It was Monday morning and we had to pack up our site. After rolling up the tents we noticed some Lemon Slugs hanging out in the under brush. 

I took one last walk down to the water and saw a school of minnows swimming around. 

The people who had been on sites A1, A2, and A3 had already left. When I was booking the sites for this trip I had almost booked two of these sites instead of the ones we had. I didn't though because it appeared on the map that there might not have been any trees here. 

However, now that I was looking at them up close and in person, it looked like there would have been enough trees and these sites would be great for groups of people that are camping together. If we come back again we will have to remember these sites for next time. 

​The park was so lovely and we didn't really want to leave yet. We decided to make one last stop at the other end of the park to see Margaret's Farm. 

We pulled up outside a small barn and got out of the cars to look around. 

At first it didn't look like there were any animals here. But then we saw a sign with a picture of a goat named Huguette. 

And then we saw Huguette napping in the shade.  She looked like she had a happy little smile on her face. 

Next we saw some photos of 3 ponies, Cannelle, Mocha, and Peek-A-Boo. But we didn't see the ponies themselves right away. 

Then we noticed Peek-A-Boo's butt sticking out from beneath a small grove of pine trees. Peek-A-Boo! I see you! 

All three ponies were huddled together under the trees in order to stay out of the hot sun and in an effort to stay cool in what little shade the trees were providing them. They had no interest in coming over to say hello to us. So. we didn't bother them and we moved on over to the barn.

The barn was clean and open and airy. All the stalls and pens looked relatively new. 

In the corner of one of the pens was a furry little bunny. 

There was a photo of a couple of peacocks, so we looked around to see if we could spot them. 

The male peacock was perched up on a railing.

And the female was enjoying a dust bath near the fence in the sun. She had a number of little black chicks nearby.

In the same pen were a couple of chickens and some Banty roosters.

The next photo was of a donkey named Bourriquet.

Bourriquet was grazing on some grass by the fence. 

Next was Serge the Llama, and Centaure and Avril the Alpacas.

Serge and Avril were just standing around grazing. 

But not Centaure. He had better things to do. 

​Centaure was rolling around on the ground and having a grand ole time in a dust bath. Dust was flying everywhere! He looked very happy.

Other than a sheep who appeared to be ill and segregated from the public, that was about all the animals there were to see in Margaret's Farm.  However, up in the rafters of the barn some wild birds had made a series of nests. 

All the nests except one were empty. It was too high up to see what kind of bird was in the nest though. 

We went back to our cars and said good bye. We were going in separate directions. Most of our group was headed to Ottawa but Carsten, Penny and I were headed to a new campground. Next on our itinerary was Voyageur Provincial Park back in Ontario. We were off to our next adventure! 

We had been looking forward to this for weeks and now the evening finally arrived. We were ready to go to Foresta Lumina! 

For Anika's birthday we had brought a bag full of glow in the dark stones. Our plan was to leave them in the sun all day and bring them with us and leave them everywhere at Foresta Lumina. We forgot to leave them in the sun, but we filled our pockets and brought them with us anyway.

We went to the Welcome Center and waited for the shuttle. As the sun went down the lights on the covered bridge came on and glowed a cheery red. 

We had bought tickets for 9 p.m. and the shuttle starts at 8:30 and runs every 15 minutes. We didn't have long to wait and soon we saw the shuttle bus. It is just a small shuttle bus and there were 9 of us in our group alone, not to mention all the other people who were lined up as well. But we had arrived first and were first in line so we managed to get our whole group on board. 

The shuttle trip was less than 5 minutes. We stepped off the bus and walked towards the entrance which was a large arch of sticks all lit up in orange lights. 

We were ushered into a large waiting area full of picnic tables. There were already quite a few people there, waiting at the tables. 

At the far end was a long fence with a chalk board that covered it's expanse. It was lit up under black lights so that the chalk would glow when you drew on it. People were up there drawing things and writing things. 

We went up and drew on the board too. It was a good way to kill some time while we waited. 

They were running about 15 minutes behind schedule, but we didn't mind because that meant it would be darker when we started. Besides, there was a snack truck in the corner so you could get a drink and something to eat while you waited. 

