The thunderstorm that we were expecting in the night missed us. However, there were severe thunderstorm warnings out for later in the day. The grey clouds in the sky warned us that the thunderstorm wouldn't miss the next time around. 

As Penny and I got out of the tent, we looked over at the campsite across from us. We had heard them packing up to go home about an hour earlier. All was quiet and empty over there. And then, to our dismay, we noticed that something was wrong. Yet another family had gone and left their campfire burning! That made two in two days! I couldn't believe it! It wasn't as large a fire as the day before, but it was far from out. Perhaps the family figured that it was going to rain anyways (big mistake!). I don't know for sure, but needless to say it made us angry. At least this time we had water and containers readily available and we set about putting it out properly. 

Since this would be our last day and my last chance to try to find the white squirrel, I decided to take a walk down to the beach by myself for one last look around. I said a prayer asking to see the squirrel as I made my way down the road. Time was running out and God had never let me down before. I had asked Him to see a porcupine a year or two previous and He delivered. Surely He wouldn't let me down now. 

Down in the driftwood by the shoreline a little sparrow was playing hide and seek. He blended so well with his background that he almost went unnoticed.  

A dragonfly was also pretty good at blending in to its environment. 

I stayed in the quiet peacefulness down by the dock, looking at the purple vetch flowers  for awhile. It was so nice to have left the outside world for awhile and I wanted to capture as many moments of peace as I could before I had to go back. 

Eventually I knew I had to go back up to the campsite and get packed up though. I did one last scan around the trees for the white squirrel. But the only thing peering back at me was that little sparrow.  I was a little disappointed that I hadn't seen the elusive squirrel, but I just told myself that I guess some things are just not meant to be. I resigned myself to the fact that this was one of those times. 

I had reached the top of the hill and was just about to turn the corner on the road to my campsite when I spotted it. Across the road on my left was a white object moving in the trees. It was the white squirrel! It was sitting in a tree eating some beech nuts. My disappointment quickly turned to excitement and I whispered a than-you prayer to God (who once again did not let me down) as I walked slowly and quietly over to where it was. 

By this point I was nervous that I was going to scare it off before I could get a picture. It stopped eating for a second or two and eyed me up and down for a moment. 

I guess it decided that I was nothing to be too concerned about because it just went back to eating. I got a few pictures and then it crossed my mind.... I have to get Penny! Quick!
So I tip-toed away until I figured I was far enough away that I wouldn't scare it and then I ran like the wind. 
I ran to the trailer and grabbed open the door and yelled "Penny!! White Squirrel!!"

Penny came bolting out of the trailer, camera in hand and she followed close behind me as I ran back towards where I last saw the white squirrel. I was really hoping it would still be there. When I got close to where I last saw it I stopped running. Then I started tip toeing again and Penny did the same. Sure enough, the white squirrel was still there! I motioned silently to Penny where it was and pointed it out. She was very happy that she got to see it too! We were able to watch it for a little bit but not for too long. I guess one person watching it was one thing, but two was a bit too unnerving for it. So it climbed further into the underbrush until eventually we couldn't see it anymore. 

We would hear a noise from time to time, but instead we would see just a regular red squirrel. I guess this was a popular tree for the squirrels to eat from. 

After the excitement of the white squirrel, we headed back to our campsite to tear down the tents. The tent we slept in did not have many visitors on it, but the dining tent sure did!  In particular it had one very large spider called a "Dark Fishing Spider" on it. 

There was also a stink bug and some sort of colourful worm-like thing (of which I have no idea what it is).

A Robber Fly was having his breakfast which consisted of a little, green, weevil. 

But the cutest visitor of all was a little Spring Peeper Frog. I usually get insects on the dining tent, but I think this was the first time I ever had a frog on my dining tent. 

Over in the campsite next door, Anika, Julie, and Shelli were packing up the trailer. Of course packing up didn't stop us from having fun while we were doing it. 

We got everything tore down and packed up just in time. As we were getting into our cars the rain started coming down. Not a moment too soon! 
​
It had been another great trip for the Chicks In The Stix and we are looking forward to doing it again next year! 

We had the gathering of the Breakfast Cereal Club in Anika's trailer on this beautiful, sunny, morning. We were all lazy and in our pajamas and loving it! 

The very first thing on my list of things to do today was to go and search for the white squirrel. I went for a walk by myself and started to scan all the trees in the area to see if I could see it. I didn't, but I did see a yellow bellied sap sucker pecking away at his breakfast in a near by pine tree. 

Also in the trees was a yellow and black striped caterpillar. But still no white squirrel. 

The sunshine dappled the ground and a Northern Pearly-Eye butterfly flitted around in the warming rays. 

