RPod Adventures - Fitzroy Provincial Park

Last week, my youngest sister, her husband and I went to Fitzroy Provincial Park. Fitzroy is only about an hour or so from Ottawa. Since we are all retired we went during the week arriving on Monday and leaving on Thursday. I was surprised at how quiet the campground was since it is just mid summer although we weren't in the campground nearest the beach so I'm sure that helped.

We were to convoy up to the park but after getting through the city (and running a red light) I lost them at an intersection when I had to let the oncoming traffic go ahead of me.  Once I found the signs for the highway, I just went my own way. We arrived at the park virtually at the same time. 

At my site, the power post was set way back and I didn't have a long enough cord to reach it if the trailer was parked on the gravel pad so my brother in law moved the trailer over nearer the fire pit. Since they had the next site, it wouldn't matter if we couldn't use the fire pit on my site. We got our sites set up and prepared to have a relaxing few days.

We had planned some great meals Mexican corn and shrimp, salmon and asparagus, baked apples with vanilla ice cream and pizzas were the three dinner menus that we had planned.  The shrimp and salmon dishes were foil packet dinners, the best way to cook when camping.  The shrimp dish was excellent. You don't really need all the peppers that are called for and I'll bet you could feed more than four if you had sides. We just had it with tortillas and ate it like you would fajitas.

Shrimp and Mexican Corn

We didn't do any real hikes just some walks around the campgrounds and checking out the better sites.  We decided in the Pine Grove campground, site 4 was the best non-serviced site as it had river access with a flat rock ledge that you could use as a patio and, for me, site 53 was the best electrical site, not too close or too far from the washrooms and an easy site to back into.  We were in sites 49 and 52 which weren't really bad either. We enjoyed some nice fires at night.

Carp River

Ottawa River

The second day we did drive into the town of Arnprior to walk around a bit. The town does have a nice little down town core with antique shops and restaurants. 

Madawaska River

Town library and museum

I think the dogs enjoyed both the trailer and being outdoors.  Beckett is now at the age where I don't need to tether him, for the most part he just stayed on the camp site. Keltic, on the other hand, was antagonized by red squirrels, chipmunks and plenty of grackles.

Keltic

Beckett

Dinner time in the trailer

After dinner nap time

All in all it was a nice little trip, I bought 30 amp extension cord as soon as I got home. Hopefully with another 25 feet of power cord I will always be able to reach the power post.  I head off down east for my long solo trip this coming Saturday. I've broken the trip down into segments so none are really all that long. I also upgraded my CAA membership to include the RV as I can't imagine changing the tire by myself.  Crossing my fingers that nothing like that happens and that it is a good trip but more about that in future blog posts.

Apollo Stories

 

Today marks 50 years since man first landed on the moon. NASA was asking for audio stories of people's recollections of the moon landing, I sent one in but never heard back so I thought I would make it my blog post.

My father was in the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF); in the summer of 1967, he was posted to Malstrom Air Force Base near Great Falls, Montana. It was an exchange posting with the United States Air Force (USAF). We lived in Great Falls for three years.

In July 1969, our parents took us on vacation to Disneyland. I'm not sure what route we took but since I know that we drove back along the Washington and Oregon coast, I think we took the I-15 through Utah, Nevada and southern California. I have no idea exactly where we were on 20 July 1969 but we were somewhere on a highway listening to the moon landing on the radio.  The announcer was talking about the moon landing as it was happening. At one point, the announcer related that the astronauts had said how "desolate" the moon was and immediately my mother responded: "It can't be any worse than here".  My mum was right. My recollection is that the highway we were on stretched straight out in front of us, right to the horizon with nothing to see but sand and scrub brush.  Probably like the two pictures below I found on the internet.

Later, of course, we would have watched the moon landing on TV. I'm sure everyone of my generation has seen Neil Armstrong step off the lunar lander to be the first man to walk on the moon.  The video and pictures are now part of our collective memory. I'm excited to think that soon humans will again walk on the moon as there is a drive to again put man on the moon by 2024 and then maybe on to Mars.

Buzz Aldrin

It's funny how this one little memory of this trip stayed in the minds of my brother, sisters (those that were old enough to remember) and me.  I really don't recall a lot about Disneyland from that trip but I guess it shows that we knew that the moon landing was quite a moment in history.  The picture below is of us on that summer vacation, for sure, taken after the moon landing as it was taken at a family friend's home on our way back to Great Falls.

Sunday at the Races

Today I went with my sister and brother in law or rather they came with me to the Wesley Clover Equestrian Centre. We went to see the Canine Equine Relay.  It's an event that I've always wanted to do but now Beckett is too old and Keltic is absolutely frantic about horses (not as bad as he is about squirrels but almost) so he's probably not a good candidate.

We got there in enough time for me to talk to many of the dog handlers that I knew. We were lucky enough to get a table ringside in the bar so we had a good view and could have a couple drinks while we were there. The drinks weren't cheap but then admission to the horse show was only a donation for the parking so it wasn't a bad afternoon.

The Canine Equine Relay has been held for the last five years at one of the International competitions at Wesley Clover. The teams are made up of a horse and rider and a dog and handler. The fastest team wins and it is time plus faults.  The winning horse and rider get a $5,000 prize.  The dog and handler  win a big ribbon and a gift bag but then they get to have fun and don't have to pay to play.

David and Gracie

Gracie in the weaves

Heading out for the photo shoot

 These next three pictures are my sister's. She had a much better camera than me; I only had my phone.

If you want to see  some good photos of the dogs and horses go to Wesley Clover's FaceBook page and Wendy Beard's Flicker album.

Wesley Clover Park FaceBook Page

Wendy Beard's photos

It was a nice way to spend Sunday afternoon with dogs and horses.  I would definitely do it again and now that I know that it is very dog friendly, I might even bring the dogs, maybe Keltic would get tired of barking at horses.

Flower Friday

Yes, I know it's Saturday but we took these photos yesterday of some of flowers that we see on our walk. I chose flowers that were more like wild flowers than those in flower beds.

Today it is very humid, I had sweat dripping off me just walking the dogs. We will wait until later this evening to go out again.

Before lunch today, Beckett wanted to go out so I let him go outside. He went and laid under the cedar bush. Poor boy, I forgot he was out there until lunch time when he started crying at the step. At first I thought is was on the TV, then I realized that Beckett had been outside probably for about an hour.  He's now asleep laying on the cool tile in front of the fireplace.