Whiny Trails

A week alone with four-year-old J opened up the possibility of a quick overnight camping trip. So we loaded up the car and headed to the nearby Gatineau Hills for a classic early camping experience.

Pros:

Thirty minutes from home. Cheap. Plenty of empty campsites. Lots of water sources and toilet blocks. Two lakeside beaches nearby.  J immediately makes a new friend from the neighbouring campsite (see above, with glow sticks). This completely solves the issue of keeping her entertained.

Cons:

Noise. Late in the evening a pick-up truck of lads pulls in. The boys buy half a dozen bags of firewood and promptly set three ablaze in their firepit, plastic bags and all, and proceed to party loudly until the early hours. Peace reigns briefly until the baby next door wakes for his 6:30 am feed. J sleeps through it all. Still, one night sufficient for mama bear who recovers somewhat after two cups coffee.

The whistling kettle from my own family’s camping trips ca. 1975. Still works great.

Overall the trip is tough to rate. Somewhere between 2 and 3 smiley faces. I’d like to take away a star for the noise issue but I’ll add one for one-on-one time with J and the pleasure of meeting some really nice people.

Rating:  ☺☺☺

Gratified to discover while boogie boarding off of of Cape Cod that four-year-old J quickly became adept at picking out the best wave in a set and hooted with delight when a well-timed shove put her on it for a ride She was also small enough to paddle the board like a surfboard out to sea. Had to watch her. Carefully.