I often find that if I sit quietly in empty campsites and just wait patiently, the wildlife comes to me. At the end of one of the roads was the group campsite. It was empty all season due to the Covid-19 virus. I figured what better place to sit in silence for awhile and see what would come. Unfortunately, it was a futile effort. Not only did I not see the white squirrel, but I didn't see much of anything. Even the birds and chipmunks weren't interested in hanging out here. All I saw was a little brown Crossline Skipper butterfly. 

Eventually I gave up and made my way back to the campsite to sit with the girls and and talk for awhile. We noticed that there were a lot of chipmunks in the area this year. We had about 5 on our site chasing each other all over the place. We decided to name them. There was "Pokey" who had a spot on his back that we figured looked like he was poked with a charcoal stick (not for real, just the colouring of his fur). "Gumby" was named that just because we had to have a Gumby that went with Pokey (right?). Then there was "Stumpy" who had a short tail (looks like he got into a brawl with something). Next was "Gramps" whose fur was lighter in colour, like he was growing older and grey. And last was "New Guy" (seen in photo below) because, well, he was last to show up (hours after everyone else did). 

As we sat, a little inch worm kept following Julie. She would move and it would start moving along the edge of her chair in the direction she moved in. I think it liked her.

Later in the morning, Shelli asked if we could go and see if our log was still floating in the water down by the river. Our log is one that someone painted a picture of a tree on and we carved our group name into a few years ago. Every year it floats somewhere new in the park, but usually stays relatively close to the sites that we normally occupy. We sit on it and hang our feet into the water. This year, since we are on the Brumm side of the park, it meant that we would have to walk all the way over to the other side of the park to look for it. We didn't mind though. Anika suggested that it would be a good opportunity to scout out other sites that we might like on that side of the park for future gatherings. So we got off our lazy butts and put our chairs away and  went for a walk. I moved Julie's inchworm safely into a nearby tree before we left though. 

So there we were, just enjoying our walk and looking at the Grey Comma butterflies on the road when we encountered an empty campsite with a fire still going in the fireplace. When I say empty, I mean no tents, no human belongings. And when I say the fire was going I mean full on flames about 2 feet high and plenty of smoke. The campers had packed up and gone home and left a fire burning in the fire pit! We had no containers with us to put water in so I went to the nearby water tap and started to fill my hands with water in an attempt to put it out. This would have been a long process. Shelli suggested that we ask the people on the site next to this one for a container to put the water in to put the fire out. 

The people on the neighbouring site were a young couple with their 2 kids sitting down to lunch at a picnic table. When I asked if we could borrow a container for water to put the fire out next door they were very hesitant. The lady responded with "The park rangers were just at that site a few minutes ago and cleared the fire pit".  Clearly she didn't really want to do anything about it. I responded with "Maybe so, but the fire is still going. There are flames coming up". She begrudgingly got up and went to get a container and met us at the water tap. We filled it with water, but she would not let us bring it to the fire. She said that she would do it herself.  We were puzzled by her hesitation and the feeling that we got that we were bothering her with this situation. Afterwards we figured that maybe she was just living in fear of contracting Covid-19 from her encounter with us. At least we were hoping it was just that and not someone who didn't care if the park burned down. 

We left the lady to the task of putting out the fire and continued on our way. 
We had a choice in which way to go to get to the other side of the park. We could take the road all the way around which would be easier to walk but would take a lot longer to get there. Or, we could cut through the group site to one of the hiking trails which would be much faster but the terrain was not as good. We chose the hiking trail. Then, when we were half way down the trail, I remembered a short cut that I saw someone take a year or two previous. I told the girls that if we went down a really big hill that we would be right in front of the campsites that we were on last year and that it would cut about another 20 minutes or more off of our trek. When they saw the hill, they hesitate but in the end they opted to go down the very big, pretty steep hill to get there. 

It wasn't the steepness of the hill that had made them hesitate. It was because they weren't exactly wearing hiking shoes. They were wearing sandals and flip-flops. So, not only was it steep, but at any moment their foot wear could betray them and they could go rolling down the hill. ​Especially since the hill was covered in loose leaves and pine needles. 

But one by one, we all made it down the hill and we were now free to roam the other side of the park looking for our log and other future campsites. 

We walked by happy campers all following the camping rules: relax and unwind, drinking a cold one, napping, visiting with friends, making memories, and being grateful for the day. 

Eventually we spotted our log down by the shoreline. 

The painted tree was a little faded but still clearly seen (considering it had been there longer than our carving had been, it was holding up well). And our group name was still easily visible as well. It was too far out for us to go sit on. Maybe next year. 

We checked out the other sites and looked around. When we got to the end of the road that was closest to the Brumm side of the park, we discovered that there was a little path that led straight to the the  beach right by our campsite. We all had a good laugh at that. If we had known, then we wouldn't have had to climb down the very steep hill. Oh well, it was an adventure. 
So, when we got back, we grabbed our chairs and brought them down to the beach to sit and drink and put our feet in the water. 

