This weekend marks one of the final long weekends of the summer here in Ontario. Monday is a civic holiday and although the stores are all open, many people have the day off work. The highways were jammed by noon Friday with cars full of people going up north to enjoy their cottages. For those staying in Toronto, this weekend also offers Caribana with its parade and festivities.
Our favourite family long weekend event has always been camping. We’ve camped at a number of the provincial parks around Ontario and have enjoyed them all. Some are very popular and reservations are almost always necessary. Some parts of the campground have electricity and others offer just a place to put up your tent. We always tried to find a spot near the playground and the washrooms, yet not too far from the beach.
Camping memories include:
- trying to pitch a tent on a dark, rainy night – not fun.
- a broken tent zipper that allowed the bugs to sleep with us
- a raccoon perching in the tree outside our tent, waiting for food
- lying on the beach for too long on a hot day and suffering with sunburn afterwards
- surfing in an inner tube on the huge waves coming in
- hiking the trails
- marshmallows and songs around the campfire
- camping on an island accessible only by boat and with no conveniences except one outhouse. I was more than thankful for a shower when we got back to civilization. And we had six kids with us at the time too. What were we thinking?
The best thing I remember about camping: when we traded in our tent for a camper and I no longer had to sleep on the ground. After all, I was born and raised in Toronto. There’s only so much outdoors I can take at one time. Now that I’m a senior, I’ll leave camping to the grandkids. They can take lots of pictures and tell me all about it when they come home.
Now it’s your turn. Do you have a camping memory to share?
