Beat the Heat

Our last camping trip was to Voyageur Provincial Park which is very close to the Quebec/Ontario border and not very far from my place so it was a very easy drive for me. It started out very hot but at least the first day there was a breeze so in the shade it didn't feel too bad. That is until it came time to go to bed, my AC in the trailer isn't cooling so it was very hot in the trailer. I left the fan on high, opened all the windows and left the door open. I didn't even need to get under the sheet. 

The next day it was just as hot. After a late breakfast, we went to Beau's Brewery as dogs were allowed in the taproom. I think they both enjoyed the concrete floor while we enjoyed some cold beer. I also took the dogs over to the boat launch in our campground and even Liam didn't need to be convinced to come in wading.  Again I left the door open on the trailer that night to sleep but it did cool down some and I did need the sheet later on.

The following day we went to Higginson Tower in Vankleek Hill and to Confederation Park in Hawkesbury. The temperatures had moderated somewhat.  The Higginson Tower was built as a grist mill but the winds in the area were inconsistent and the mill failed. The tower was then used as watch tower during the Fenian Raids and later was converted to an observatory by the original builder's son. Confederation Park is a park on a small island in the Ottawa river that looks over to Quebec. They have a sculpture to the Franco-Ontario families and some sculptures built of recycled materials.

Again that night, I slept with the door to the trailer open but actually turned the fan off during the night and got in my sleeping bag. Liam actually got up in  bed with me too. 

On our last day we did a wine tour of two local vineyards.  Stonehouse Vineyards, located in Alexandria, is owned by two former RCMP officers. The land the vineyard is on was part of a land grant to one of their ancestors. In 2012, when they had the chance to buy some of the land back, they took the plunge. The vineyard was planted in 2012 and the winery opened in 2017. The dogs were allowed downstairs in the tasting room. We went outside where they have a pavilion and a number of other seating areas.

The second vineyard we went to was the Vankleek Hill Vineyard.  This vineyard has one of the Eastern Ontario Popsilos. You might recall during COVID, I took a day trip to drive around and see the ones nearer to me. Here we all enjoyed a glass of wine while Liam enjoyed a dog white wine. 

Before heading back to the campground, we drove to the other Popsilo in the area, the Farm or Country Boy silo.

It was considerably cooler now this night so I closed the door to the trailer and and I slept in my sleeping bag. Liam again slept in bed with me while Teddy still chose the floor. 

We had a relaxing start the next morning as for me it wasn't a long drive home.  So while we beat the heat during our camping trip, I came home only to have my AC fail. Luckily, the repair company was able to get me an appointment the same day I called and the repair technician soon had it up and running again.

Summer Travels

This summer, we're staying close to home for our camping trips. We've already had two trips and have two more booked. 

The first trip was to Murphy's Point Provincial Park. We went there the week of Victoria Day weekend. The week before was nice weather as was the week after but the week we went, it was very cold. Luckily it wasn't too wet; there was only one day where it rained most of the day. We did have a campfire each night though. We all had pull through sites, so I was able to get in my site by myself. 

Podrick and Strider

I did need help getting the awning up. My brother in law can get the rope up higher and tighter than I can.  The power posts were quite far away. My sister had to borrow an extension cord from me and I had to use one as well. I was camping with two of my sisters, their husbands and another couple, friends of one of my sisters. 

This was the first trip out with Strider, other than bringing Podrick home from storage. Everything seemed to be working fine, a new converter was installed last year but I found at the end of the trip that the battery still wasn't charging when the trailer was plugged in.

One sister and her husband bought a bigger fifth wheel last year as they live out of it for two to three months and found the smaller fifth wheel to be tight especially when they have their grandsons to visit. That trailer was most welcome on this trip as we ate every meal in the trailer. It was just too cold or wet to eat outside. The weather did keep the bugs down.

In the glamping trailer

Even though the weather wasn't great, we did get in a couple walks to two old homesteads that are in the park. If it had been later in the summer, there is also an old silver mine you can visit.

And it's still a good camping trip when you set up in the dry, pack up in the dry and have a campfire every night!

Last week my youngest sister, her husband and I went to Bonnechere Provincial Park. It's one we hadn't been to before but it's only about a two hour drive from my place. It's kind of in the middle of nowhere though. I arrived before my sister and her husband did. I had planned to try and back into my site myself but when I saw how tight the road was and that there was a big tree that I would need to get around I knew that wasn't happening. I went back out the waste disposal site and messaged them to see when they'd arrive. I walked the dogs and then went to the dump station while waiting for them. It turned out to get into my site, you had to come the other way down the camp road.  There happened to be someone parked in my sister and brother-in-law's site so they had to book another. They ended up taking mine and I took the site that they had just booked. My brother-in-law still backed me in as this site is on the passenger side. I did get everything set up myself, even the awning.