Eventually it started to rain, so we left the beach and went back up to the campsite to get supper started. As we walked up the road I was still looking in the trees for the white squirrel. But I didn't see it. We did see a white lady bug when we got to the site though. I had to look this one up online when I got home. Apparently it's a "Fifteen-spotted Lady Bug". 

After supper it started to rain harder. So we moved into the dining tent that Anika and I had decorated in twinkle lights to give it a more cheery feel. 

We played board games for the rest of the evening. When it got late and we headed off to bed, we could hear thunder in the distance. We could be in for a thunderstorm in the middle of the night. At least we had pretty good weather all the rest of the day though. Hopefully we won't have to pack up in the rain tomorrow. 

We go to Driftwood every year for our annual, girls only, "Chicks In The Stix", camping trip.  So, I don't write about our trip every year because it would get boring to read about the same place over and over again. This year, however, things were a little different so I thought this trip was worthy to write about. 

The first thing that was different this year was that we were not able to get our regular non-electrical sites (41 and 42) down by the river's edge. We did our usual booking in March but we were a couple days late this year so we missed out on our favourite sites. Not only that but there were no good sites left along the river's shore at all. So, instead we had to opt for the electrical sites in the RV section of the park. I am assuming this inability to get our regular sites was, in part, because of the other thing that was different this year, which was the Covid-19 pandemic. Seems that with nothing else for people to do, camping was high on their list of places to go. This was also the reason why there was no one allowed to go into the Driftwood Park office this year. Instead, we had to wait outside in a line with the required 6 foot social distance between us to await our turn to go up to the office window to announce our arrival. 

It was in this line up that we learned of what was to become our quest of the weekend.... the search for the white squirrel.  While waiting in line, we met a lady who told us that they had seen a white squirrel near their site. The gentleman she was with showed Penny the pictures they had taken of it while I was watching a butterfly in the sand. I didn't want to get too close and form a "group" so I let Penny look at the pictures. 

I guess there are pros to having an electrical site, even though it wasn't really what we had wanted. Anika and Shelli were able to bring and plug in a coffee maker for their trailer in the morning. Yes, we figured that since this year we had electricity, we were going to do some glamping instead of camping. 
In addition to having electricity, Penny and I noticed something else that was different.... there were hardly any horseflies or mosquitoes! We had just come from Algonquin's Brent campground and the bugs were very noticeable there. But not here. We were able to sit in peace without them buzzing around us the whole time we were at Driftwood. It was not like that at the same time last year, that's for sure. 

Once we set up camp and relaxed a bit, we all decided to walk down to the beach that was just down the road from us. Penny and I looked for the white squirrel along the way, but we didn't see it. 
What we did see, was a beautiful, grassy beach with lots of picnic tables and not a lot of people. It was like we had a huge beach all to ourselves!  Take that people who got our usual campsites on the river's edge! We got the better end of the bargain I think. 

When we came back up from the beach, Julie arrived and we cooked hot dogs over the fire for supper. I wanted to try something new for dessert that I found on the internet this year. They are called "Camping Brown Bears". You take a roll of biscuit dough and break it into small pieces and roll it onto a stick and cook it over the fire (a lot like you would with bannock dough.... Maybe you could even use bannock dough, but I just used the Pilsbury dough). 

Then you take the cooked dough off the stick and spread butter on it so that it melts. Then you roll it in a plate full of cinnamon and sugar. Voila! A brown bear. It tasted all right. It wasn't as sweet as I had expected it to be. But it was good enough to eat. 

We sat around the fire for awhile until most of the girls were ready for bed. Penny and I were not tired yet so we took a walk back down to the beach to look at the stars. Penny had a new app on her phone that can tell you what the constellations are and she wanted to try it out. 

We were surprised to discover the Neowise comet shining brightly in the sky. We didn't know what it was until the app on her phone told us. (The picture below is not mine. It is  one that I photoshopped from "isherman" on pixabay [Thanks isherman!].  Although I tried, my camera would not capture the moment and only left me with a black screen). The Neowise moved very slowly so we were able to watch it for a long time. You could see it's reflection in the water along with the reflection of the stars. Combine that with the blinking of some fireflies and the calling of the loons and it made for a magical evening.

Later that night as I lay in my sleeping bag and thinking about how happy I was to be out camping, I heard the call of a whip-poor-will. Of course I could not get a picture because it was too dark, I thought maybe I was hearing things, but the next morning when Shelli asked if we had heard the whip-poor-will, I knew that I was correct in what I had heard. I find that Driftwood Park has all kinds of birds that you don't often see (or hear in this case) in the other parks I had been to.  The call of the whip-poor-will was the cherry on top of an already great evening. ​ It was a warm and beautiful night. It was perfect. 

I awoke to the sounds of birds singing, wind blowing, and waves on the shoreline. It looked like it had been raining during the night, but it wasn't raining at this moment, The sky was very grey though. 

Penny and Carsten and I decided to to take a walk down the Limestone Trail. We read in the park bulletin that there was a secluded beach on this trail and we were curious to see it. 

