I don’t even know what day it is and I am writing this
trying to remember what we have done since we left home on Thursday and I think
it was July 31st!
We got packed up and headed for Wainwright and the Riverdale
Mini Campground on Thursday. The dogs
were the reason since they were both so hairy you couldn’t even see their eyes,
at least not Duke’s eyes. His ears are
a big problem and it gets very difficult to clean them when the hair grows and
he is so touchy anyway.
So as you can see by the pictures they needed a grooming
about a month ago!
This is what they look like now!
Duke preferred to spend most of the family reunion holed up
in the trailer.
Anyway, back to the Wainwright campground. It is ten miles north of Wainwright and we
found it without much of a problem until we turned in and there was a fork in
the road. You had to be quick on the
draw to take the appropriate turn which we did due to my sharp eyesight and
quick thinking. If I can’t drive I can
at least pay attention to the signs!
So we turned left into the campground and then had to stop
at a map to figure out where to go next.
I knew the number of our campsite since I had phoned ahead and the woman
on the other end asked where we wanted to go and I said to just put us in one
that was easy to find and preferably a pull through as long as it had power
since all the full service ones were taken.
She kind of laughed and said, “Well then we will put you in number
10.” We found the appropriate place to
go to check in and we proceeded to try to follow a map to our campsite. We drove around and around and around, there
were all sorts of bends in the roads and all sorts of roads to take and it was
a chore finding number ten. I finally
found it by actually getting out of the truck and walking through the maze
which made no sense at all. So…..now I
know why she gave us number 10 with a little chuckle. Ha ha, and I am not laughing now. It had a lovely tree to maneuver around, it
was not even close to a pull through and we were butted up against another
trailer which was fine except that everything was set up wrong. Our door opened to the bushes, the plug in
was on the wrong side and quite frankly, it sucked. We were only there for one night so we didn’t
complain. Honestly, I would never go
back there again. The site was right by
the river which was fine but it was also right by the highway and the noise
from the traffic was constant. Not very
relaxing.
This place has two golf courses, one is a par three course,
and there is also a mini golf. It is
huge really. Lots of campsites – we
could have had our pick of more appropriate sites and I think they can take
number 10 and just shove it.
We stopped at Canadian Tire before we got to the campground
and Bernie bought a generator. We had
one last year but had to take it back because it was defective. We never did get another. Since we were going out to the farm for the
reunion we thought we should get one since we wanted power! Bernie unpacked it and got it going and it
ran just fine so he was happy with the purchase.
I acquainted myself with our neighbours since they also had
a dog. They were very nice and
especially when he fired up the generator!
I told them we were just making sure it ran properly since we had just
bought it! They were fine with that and
understood.
Bernie set up the barbecue and I cooked supper and we ate
pretty much at the same time that we usually eat. We knew we had a long trip the next day so we
took the dogs for a walk – at least as far as I could make it and we went to
bed early.
The next morning, Friday August 1st , we awoke
very early, and had our breakfast. We
headed to Wainwright at 8:30 a.m. and dropped the dogs off at the Vet Clinic
for their grooming. Duke wasn’t very
enthusiastic, but we just made him go in and face the music.
We shopped for a few things at WalMart and had breakfast,
again, at McDonald’s before heading back to the campsite to pack up. We got the trailer ready to go and headed
out. We just hung out at Canadian Tire
and WalMart again and then drove to the Vet Clinic around noon. The dogs were ready to go. The Vet was busy with emergencies so she
couldn’t give them their shots, but we said that was okay we would come back
another time since we were heading out on holidays.
We got going and left for Saskatchewan by 12:30. It was a long, long drive and I knew Bernie’s
back was not right. We bought a lumbar
support cushion for the truck and he had that going to give his back some
support and a massage as well. We went
via Marsden and Battleford and hooked up with #16 at North Battleford. We stopped for gas in Battleford and parked
in the parking lot and had lunch. By the
time we got to Saskatoon it was about 5:00 and we knew we had another three
hours, at least until we got to our destination. I told Bernie we could stop anywhere really
and just continue on in the morning but he just kept on driving! I texted Nicholas and Pam around 1:00p.m. and
they said they were in Saskatoon so I told them we were about an hour and a
half behind them! Well when we got close
to Invermay Pam texts me and here they were right behind us. So we all pulled into Invermay at the same time! They had stopped in Saskatoon to shop for
stuff.