We had much better weather here. It still wasn't really warm but we didn't get much of the rain that had been called for. We ate outside for every meal. The first day we just hung around the campsite. We did do the FIT trail. It's not an exercise trail but stands for Footprints In Time. That evening we also saw the Strawberry Moon rising over Round Lake. The picture doesn't do it justice, the moon really was strawberry red.  The next day we drove into Petawawa; it's about a 40 minute drive. We went to Centennial Park and then to the Dog House Brewery.  

The next day we drove into Pembroke, again another 40 minute drive. They have a series of art murals throughout the downtown area and a nice waterfront park on the Ottawa River.

City Hall

Again we ate well and enjoyed a campfire every night. This was our last night's meal, Italian sausage and Corn and Tomato Gnocchi. The Gnocchi side dish is done in a foil pack with white wine, butter and red pepper flakes served with Parmesan and fresh basil. I had bought Gnocchi filled with Asiago cheese. It definitely was a do-over side. 

We are off again next week, all of our trips are booked Monday to Friday. I noticed this past week the campground got busy on Thursday night as people got a jump start on the weekend. 

I did pop the GFCI plug on my trailer and so far have not managed to get it to reset so for now I have no outlets that work. I'll have to bring extension cords on the next trip until I can get Podrick back in for service. Oh well, we managed without electricity when tent camping.

Last RPod Adventure for this Summer

Last week, we went to Robert Moses State Park, just the other side of the St Lawrence River from Cornwall, Ontario.  It was quite an easy drive despite the long detour I had to make because of a bridge being replaced. I arrived before my sister and brother-in-law and since my site was pretty wide and there was a nice grass verge alongside the road, I decided to try and park Podrick myself. I did pretty well, only had to jockey back and forth about three times. I would have liked it further over in the campsite but where it was, it was pretty level, so that's where he stayed.

To get to the park you have to go through a tunnel that goes under the Eisenhower lock, part of the St Lawrence Seaway. The visitors' center is being rebuilt and the new center is due to open next year so maybe another trip back will be in order. We didn't see any ships going through the lock without WiFi or cell service there wasn't a way for us to check the schedule. 

Photo credit: Maureen

Our first day in the park we just took a walk over to see the dam and the marina then over to the beach. On our way over, we had just mentioned that there must be deer in the island when a doe and her fawn crossed the trail ahead of us.

Main beach - Robert Moses State Park

The next day we took quite a drive to go to the Township 7 Brewery. It was beautiful farming country and we saw lots of Amish families in their horse drawn vehicles and working on the farms.

After getting back to the campground, I took Teddy and Liam down to the river to cool off. There was a path from another campsite that went down to a nice private little beach. Liam was having nothing to do with coming in the water once I had his lifejacket on.  Teddy loves chasing waves and wading but is not really keen on swimming.

We always eat well when camping. On this trip, we had to be flexible with our plans. The meal we had this night had been delayed from the previous evening due to rain and on our last night we ended up going out to supper again due to the rain. This peach pork tenderloin with potatoes and asparagus was my main meal contribution.

Despite the rain, we had a fire each night and had some great sunsets. There was a path down to the shoreline at my campsite too.  

Border marker, but really the border is in the river.

On our last day we went over the nature center in the park. The trails are dog friendly, so after taking a short hike I put the dogs back in the car and we explored the nature center. It poured rain while we were visiting there so had to wait out the rain. Luckily, the nature center has free WiFi and comfortable seating.

After it cleared up, I went for a little drive. There were signs for a picnic area where I thought I'd be able to let the dogs loose, but it was gated off. Along the road though, I saw about a dozen deer, many turkeys and numerous Canada geese. And who knew, we were halfway between the equator and the North Pole.

We took our time getting ready to leave on the last day since it wasn't a long drive home, and we still were able to leave the campsites by the checkout time. The drive home went well, except for a tire blow out when I was only about 30 minutes from home.. I called CAA and messaged my sister as CAA had said it could be three to four hours to get service. My BIL made it out to me and had the tire changed before CAA arrived. So now Podrick needs new shoes again. I'll probably wait until next spring to buy them. It came up in my FB memories today that he got those shoes on this day in 2019. 

That's another summer of camping done. Just finished and I'm already thinking of next year.