The trail is a nicely groomed winding path through some beautiful stands of birch and cedar and other pines. 

True to the bulletin's word, the secluded beach was not that far down the trail.It was quiet and sandy and looked like a great place to swim. We did not go in though.

Instead, we explored the shoreline. There we found tiny little marsh beetles.

We had to be careful so as not to step on other small insects, like an occasional wasp. Apparently I found out later on through iNaturalist.ca   that this is a Spinola's Mason Wasp which is quite rare and is considered to be critically imperiled in Canada. 

On the other side of the secluded beach was more trail to follow. 

We had to be careful not to step on the tiny little toads that would cross our path from time to time. 

We came to another open area where we found a picnic table. This would be a beautiful spot for anyone wanting to have a picnic lunch, 

The pair of loons from the day before were still around and seemed to be in love with each other. 

A little red mushroom in the shape of an umbrella reminded us that it was about to rain soon. So, we headed back to camp to play a game of Catan in the dining tent. 

As we played our game, a little Meadow Vole decided to come to visit us. It would pop in and out of the pile of fire wood that we had brought into the dining tent to keep dry. 

When the rain let up, mom and Penny and Carsten took a walk to the Brent store and to "see the sites" (the other sites in the park. I drove dad there in the car.

There is a little town in the middle of this provincial park. By little I mean tiny. Maybe about 20 cottages or so. Brent was the former location of an old logging town and now the park has a Historic Walking Trail where you can learn all about it. 

​​Unfortunately, the Brent store was closed. I am assuming this is due to the Covid-19 virus. 

Despite having the store closed, canoe rentals were still available. You call in  your reservation, they get it ready, you come to the store to find the form posted on the door with instructions for pick up. Not a bad system.

Since the store was closed, dad and I decided to drive up to see the Ranger cabins.

There are two cabins that are for rent in Brent. Both looked like they might be nice to stay in for a few days.
We noticed that sites 24 and 25 seemed to have their own private beach. We kept that in the back of our minds in case we want to come backto do more camping here another time.  

I brought my dad back to our campsite and then decided to take a walk on my own. Since we had just seen the sites at one end of the park. I wanted to see what the sites were like at the other end of the park. 
The main road through the park is the Brent Historic Site Trail. there is a big map on a billboard showing the 5 different historic locations. I was curious about the graveyard at historic site number 1. 

I decided that I wasn't impressed with sites 7 to 13 that were along the way. They were not near the water, they did not have a good view and they looked a little dark since the trees were so thick that the sun was not getting through easily. It could just be that it had been raining off and on all day and the sky was still grey. 

At the graveyard was a large white cross. The graveyard was smaller than I expected and the cross was bigger than I expected. 

​The further down into this site you go, the more privacy it has. It is decently wide and you can see the lake at the end of it. 

And then when you get to the end of it, there is a great view of the whole lake and there is a tiny little mini beach that you can go swimming at. I could just picture sitting in a chair or at the picnic table watching the sunset from here. ​Site # 2 has become my favourite site I think. 
​

Sites 3 and 4 were beside each other with no real barrier between them. They would probably be good for two families that wanted to be together. Sites 5 and 6 were also close together but were a little more secluded. They had a path to the lake but were not right on the water front. Nope, number 2 is the best site of the bunch at this end of the park. 

I walked back to my camp and took a nap for awhile before supper. The rain had stopped for the day but the ground was wet in the grassy areas and you had to avoid puddles. 

We played games in the dining tent again after supper until bed time. We could hear a barred owl hooting it's distinctive call in the distance as we went to sleep. 

The next day Penny and I were headed out to Driftwood Park for our annual Girls Only camping weekend while Carsten, mom, and dad headed home.  None of us ever did go on the crater hike, so we will have to come back to do that sometime in the future. However, Penny and I did stop to walk up to the Crater Tower before we left, which is on the side of the road on the way out. 

At the top of the look out tower is some information on the size of the crater and how it was formed. 

Tecumseh Lake could easily be seen from the top of the look out. Gilmour Lake was not visible from where we were. I guess the only way we will see Gilmour Lake will be to come back and hike the trail.  We both agreed that this view is probably stunning in the Fall when the leaves turn colours. 

As we continued down the gravel road we spotted a young groundhog making his way across. 

Before we could get too close to him, he made a dive for cover into the bushes on the other side. Safe and sound. 

It was a nice way to end our stay at Brent. Now we were off to Driftwood for fun and adventure with the girls! 

   Brent campground in Algonquin Park is a place my family has been interested in checking out for a few years now, but had never gotten around to it. What we were most curious about was the hike around the rim of an old crater from a meteor that crashed thousands of years ago. Since Brent is not that far from home, we decided to take the time to visit it this year. 

​    The office itself is only about an hour away from where we live, but it is another hour drive from the office to the actual sites.