Each of the tables had a lantern in the middle of it. The lights inside were actually hardwired to a network of cables under the table so you didn't have to worry about candles going out or starting a fire. 

In the middle of the waiting area was an amazing clock! It had beautiful silhouettes that were constantly moving and changing. Clouds would roll in, stars would move and then the branches of the trees would close in making the scene completely dark. Then it would all light up again. The hands of the clock were in the center of the moon. It was a fantastic clock and I wish I could have one of my own. I am sure they must have had this one custom made for them. 

Finally it was time to line up and we followed a path through some roped-in area (the kind you see at a bank) to the entrance. When you are in the line up it feels a little more crowded than you would like but once you show them your ticket and are ushered through the gate, the area opens up and you don't feel as crowded anymore. The Lights that looked like bee hives made of sticks during the day, now were glowing a warm orange colour.

The first area you go to is all lit up with stick lanterns above your head and the whole area is bathed in red light. 

The tablets are all lit up on either side of the path and each one has a picture and a story to tell about the fairies and the magical creatures and monsters. 

One of the last tablets explained how if you pull down on the string and speak a wish into the mouth piece then a fairy pebble would come down that you take with you on your journey and then your wish will come true. 

So we each took turns saying our wish into the mouth piece and we each picked up a fairy pebble. However, not only did I pick up a pebble, but I left 3 glow in the dark pebbles in the pile for someone behind me to find and take with them. And so our Foresta Lumina side project had begun! 

It was Carsten's job to light up the glow in the dark pebbles with the flashlight that he had brought along. At first we would take them and leave them in random places for people to find. But later on we found it was more fun to just give them to the kids directly. 

Up ahead was the giant bird, glowing red. There was smoke in the air all around it, giving it a more mysterious feeling. 

When we left the area of the fairy pebbles, things got darker and a bit more quieter. Now you could see an entire hillside covered in small,  twinkling, white, lights. Not just one or two, but hundreds. It looked like a hill of fireflies. That was when you could really start to notice the sounds in the trees. It sounded like fairies laughing and wind chimes dancing in the wind. 

We followed the lanterns up the path and right to the suspension bridge we had been on earlier that day. It was beautiful to see all the coloured lights far below as you crossed the bridge in the dark. 

At the very end of the suspension bridge you passed through a foggy doorway. Once you went through the doorway you could feel a change in the atmosphere. The sound effects playing from the trees had a darker tone to it and the fairy laughter was not as light and happy. It felt as though this next section was more ominous and that goblins could be lurking around the corner. Like you had just stepped through the doorway of fairyland itself.

On the other side of the door way was another hillside (where the cross was when we were here during the day). This hillside had lights on it too. But these lights were moving. 

And then a holographic image of a girl (I believe they call her Margaret), dancing with the fairy lights, came into view. It was impressive. It was like watching a ghost. You could see her, but you could see through her. We all stood and watched this dance for quite some time. 

When we were ready to move on, we followed a trail filled with metal boxes spilling light that looked like flames onto our path.

It led us to a section filled with large pictures in frames. They were done up as though you were looking at them with 3-D glasses. When the light changed colours, the pictures changed too. So, it looked like they were moving. 

The music at this point had become noticeably spookier.   Most of these pictures were of the creature. 

But some were of Margaret. 

​As we left this area we could see red eyes glowing from the dark trees around us. 

As we left the dark woods, we could see a large bright area up ahead with plenty of things going on. It was like a party and everyone was encouraged to join in! 

The ropes on boards that we had seen during the day turned out to be a musical instrument! When ever you pulled on a rope, it would light up and a musical note would come out of it. So, together with everyone tugging at the strings all at the same time, we were all making music. 

A few feet away were some drums. Every time you hit one of the drums it would light up and make a musical tone. 

And a little more further down the way were round discs that you could step on and they would light up and make a musical tone. So we began jumping from disc to disc and we had a great time. We were probably having more fun on these than some of the children were. 

The interesting thing was it seemed that each (or at least some) of these musical instruments were somehow connected to a large tower of light. And the more music that was played the higher the light would travel up the tower.  

High above all this, glowing in blue light was the Foresta Lumina logo made of sticks that we had seen earlier in the day. 