We had a quick supper with Judi and Ed and Doris and Baba
and then headed out to the farm to set up. We got the trailer backed into the
yard right by the house and the kids set their tent up on the other side of the
trees to the east. Doris came out to
direct traffic and then we just relaxed until hitting the pillows for the
night. We took our air bed for them and
it fit just fine in their tent. Pam was
kind of concerned, but they slept in the tent and used our facilities in the
trailer!
The dogs were fine , slept the whole time and then slept
some more all night long.
Friday morning August 2nd and we all slept
in. Bernie fired up the generator and we
got the Keurig going and had lovely cups of fresh coffee. Doris actually had food out there in the
morning so if we were hungry there was lots to eat.
Judi and Ed stayed in Wadena in the motel for the
weekend. They just drove the thirty miles every day. Doris set her tent up at the farm and went back into town every day to get their mother for the day. Niece Ashley and her boyfriend Phil arrived Friday afternoon and later on her mom and Bernie's sister Hope arrived from Drake, Sask. So in all we had 11 people and 7 dogs. Hmmmmmmmm.
Friday we played a Red Neck game of toss the beer cans in the pail. It was a tournament and we had a round robin so there were lots of games to play. The rest of the time we just sat around and visited, tripped over dog leashes, finished off more beers in case we needed extra cans and just relaxed. Well, I did more relaxing than most people since I can't do much of anything with my back and leg the way they are right now.
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| Bernie and Ashley playing their round of Red Neck Beer Can Toss |
Saturday we drove into town to take a shower. We also got more ice, gas and made a trip to the liquor store. Doris built an ice house and bought bags of saw dust to line the floor. It was pretty neat actually and it worked to keep things cold! It is amazing what you can do when you don't have power!
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| That's me going into the ice house. In the foreground a look at our craft for the weekend - painting flower pots. |
We were happy to have our generator for the trailer since I need my coffee in the morning and it has to be the good stuff! It was bad enough I had no wireless internet! ha ha I did take my ipad and it has 3g so I could keep up with things news wise and otherwise.
Sunday came and went. We took the usual pictures and prizes were distributed to the winners of the tournament.
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| l-r back row - our daughter-in-law Pam, me, sister Doris, niece Ashley, sister Judi middle row - son Nicholas, mother Joan (Baba), brother-in-law Ed, sister Hope front - Bernie and Ashley's boyfriend Phil |
As you can see we have to take at least one goofy group picture. I think this one turned out good.
We left for home on Monday. The kids - Nicholas and Pam - left around 8:30 a.m. for Edmonton. Hope had left the day before after supper. Ashley and Phil were still packing up when we left around 10 a.m. They had a long drive back to Calgary. We stopped in at Invermay to say our goodbyes to Bernie's mom and his sister Judi and Ed who were there as well; digging potatoes before they headed back to Saskatoon. Thanks sister Doris for all the planning, we had fun. I just wish everyone could have been there, numbers were rather low this year.
We were on the road by 10:30 and thought we would go as far as Biggar and just spend the night in the park there. We stopped in Watson for gas at the Co-op and in Humboldt at the mall parking lot for a quick lunch. When we got to the outskirts of Saskatoon it started raining so hard the windshield wipers couldn't keep up. We drove, slowly, and just followed the signs. Good job we knew the city. Bernie stayed longer than he needed to at a light so I could get this picture!
It actually quit the further west we went and we finally arrived home at 7:00 p.m. We made pretty good time and I am glad that Bernie likes to drive! We cleaned everything out of the trailer and he parked it in its spot on the west side of the house.
A good mini vacation and a pretty good family reunion.