Only one person was allowed in the office at a time and you had to wear a mask while you were in there. 

The roads are narrow and  gravel ( and it is very loose gravel) with many winding curves . So unless you are in a big truck or are a fearless driver, the most you can go safely, is about 50 km per hour. Since the sites are 40 km away from the office, this makes for a rather long drive. The sites are remote enough that there is absolutely no cellular coverage anywhere in the campground. 

And on dry and sunny days, the dust on the roads is very thick which can make it hard to see. I was driving behind my brother and the air conditioning in my car is not working so I had to keep the windows rolled up in my car. It was sweltering by the time I got there. The dust was so thick that when I parked my car I could see the outline of my niece's hoodie here I had put it on the hood of my car to dry off earlier that day.  

My parents had site 15 which is actually designed to be an RV site. When my parents reserved the site, they actually had an RV at the time. However, just days before we were to go camping, the RV was in an accident and could not be driven any longer. So instead we put up my brand new 10 man tent as well as my dining tent on their site. Their site was wide open and in a flat grassy area. 

.The other one, that was close to our site, was the composting toilet. These types are my favourite, They are the same as the ones that are found in the Kiosk campground and are built high off the ground. they are built of cedar wood and they do not smell bad like the other toilets often do. They tend to smell more like cedar,

They get points for the composting toilets. they don't get points for the toilet paper though. The toilet paper was so thin that you could literally see through it. I never really understood the point of really thin toilet paper. People are just going to use more of it to compensate for the thinness. So, in my humble opinion, they may as well use toilet paper with a decent thickness. 

Since it is about an hours drive from the office, there are a couple of interesting systems put in place here that you don't tend to see in the other campgrounds in Ontario. For one, they have designated First Come First Serve sites.  For another, they have a Ministry truck that comes along once or twice a day with firewood in the back of it. They go from site to site asking campers if they need to buy firewood. I thought that was very good of them. 

Brent is known as a jump off point for many canoeists. As a result, the parking lot is often full and you can see many canoes coming and going. There is no real beach to speak of; only the area where the canoes take off from. Despite so many people using this as a jump off point, the park is very, very quiet. We were probably the noisiest ones there. 

Come to think of it, I don't think we were the noisiest ones there. I think this guy was, 

The beach / jump-off area is large with a number of picnic tables. 

To the far right is a dock and the trail head to Limestone Trail.

On the dock Powdered Dancer damselflies would land. 

In the water, little minnows swam around and muscles left trails in the sand. 

Between the rocks by the dock, some purple Bittersweet Nightshade was growing. 

But to the far left is where it is loveliest. There are a couple of benches nestled in among the trees.  People sit here to watch the sunset or to relax with a view of Cedar Lake. 

From here you can see the shore line and watch for the snapping turtle that both my mom and Penny saw swimming by every day. 

Or you can watch a couple of loons swim by. 

After we were all settled in and set up and had explored the place a little bit, it was close to sunset. The colours of the sunset were very pale and muted but had a soft, pastel beauty of their own. 

After supper, and it was starting to get dark out, we gathered together in the dining tent to play a few games of Qwirkle. Penny found herself to be the new found friend of a little brown moth. This moth was the jumpiest moth I ever did see. It was always near Penny and it loved to knock over her Qwirkle tiles. There were other moths in the tent too, but this one made us laugh and was by far, the most entertaining moth of the evening. 

Another visitor who was attracted to the light was a Black-ledged Sharpshooter Leafhopper. It was a rival in the competition for most jumpiest. However, the moth still won, hands down. 

As we headed off to our own tents at the end of the evening, the stars were out but we could see lightning off in the distance. We hoped that the storm was just passing by and that we wouldn't get hit with heavy rains during the night. 

   The kids and I woke up at about 9:30 in the morning. I was surprised that they slept in that long, but I was not surprised that I did. 
   I got them fed and into their bathing suits and took them down to the dog park beach so that everyone else could continue sleeping. 
   As I watched the kids swim I noticed ​the Ruby Meadowhawk dragonflies clinging to the reeds in the lake. 

   There were so many dragonflies all over the place. I have recently learned from my sister that a group of dragonflies is called a "charm of dragonflies". I think that is very lovely. Just as lovely as the one that landed on me. 

This Canada Darner was not concerned about me at all. I was able to transfer it from my pant leg to my finger very easily. It stayed perched on my finger for probably a good ten minutes or so. The kids were able to get a good look at it and were impressed that it stayed for so long. 

As the kids were swimming, they had to get out of the way for a mother mallard duck and her ducklings as they crossed over from open water into the reeds. They swam quite close to the kids and I was surprised by this. The kids hadn't even noticed them right away and I had to shout and say "Hey! Watch out for the baby ducks!"

Another type of dragonfly we saw at the beach was the Chalk-fronted Corporal. 

