sketches of the mind

After our trip to Presqu’ile Provincial Park last weekend I have a re-discovered love for camping, and like most trips the company can really make the difference.

So on Friday afternoon/evening Neesa, Nadja, Maria and I packed our bags and things into the Maria-mobile and headed off for Presqu’ile. Being the fun people that we are we tried to remember camping songs along the way. One song that we all knew, well except for Neesa who had never been on a camping trip before (yes, she was mega-excited as you could imagine), was The Ants Go Marching. This song would become the anthem for the trip.

The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah
The ants go marching one by one,
The little one stops to suck his thumb
And they all go marching down to the ground
To get out of the rain, BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!

With tents, sleeping bags, overpacked backpacks (I’m talking about myself here), food, water, games, bug repellent, cutlery, and other camping items in the back seat and boot (”trunk” as the North Americans refer to it) of the car and now armed with our new anthem we were on our way.

The First Night

Our car was the last to leave. Marin with her two daughters Mikeda and Zenith (”Zeni” for short), and Jan (who actually headed up the day before), arrived before us and were constructing tents by the time we got there.

It was pretty dark, around 10pm, when we arrived and I was hungry. Bless Marin who as always was prepared for any eventuality. This time she had crackers with cheese, and snacks ready. That was enough to tide me over until bedtime, which wasn’t too far away.

Jan had the fire going and it didn’t take long before the insect repellent came out. We had been warned of the mosquitoes at camping sites here in Canada but I certainly wasn’t as prepared as I would have liked!

So after some chit chat, a quick view of the beach, full moon and colorful reflections off the water (I only wish that I had my camera and tripod with me now!) around midnight we all headed to our tents for the evening. Some complaints were made about our neighbours who were a little drunk and a little (ok not really, there were *very*) rowdy.

Things go bump in the night

I awoke to sound of snoring, and it wasn’t any typical snoring. It was LOUD and SCARY. Neesa also woke up and we debated where the sound was coming from.

Then there was scuffling. Without peering outside our tent we could only surmise that we had raccoons paying our camp-site a visit.

I also noted the coldness of the night and adjusted the sleeping bags for more warmth. I was glad that I had my thermal top on!

Soon we were both asleep again.

5AM Wake-up

At 5AM my mobile phone alarm went off. It was time to get up. Of course we didn’t. Well not until thirty minutes later when Jan walked on over and called, whispered actually, “hellooooooo” through the tent.

Jan, Neesa and I then went for a morning hike before breakfast. With map in hand Jan led us to the Owen Trail, which took us through woods, tall grass, a swamp, and ended at the same beach that we had visited briefly the night before.

It was a great morning walk. Well, minus all the mozzies that were attacking me! Fortunately for Jan and Neesa they somehow managed to survive bite-free!

(To be continued…)