It was in this section that there were benches and the bathroom. So we stopped here for a break and sat in the dark for a bit. 

The next place we came to was the section that looked like a scene from an episode of Survivor. There was a fire going in the fire pit, and tiki torches all lit up. There were benches where people were sitting and watching a silent movie on a decorative screen.  This was one of the places we had the most fun with our glow in the dark pebbles. As each child came and sat down Carsten would light up the pebbles with his flashlight and I would go around and hand them out to the kids. The kids just loved it! Their eyes lit up with joy! Of course we didn't speak French and they didn't speak English so when they wanted to ask us what they were or how they worked, we had a little bit of a communication barrier. But for the most part that didn't matter too much. We had a great time giving away these pebbles!  I wondered if the parents may have thought we worked there or something. It was an amusing thought. 

We watched Margaret and a mysterious man in a suit and top hat on screen for awhile before moving on. 

The next section was one of my favourites. A real tree was illuminated with graphics, made of light, making the tree look like it had a face. And in the background the silhouette of a sinister man was projected ​on the rocks. 

The sinister man set the tree on fire and destroyed it. But then the fairy lights started to encircle the destroyed tree. 

Soon the fairies were working their magic and had restored the tree back to life. 

The next section was like walking through a rainfall of light. The air was foggy and the lights were falling from the tree tops all around you and changing colours. 

From there you go down a flight of stairs to the most beautiful place in all of Foresta Lumina. This place was just gorgeous! When you looked up into the leaves of the trees it looked like thousands of colourful diamonds and gems were shining down on you. Every inch of rocks, trees, gorge were covered in glittering lights. It was like being in the middle of a star cluster. We stayed here in this section for a long time. We wished we could pitch our tents right here and stay for the night. It was truly magical! 

In this same section were all the inukshuks that we had seen earlier in the day. There was a sign that said to leave your wishing pebbles here to make your wishes come true. So we placed our fairy pebbles on the inukshuks. Then we set about to give out more glow in the dark pebbles to more kids. 

We were reluctant to leave the glittery land of inukshuks and fairy pebbles, but there was still a bit more to see.  As we approached the Hydro Plant building, we could see an image projected across the gorge onto the stone cliff.  The cliff looked as though it was opening up with molten lava.

Once it opened up a cave was revealed. Inside was a fairy. The fairy danced around for a bit before the stones closed back up again and the entrance disappeared. 

We were almost at the end now. The pillars of bamboo we had seen during the day were all lit up now. 

They created an interesting pattern at our feet as we walked towards the exit of the park. 

As we walked across the wooden bridge to the other side of the gorge, we looked back and saw that the moon was large and shining brightly in the sky. Under the moonlight we could still see some of the blue lights from the places we had just come. I thought about turning around and running back to where we had just come form so that we could do it all again. But the rest of my group was already up ahead and I didn't think it would be a good idea to get split up from them in the dark. So I continued forward instead of back. 

At the end of the trail is the photo-op place. This time it was all lit up and looked much more impressive than it does during the day. 

We had to wait in line to take our pictures here, so while we waited we decided to give away the last of our glow in the dark pebbles that we had. As we were doing this we were approached by 2 little boys and their parents who we had given glow in the dark rocks to earlier in the evening. By this point their rocks were barely glowing anymore. They didn't speak English but I could still tell that they were trying to ask us how to get them to glow again (or maybe if they could have more since theirs weren't working anymore). I motioned them over to Carsten who pulled out his flashlight and proceeded to re-light their pebbles for them. The looks on the faces of both the boys and their parents was that of amazement and understanding. Up until then, they did not know how the pebbles worked. When they saw how simple it was to re-light them, they were over joyed! Now they could take them home and make them glow whenever they wanted. The parents smiled huge smiles and thanked us. After seeing them all so happy, I think it would be a wonderful idea if the people who run Foresta Lumina would get glowing pebbles for the kids that go there.  I know if I ever go back I will definitely be bringing more glow in the dark stones to give away. It was so much fun! 

It was after 11 p.m. when we were done the Foresta Lumina hike. The trail leads into a stone building where there is a gift shop where you can buy souvenirs. 