The dog park beach was much quieter at this time of the morning. Aside from a few canoes out in the water, it was just me and the kids. We stayed for about 2 hours or so before heading back to see if anyone else was awake yet. 

We got back to camp to find that everyone was up and coffee was on. The kids went to play in the woods and created a little caterpillar house for a gypsy moth caterpillar that they found. It had all the things a caterpillar could want. there was a moss floor, some leaves to eat, a stone wall to keep it safe, and a section of tree bark to give it some shade. The kids put a lot of thought and effort into making their new caterpillar friend happy. 

   In the afternoon, Meema and Great Grandpa showed up for a short visit. Meema took the kids to the beach again. (I wasn't kidding when I said that the kids liked to swim).
   After Meema and Great Grandpa left we all headed down to the dog park to do some fishing. Well, they did some fishing. I went in swimming. The water was so warm. It was perfect!
We spent a few hours there and headed back when we got hungry for supper. When I got back I found another Chalk-fronted Corporal dragonfly hanging out on my car. 
   After supper, the kids said good bye to their parents because they had stuff to do early the next day and couldn't stay. Tonight it would be just me and the kids. 

   The kids spent most of the evening playing in the woods with the friends they had made a couple of campsites over. They had a great time playing frisbee and and exploring the woods. 
    When it became dusk, we took a short walk to the beach and saw the mother duck with her babies huddled up together on a rock beside a sea gull. They were settling in for the night, but the kids and I were just beginning to have fun.

When it got dark enough we brought out some sparklers and lit them up. We made designs and letters in the air, 
Then I got out a bunch of glo-sticks and the kids had fun dressing up in them. They would make bracelets and anklets and even mustaches with them.

Then they discovered that they could twirl them and swing them around to make circles and shaped of colours. I would take pictures and show them and they thought it was fabulous. 

   They wanted to go frog hunting again and since I hadn't gone the night before, I thought this was a great idea. I told them that they would have to show me how it's done. So dressed in our glo-stick finest, with nets in hand, we went down to the beach to look for frogs. 
   It was not difficult to find them. And the bull frogs were very big! The kids would take turns holding the flashlight while one of the other ones would net the frog. They would hod the frog for a moment before letting it go and then we would walk a little farther down the beach and they would switch places and catch the next frog. I was impressed with how they didn't fight with each other and how gentle they were with the frogs. We got about 5 frogs and 2 toads (that we weren't expecting). 

Eventually we made our way back to camp where the kids washed up and brushed their teeth. They took their glo-sticks into the tent and crawled into their sleeping bags. I had to clean up a few things outside to make sure that no raccoons got into anything. I was only gone a few minutes but when I got back to the tent the kids were all sound asleep. Once again they had tired themselves out with all the fun they had that day. It had been a great trip. It was too bad we had to pack up in the morning to go home. But I am sure we will all go camping together again sometime soon. 

It was a wonderful feeling to wake up to the sounds of the birds calling and the woodpeckers knocking on the trees. The campground was so peaceful. But I was about to change all that. In about an hour I would be on my way in to town to pick up 3 kids all under the age of seven. My campsite was about to get a whole lot noisier. (sorry neighbours!)

The chipmunk from yesterday was there to greet me when I got out of my tent. I had a quick breakfast and then headed off to go pick up the kids. 

I arrived back at the camp with kids in tow just in time for lunch. So we had a quick bite to eat. After lunch I asked them what they wanted to do first. They said "Too bad the sky looks like rain, so we can't go swimming". I replied "Who says we can't? We can go swimming in the rain if we want to". They all cheered and rushed to get their bathing suits on. I decided not to go in and instead I grabbed myself a folding chair and an umbrella just in case it did decide to rain. When they were ready we all walked down to the smallest beach in the park. It was the closest. 
  We were there for about 2 hours and it never did rain. At one point Mila came out of the water and asked if she could play with the umbrella in the water. It was an old umbrella that was on the verge of breaking anyways, so I said "sure!". She gleefully took it into the lake and had a grand ole time playing with it. 

​The smallest beach had more people on it today than yesterday. The kids managed to find and make friends with a girl named Anna and her brothers who were camping only a few sites away from us.They all played together in the water until they eventually got too cold and wanted to go back. 

When we got back we had a snack and the kids played in the sand for a bit. Naturally, they did not want to sit still for long so I suggested that we take a walk to go check out the dog beach that was not too far away. They loved that idea, so we put on some shoes and away we went. 

To the left of the dog beach is a dock and boat launch. The kids made a bee line for the dock to see if they could see any fish or frogs in the water. 

And they weren't disappointed. There were bunches and bunches of minnows swimming around by the dock. We had some buckets with us so the kids tried their hand at trying to catch some. But the minnows were too fast so they didn't catch any. 

It wasn't long before they were bored of not catching any fish and were looking for something else to do. The thing about young kids is that they love to swim. Although we had just come from the beach not that long ago, they wanted to go swimming again. The lack of buoy lines at this beach really appealed to them. ​There were plenty of other kids and adults swimming here so I figured there was no problem.

