Thursday, August 16, 2012

Part 1: Camping and Cycling

I'm back from camping at Porpoise Bay!! A bit exhausted and annoyed that I can't cool off with a swim in the bay.  It's hot here and in our apartment it's about 4 degrees hotter than outside.  Yuck.  The thing with vacations is that you always want to go back as soon as you come home.  Granted, I do enjoy sleeping on a bed instead of a blow up mattress and snuggling with Titus, who by the way hasn't left our side since we came home, but I do miss being outdoors and not having any cares in the world.  Here are some highlights of our trip:

1. Meeting an amazing couple from the Yukon, the man was a teacher like me
2. Swimming in the clear water of the bay
3. Walking to the estuary and watching the kingfishers and enjoying the quiet
4. Seeing the meteor showers, the milky way and the gazillion stars in the night sky
5. The quiet by the estuary
6. Did I mention the quiet? Oh yes I did...three times....see I like quiet and listening to nothing but the birds!
7. Reading a good thriller at night with my headlamp
8. Stitching, although I didn't do as much as I'd like
9. Surviving the crazy lightning and thunderstorm on our second night there.
10. Being with my husband
11. Thinking we won the Caramilk Golden Key Contest of $250,000.  Yes, we thought we had the key (it was an image on the wrapper). Then I read the rules and saw that there was a 1 in 10 chance of winning.  My hubby said we could take the buyout of getting a lifetime supply of caramilk bars so we started doing the math.  Upon closer inspection of the wrapper and the rules, yes it took us a few times, I realized that it was an actual key that we needed, not what we thought was the key.  After the let down, we laughed for a long time about how we actually thought we won money.  You know what's funnier? My first words when we thought we won was "let's pack up and go cash in our prize!" Too funny!!!!!

Things that I didn't like on our trip...and yes there were a few moments!

1. After the torrential rain for 7 hours, a lot of our stuff was damp and took forever to dry...my pjs had a funky smell to them
2. The 150 mountain bike people that invaded our campground on our anniversary
3. They had a truck to carry their stuff!! So jealous!
4. They had a band AND a catering company to provide them with food....the pulled pork looked so good
5. Walking towards a secluded beach and stepping on barnacles that tore up my feet.  Luckily some fellow campers had hydrogen peroxide with them so I could clean my wounds
6. Not being alone with my husband on our anniversary :(
7. The big massive hill that went on for miles on our way back! But I'm glad we conquered it!! So it should be a highlight instead!!

Next year we will go somewhere more secluded and less busy.  It is time for a change anyways since this was our third time there.  

Enjoy the photos and if you like you can look at the web album too.  Oh and my sister's camera is mine now.  I bought it from her.  Unfortunately, I forgot to pack the charger so half of our trip is on my cell phone camera.  Anyways, here's the link:

playing around with my camera settings
The nasty barnacles
Favourite photo of the Salmon Habitat that I'm going to print and frame 
The estuary, my favourite place to muse and be at peace
Looks like a miniature forest
Hubby's Kite!

I hope you enjoyed the photos.  I really had fun trying out all the different functions!!

Thank you all for your lovely comments and well wishes on my trip. I have a lot of catching up to do and hope to do so soon.  I will do another post after this to do with stitching and IHSW.  

Hugs! I'll be back later with those stitching photos!!

16 comments:

valerie said...

Sounds like you had a good time overall Anne! Yay! Happy Anniversary to you and your DH! I can't remember if I said that already. Love all the photos and I hope that your foot is ok. Barnacles...ack!!

Rowyn said...

Brilliant photos Anne (I checked out your album too). Looks like you had a great time.

You are so lucky to have seen a meteor shower, that must have been a fantastic sight.

What a shame you didn't win the cash prize, but at least you both got a good laugh out of it! :-)

Annette-California said...

Beautiful photos Anne. What a lovely trip, even with the rain:) Thanks for sharing.
love Annette

Chris said...

It looks like you had a wonderful vacation. I love the pictures.
Now you can look forward to finding a new wonderful place to explore next year!

cucki said...

happy anniversary to you and your Dh.
looks like you had a fun day.
lovely pictures.
hugs xxx

Shirlee said...

Happy Anniversary! Your trip looked absolutely wonderful!

Vickie said...

Happy Anniversary to the both of you! My you two are a BEAUTIFUL couple.=) That's a lot of pictures! They are wonderful. Thank you for sharing.

Margaret said...

Happy anniversary! So glad you had a good time on your trip. Too bad there were negatives along with the positives -- that mountain bike group would have annoyed me big time. Too bad you didn't actually win $250,000 too. Love the pics! Love the fact that your DH has a kite. My DH used to fly kites too way back when. Ah, to be young again. lol! Welcome home! I bet Titus is happy. :D

Maureen said...

Thanks for sharing you pics - looks like a pretty relaxed place. Pity about the invasion of the mountain bikers..

Carol said...

Looks like most of the trip was great, Anne--so sorry that the anniversary wasn't able to be spent alone. (At least you were together--remember my DH was in Alaska on our special day!!).

Sure wish you had been the big winner--just think of all the stash you could have bought :)

Wishing you both a belated Happy Anniversary and a very special year ahead!

Lianne said...

Welcome back Anne! Your photos are lovely, breath-taking, inspiring and I am SO envious! I would love to hike down those trails, walk the beach and absorb all the loveliness,,,,, someday I will make it to the west coast of our fantastic country. Thank you for sharing,,, I took the trip with you, all while sipping coffee at my desk.

Lianne

Barb said...

I really enjoyed seeing the pictures of your trip! So beautiful. Wishing you a very happy belated anniversary! I love the way you made a list of the good and bad parts of the trip! Fun to read.

rosey175 said...

It sounds like you had a lovely time despite the torrential rain (didn't you jump out and dance in it? :D) and a swarm of mountain bikers!

I looked through your album and it looks like it was a beautiful spot! I love, love, love the shots of the old downed tree. Even the barnacles are lovely even if they're terrible to tread on!

marly said...

Really enjoyed the photos!

Catherine said...

Happy Anniversary!!
Your trip looks amazing, minus the barnacles and the 150 bikers!! Wonderful photos!

Valentina said...

It looks you had a great camping time! Loved your pics and Happy Anniversay!