Inside the gift shop is a big tree made of sticks with glass balls that look like bubbles hanging from it. There was a T-shirt that I had very much wanted to buy but they were all sold out. So I bought a different one instead. (Just a note on that: When I got it home I found that it was too small. So if you buy a shirt there remember to buy a size bigger than what you normally would).

We left the gift shop just in time to catch the shuttle back without even having to wait.  We  got to our campsite tired but happy and delighted to have had the wonderful experience. It will be something that we will always remember! I may even go again sometime! 

It was going to be a busy day. We planned to hike the Gorge Trail during the day and then hike it again at night for Foresta Lumina. 

We were up by 9, had a nice breakfast, did some puttering around, and then off we went to the Welcome Center. You have to get your hand stamped before you go on the hikes in the park so that  they know that you are a camper there and not just someone who snuck in. I guess this is because the trail seems to be shared with other near by venues. (Although you would never really know it to look at it.)

This trail is jam packed with so many things to see on it! It was full of history and mystery!  The first stop was the old knitting factory and where the old Penman's was. Apparently they made ladies "bloomers"  (undergarments) there way back in the day. 

The majority of the trail was made up of boardwalks and bridges. Every inch of it was clean and well taken care of. It was a real pleasure to walk here. 

To our right was the gorge and to our left was a cliff of rock with trees growing on the sides. All the rocks sloped down on an angle towards us. I noticed that my brother and Penny had stopped to look at something in the rocks up ahead. 

They pointed out that some of the rocks were being held in place and supported by some steel rods. It was kind of a scary thought to think that this cliff side could come sliding down at any time. But it was also reassuring that someone had thought about this and had taken measures to try to prevent a possibility of that occurring. 

We passed a gate that apparently closes at 5:30 PM. We assume this is so that they can set up for Foresta Lumina without having campers come walking through during the set-up procedures. 

Looking up ahead we could see a wooden bridge that crosses the gorge. We could also see a building in behind that. We had read on one of the sign posts that the building is a hydro plant. 

Once we got to that wooden bridge we turned around and we could see where we had been. From here we could see just how slanted the rock face really is. The rocks looked like something from out of a painting. 

Down by the hydro plant there were pillars of bamboo. 

We didn't go to the Hydro Plant building (at least not yet). But we could see that there were picnic tables over there and it looked like a pretty spot to sit if you are so inclined. 

Instead we continued across the wooden bridge until we came to the Foresta Lumina photo-op site. We all took turns taking pictures of each other under the sign. 

From here on out we started seeing strange and mysterious things. We wondered how different it was going to be at night. We saw lamps covered in strange woven sticks, like large bee hives hanging from posts. 

Then we came to a valley with more of these stick-woven, bee hive like things hanging everywhere above our heads. 

The valley had pillars or tablets  bordering each side. Each tablet had pictures, symbols and words cut into them.  

At the end of the valley was a giant bird made of sticks, suspended above a building. 

Some of the trees were painted with the Foresta Lumina logo on them. 

After the valley the path went upward. There were sets of stairs in three different directions. We decided to go up to the the top of one of the sets of stairs. From there you could look down and see the roof of the Hydro Plant far below. 

Then we came to a part of the path that was narrow and had a bamboo fence along the border. You could see that on the other side of the fence was actually a street of the town of Coaticook. It was a little disappointing to feel as though you had left the park and entered the town but at least they had made some effort to try to make it so that you didn't see the street directly. 

And on the left side some wild roses were growing to help distract your attention. 

The path didn't run very far and it was definitely worth the effort to get to the end of it because at the end we came to a huge suspension bridge. 

The view from up here was wonderful. You could see the rocks of the gorge far below, and the trees went on and on into the horizon. 

This was a fairly long bridge too. If you bounce up and down the whole bridge bounces so if you are afraid of heights then it might make your stomach queasy. However, as far as suspension bridges go, this one felt pretty safe. If you walk slowly the bridge doesn't bounce ... but you can't account for other people on the bridge; they might bounce. 

On the left side of the bridge I could see the Hydro Plant and the wooden bridge looking very small in the distance. And down below I could make out a person scrambling around on the rocks. I didn't know what they were doing so I zoomed in my camera to see if I could see clearer. 