​Of course I hadn't expected them to go swimming here so they didn't have their swim suits with them. Did that stop us? Not at all. I told them they could go in their clothes on. They said "Really?!?" in excitement. And I said "Sure, why not?" 

The kids loved it and had a great time. They thought it was the best thing to be swimming in their clothes and come out dripping wet. After about an hour they were ready to go back to camp and have a snack. But they wanted to come back to the dog park with their bathing suits on later. All that I could think of was that little ditty from the Finding Nemo movie "Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming."  It was definitely turning into a "just keep swimming" kind of day. 

After a snack, they got their swim suits on again. But instead of going back to the dog park I convinced them to try out the big (main) beach instead. I told them that we should check out all the beaches so that we can decide which one we liked the best. So, off we went for a swim for the third time that day. 

I really didn't mind in the least. I enjoyed sitting in my chair by the beach watching the kids and watching the seagulls and dragonflies. It was so nice to be able to just relax for the first time this year. 

When we took a vote on which beach is the best to swim at, the dog park beach won hands down. The big beach is just too shallow for their liking and the kids kept pushing the buoy lines out farther so that they could go deeper. Kids aren't that tall so it is not surprising that adults were crossing over the buoy lines all together. I heard one adult say that it does get deep very quickly on the other side though. 

It was getting close to supper time and I knew that their parents would be arriving soon, so we headed back. Sure enough, we met their parents on the road as they were driving to the campsite.

​The kids played in the woods while their parents set up their tent and got dinner ready. 

We got a campfire going and sat around enjoying the flickering of the flames for awhile. When it got dark enough, Dylan (the girl's dad) brought out some nets and flashlights and took the kids down to the first (smaller) beach to hunt for frogs. I stayed behind to sit and watch the fire. 

When they got back, they regaled me with stories of how big the frogs were and how much fun they had. They would catch a frog in a net and each would hold it for a minute before letting it go again. Then they would go off and find the next frog. 

As Dylan got the kids ready for bed, I saw a huge bug flying around the lantern. I recognized this bug from a previous camping trip to Arrowhead Park in 2018 with my brother and my sister-in-law. It was a Summer Fish Fly. This was only the second one I had seen in my life. 

Once the kids were in their pajamas, we gave them glo-sticks and filled the kids up with hot chocolate and marshmallows.  Then we threw packets of colour changing chemicals (3 packets work best) onto the fire and watched as a rainbow of colours emerged. 
After brushing their teeth, they went off to sleep in the tent. They fell asleep quickly because they were exhausted from all the swimming and fun they had that day. The adults sat around and talked until the fire burnt down.

​ It was a lovely ending to a lovely day. 

With the craziness in the world that has been caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, I am grateful to God to still have the opportunity to go camping this year. For a few months I was worried that the parks would remain closed and that I wouldn't be able to go at all. Needless to say, things are slightly different this year in order to make that happen. One of my personal decisions on the matter was to choose to do my camping fairly close to home and not drive clear across the province. Luckily, there are still a number of parks near me that I had not camped at before. Restoule Park is only an hour away from where I live so I wonder why I had never camped there before. Oh well, there is no time like the present. 

**Disclaimer...I did not feed that piece of bread to the chipmunk in the picture. He got that from another campsite.**

I was really looking forward to this trip. Work had been pretty stressful and I was much in need of some relaxation. My original plan was to take my nephews two girls camping with me; just the 3 of us. However, my nephew loves camping too so I invited him, and his girlfriend, and her son to come along too. I went up a day ahead of everyone to get the campsite all set up. Since my nephew had to work the next day, I will go pick up the kids in the morning and he and his girlfriend will join us around supper time. 

First stop was the park office. The first noticeable change was that only 2 people were allowed in the office at a time. While  you waited you stood in line outside, 6 feet away from the next person in line. There were only about 2 people ahead of me so I did not have to wait in line long. 

Next stop was the wood house where I picked up a bag of wood. As in previous years, the wood was somewhat damp and does not burn very well. It needed to sit for another year before being sold. But it was the only wood there was so we had to make do. There is no park store here so if you wanted anything you had to drive 20 minutes outside the park to the nearest convenience store. But I was able to purchase the patch and sticker for my Provincial Parks Passport book.
​

I drove to my site (number 262) and took a look around. It was not the site I had expected to be on. Before I reserved it online, my sister had told me about the site that they had one year and how it was a very short walk  to the boat launch. She couldn't remember the site number though but she thought it was this one. Unfortunately it was not the right one. The boat launch was a full section over from this site. 

No matter though, this site was pretty big and had a nice layout. It was a corner lot so the only neighbours I had were across the road from me. Those neighbours were quiet and polite and were gone for large chunks of the day. The boat launch might not be steps away from the campsite, but the smaller beach was a short walk from this site. 

