out again. This time we knew we were in for a workout. It would be 5km of pretty steep hiking, with an elevation gain of 2500 feet (760m) to Little Peters Lake. This turned out to be even less fun than we'd expected, but make it we did, in a little over 4 hours.

One of the few sections that weren't uphill.

This log jam is massive and no doubt gets reshaped every year;
the makeshift metal bridge requires annual retrieval as well.

By the time we reached Little Peters Lake, we expected to want to drop our gear right there, but somehow we found the energy to go one more hour to Big Peters Lake, which was the destination we'd initially hoped to reach that day. This final leg was along a fairly level route, and we made surprisingly good time considering the killer section we'd just done.

Little Peters campsite consists of a rocky firepit and this (very) public toilet.

The entire hike in was not too hot and mostly devoid of bugs, but the latter bit changed at the Peters lakes. Designated campsites are nice and all, but why do they have to be on the water? The mosquitoes were so bad that we wore our everything-proof jackets so as not to be eaten alive. We could have slathered on our potent 98% DEET bug spray but it's so much nicer not to resort to that right away. We actually managed to hold off using it until late the next day.

A beautiful setting, bloodsucking hordes notwithstanding.

Being quite tired, once camp was set up we forwent dinner and hit the hay on time.

Day two was our only full day in the park. We planned to do a day trip to any one of several nearby locales, depending how we felt. Well, we weren't feeling particularly energetic, so we decided on a trek to South Caribou Pass, which would afford some good views of the surrounding area. Once we were moving, the only bugs to bother us were massive deerflies that never seemed to want to chomp on us but were intent on attacking our walking sticks; we slapped plenty to death as we went.

Big Peters Lake below.

South Caribou Pass above.

After a couple hours of steady uphill hiking, we stopped to rest on a nice sunny knoll and soon decided to go no further. We had a decent view below us anyway, and we weren't thrilled about further punishing our sore feet and joints right before the next day's long hike out. We relaxed at 6700 feet and enjoyed the solitude for an hour.

We got back to camp by mid-afternoon and of course the mosquitoes were waiting for us en masse. It was too warm to wear our jackets so we tried to hang out in the tent, but it was sweltering in there. So we finally resorted to using our destructive plastic-eating bug spray. Seriously, it melts synthetic fibres like my wicking shirts, and tents, and tarps. Extreme care must be taken to put it only on "safe" things. Y'know, like skin. Must be really good for you.

After that, the bugs left us alone. We had a leisurely dinner and turned in early for the night. The temps went down to the single digits overnight, but not as cold as we suspected it might get. Got up on time, broke camp, and hit the trail a little after 8.

Park wardens had cleared the trail only a few weeks prior.
Since then plenty more trees had fallen over the trail.

After seeing the ridiculous amounts of dead trees and branches on the forest floor,
I can see how a single lightning strike can send a huge area up in flames.

The way back down was easier on the lungs but much harder on the joints. Fortunately I'm always SO active and am SO in shape that I didn't have too many problems. Carrie didn't fare so well, and her ankle gave her a fair bit of grief. I ended up carrying her pack for a couple hours toward the end, along the flatter section of the trail; who said chivalry is dead, eh?

We were back at the truck in 6 hours with the return 14km behind us. I retrieved a bottle of hand sanitizer that I'd forgotten on the bumper two days prior; not a hit with the bears, I guess, judging from its unmolested appearance. We hopped in the truck and started back to civilization... coasting where it counted, of course. There was no traffic to be seen, and it would be a long walk to the nearest gas station if we ran dry. But even thought the gas light went on pretty well right away, we made it out with fumes to spare. And thus ended successfully another wilderness outing.

Back in the valley

Beyond that, we didn't do a whole lot in the Okanagan. Five of us went kayaking on Kalamalka Lake one day. Fours hours of paddling under the hot sun were broken up with frequent beach stops along the shore for a quick dip. On one such dip I decided to wear my shades as I swam (rather, I forgot to take them off first). When a few minutes later I suddenly noticed they were missing, we searched in chest-deep water and found them in surprisingly short order; I had not expected to see them again. Thanks Dad! That would have been one expensive outing.

Then, while the guys went golfing one morning, the gals took the kiddies to the petting zoo where photographic evidence would later show that Carrie's engagement ring was chock-full of diamonds. Back at the house later that day, she discovered that the main diamond was missing. An exhaustive search ensued and turned up nothing. I guess we can assume that some goat weighs an extra half carat. Expensivest petting zoo outing ever!

For the rest we hung out, hit the beach/pool, and went for some walks.

At the end of the long weekend a bunch of us drove to the Fraser Valley. The Coquihalla Highway is nice and fast with a new speed limit of 120 km/h (although most go somewhat over the limit, no matter what it is). Lily took the opportunity to be very ornery, which may or may not have led me to have her on my lap for part of the trip. She now thinks laps are an acceptable form of transport and has demanded it a number of times since that day... sigh. Well, after a while I'd had enough of the wriggly lap-sitter and she went back into her car seat. Minutes later she barfed all over the seat and herself. Good timing, me! Pulled over, cleaned up, hit the road again. She barfed again, not far from our destination. And that was the start of a less pleasant final week of our holidays, littered with barfy nights and food-free days.

We did very little that week, mostly visiting grandparents, one of whom turned 92. I hooked up with some homies (one currently from Ottawa, one formerly) and we conquered Mt. Cheam east of Chilliwack. Four guys clambered into a little SUV and headed up some very rugged logging roads to the trailhead; we had to get out and push only once, due to being too fat and heavy. We traipsed up and back down in just over three hours. It was quite cloudy at the top, but the cover broke occasionally for a nice view of the valley.

The peak was socked in as we approached, but we hoped it would clear up.

Views.

More views.

Three yokels near the peak.

We didn't do much else that week. Took it easy and spent some quality time with family. The flight home was direct, although it was full and Lily didn't get a seat to herself. I guess that will be the one advantage of paying for her ticket in the future. Happy 2nd, munchkin!