Fun Stuff for Spring-Summer List Progress Report:

MC Escher Exibit Done
Farmers Market Done
Eastern Market
Mushroom Hunting Missed it this year
Strawberry picking-make freezer jam too! Done
Lots of walking/hiking in the woods
canoeing Done
camping DONE (really, I've had enough for this year)
drawing, painting, writing Yes! Will keep it up!
read some good books Needs work
make and eat lots of pie and cobbler (mom's wishlist) Yes, but intend to keep working on this one. Yum!

We've just returned from a week long camping trip in Lake Superior Provincial Park in Ontario, Canada. We had a lovely trip but it was a lot of work. The fishing was not good this year and only the boat with the fish finder caught anything. The rest of us got nary a nibble. The kids had a blast and we ate well and had fun seeing some different things.

The campground rated about a C- and we did a day trip up to Obatanga and that campground is much better in comparison, even if you do have to boil all your water. We stayed at Rabbit Blanket Lake and it did not have much to offer other than a pretty setting. The sites were not large and it was difficult to find flat ground. There was no playground and no swimming area. There were plenty of leaches at the only available beach area/boat launch. With the hills around the lake, you could not easily access the lake even from campsites closest to it unless you got one near the front of the camp. The campground was also too close to the highway.

Even with all of that, we did have some pleasant days. We had a beautiful day hanging out at the Sand River outlet/beach area. Sand River had a nice falls area and then flattens out near Lake Superior so that you can swim in the river there and it is much warmer than the lake. Most of us braved the chilly Lake Superior waters this day as it was fairly calm and quite warm. We had a lovely day at Obatanga Provincial Park fishing, playing on the cool playground, and eating an awesome fresh pike dinner made by Sarah. We visited Old Woman Bay and played a bit on Friday but it was much colder and the day turned to rain. We headed to Wawa for shopping and then to the Wawa dump to see bears. We saw a bunch of black bears and a bald eagle and had one black bear cross the road right behind us!

The trip home was uneventful but due to the rain on the last day, we had to pack up the camping gear wet. We spent most of Sunday unpacking all the camping gear including tents, tarps, etc. and drying them out and doing many loads of laundry. I still have sleeping bags drying in my house. I will pack them up tonight.

I've really had enough camping for the summer now. It is a lot of work! Next year, I'm voting for something more "vacationy" for vacation. I'm checking out Yellowstone now.