​ I could have done with out the horse flies though. They were plentiful at this time of year. But I find that as long as I am wearing a hat, I am not really bothered by them too much. So I made sure to put my hat on. 

The other feature of this campsite is that it is right next to the bathroom. However, this is a double edged sword. Although the park gets points for putting in a composting toilet, the smell from this one was very strong. So strong that every once in awhile I could smell it from my campsite it the wind blew just right. This composting toilet was not the same as the one at the  Kiosk campground in Algonquin. That one was made by a different company and was much easier on the nose. This one was very clean though. Another noticeable change was that there was a hand sanitizer station just by the door of the bathroom. The hand sanitizer smelled like lemons and, as far as hand sanitizers go, I liked it. 

I got my site set up within an hour and sat down at the picnic table for some supper. As I ate, a crow strutted his stuff around my site checking me out. 

Actually, there are all kinds of birds here. So many different songs were being sung in the tree tops. It was early evening so the sun wasn't as high in the sky but I could make out a couple of blue jays in the trees. I also saw robins and sparrows.

After supper I decided to do some exploring. I started off by going for a walk down to the beach that was closest to my site. It is the smaller beach and it was pretty empty at this time of day.. 

But it wasn't the swimming area of the beach that caught my attention. I was more interested in the marshy area off to the side of the beach. 

The marshy area was filled with leafy green water plants and marsh grasses as well as vivid purple flowers of the Pickerelweed plant. 

Running along the shoreline, among these plants and flowers were a couple of Spotted Sandpipers. I was thrilled to see them because last summer I had gone looking for some at Esker Lakes Park and hadn't found any there. They aren't a rare bird by any means but they are also not a bird that you see every day like a robin or a sparrow. Here, there were two of them not more than a few feet away from me.

I followed the shoreline going further and further away from my site. It was so peaceful with no one around. It was just what I needed. 

Different types of yellow flowers were growing along the shore line. There were Earth Loosestrife just beginning to open. 

And there were Birdfoot Trefoil in full bloom.

Since I was picking my way slowly along the shoreline through marsh grass, I was not really disturbing much of the wildlife. This afforded me a rare opportunity. I came across an area where there were about 20 or 30 Tule Bluet damselflies all clinging to the tall grasses. As I slowly walked by one or two of them would leisurely fly up off the grass and then back down again. They moved so slowly that it looked like they were floating in the air, not flying. They seemed quite unconcerned that I was there except for a fleeting moment. They allowed me to get so close to them that I could almost touch them. It was an amazing sight. 

The shoreline led me to the boat launch dock. There were some people fishing there. 

The canoes that are available for rent were located near this dock. 

I continued to walk the shore line until I reached the second beach. The second beach was much larger than the first one was. There were more people at this beach too, but still not a lot. I imagine that was because it was getting to be too late in the evening for most swimmers. 

People left their boats and paddle boards lying around, unattended, on the beach. I guess there is a feeling of trust here. No one seemed afraid of things getting stolen. It was a good feeling. 

Rather than taking the shoreline back, I found a path near the beach which led to the road. The path had some benches along it so that you could sit and rest and enjoy the view of the lake. 

A red squirrel watched me from a nearby tree as I walked by. 

The walk back to the campsite brought me close to the comfort station.

It too showed signs of Covid-19....well, signs about it anyways. The rules are that now there are only 2 people allowed inside at a time. ​Another thing to note is that all the showers in all the provincial parks of Ontario are not in service due to the Covid-19 virus. 

Outside the comfort station there is a bulletin board. Posted on it was information about the different types of turtles that could potentially be encountered while in the park. 

I was also impressed by the poster they had explaining what to do if you were to accidentally catch a turtle while fishing. 

As I walked by an empty neighbouring campsite, I noticed that they had left behind a partial bag of wood. So, I grabbed it up and brought it back to camp with me, I decided not to bother with a campfire tonight, but tomorrow night I will have the kids and we will definitely make a fire then. 

As it got dark the mosquitoes started coming out in full force. I had brought with me an old bottleof Skin So Soft body lotion that I had found around the house. People used to say that Skin So Soft was the best mosquito repellent ever made. But then they stopped making it. I figured I would test this theory out. I put some on and waited for a mosquito to land (which was a mere couple of seconds). One landed on my hand and I watched to see what it would do. It started smelling around looking for a good place to bite. Just before it went in to take a bite, I squashed it. So, I figure that either the Skin So Soft doesn't work, or it's too old, or it was the wrong stuff. I only had the body lotion, not the liquid kind that most people used to be familiar with. 

As the evening draws to a close, I sit and listen to the sounds of the campground. Families are chatting, dogs are barking, fires are crackling, and, over the top of it all, is the sound of frogs calling out to one another. All of these sounds made me happy and relaxed. It is so great to be away from the busy hustle and bustle of the city. It's just the slow restful pace of Restoule Provincial Park.