It was a lady and she seemed to be building an inukshuk. Then I noticed that there were other inukshuks all around her. 

We spent quite a bit of time on the suspension bridge, but eventually we had to move on and see what was next. 

Next we came to a giant cross on a hill. I am sure there is a sign or information post somewhere telling what this cross is all about, however, I didn't see it and so I don't really know the purpose of the cross. 

Next we came to an area that looked like it was straight out of an episode of Survivor. At any minute I half expected someone to come out and get voted off the island. 

It was here that we discovered the Wishing Rock. 

The sign said that when a child a child places there hand on the rock and makes a wish, their wish will come true. 

This whole area was a bit of a mystery. There were things that looked like drums and there was a structure with ropes hanging from them. It was roped off because they didn't want people to touch them. There purpose of this section eluded us. 

Hanging above our heads was a stick formation of the Foresta Lumina logo. It looked like something from out of the Blair Witch project. 

And all along the ground were metal boxes with flame designs carves into them.

We had been walking for awhile by this point. There was a bathroom here and some benches and a water fountain. So we stopped for a rest and refilled our water bottles before continuing on. 

Next we came to a sign that told us about the Hemlock forest. Apparently mosquitoes are repelled by Hemlock! That is why there are no mosquitoes in Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook! I never knew this. Now I want to go and plant Hemlock trees everywhere! 

We went down a long flight of stairs until we got to the bottom of the gorge again. This is where the cave is located. We all decided to go spelunking.

On the walls were the original lamps that they used to build the tunnel, circa 1923. 

And where did this tunnel lead to? Nowhere. Just to a brick wall. The cave wasn't very big at all really. According to the sign at the mouth of the cave, there is actually another tunnel on the other side of the wall. This cave was only used to build that tunnel and had no other purpose. 

Also on the sign at the mouth of the cave is a warning that the roof is low and to be careful not to bang your head. Despite this warning and despite the fact that they even painted it orange so that you can see it, both Tessa and I still managed to bump our heads on the rock. 

After the cave, the trail started back in an upwards direction again. None of these ups or downs were strenuous. You hardly noticed it really. What I did notice though was some parts of the board walk were covered in wire mesh instead of boards so you could see right down to the gorge below. 

And in some places there were no boards at all; only wire mesh for a floor. 

If you looked way up you could see how high the trail was going to take you. 

We came to a place where there was a dam in the river. 

The dam looked like it had an interesting little fortress dungeon on the other side. But there didn't seem to be an easy access to get to it so we didn't go and check it out. It would have been fun if we could though. 

Instead we had to make do with exploring a giant wooden tower. 

The higher up the tower you went, the smaller the platforms got. There were benches on some levels so you could sit and take a break if you needed to. The very top platform could only hold about 3 people or so and there was no room for a bench up there. 

Oh but the view was spectacular. Way down below we could see the suspension bridge that we had been on earlier. And we thought we were high up then. This was much higher! 

Looking over the edge of the tower you could see the tree tops below us. 

After the tower we crossed a paved walkway to be able to continue on the path. We all had fun and mimicked the painted cross walk guy on the pavement as we walked. We got a bit of a laugh out of that. 

We went down another flight of stairs and discovered what can only be described as the land of inukshuks. There was a section roped off with inukshuks and signs saying to place your fairy pebbles there. We figured it had something to do with the Foresta Lumina festivities that night. 

On the other side of the path there were inukshuks everywhere in the gorge. I didn't see just how many at first because they all blended in with the colour of the stones in the gorge. But once I notice done or two I began to see more and more. I realized that this was the place I had seen the lady from way up on top of the suspension bridge. 

The next place to go to on the trail was the Hydro Plant. We had come full circle. We approached the Hydro Plant from the back of the building. 

There was a little door at the back where you could go through and actually see the inside. 

You can't go very far inside. But you can get to a spot where there is a window looking out onto the floor below and you can see the giant generator inside. 

That completed our hike of the Gorge Trail. It had been a long walk and we realized that we had to do almost the same amount of walking again that night when we do the Forest Lumina hike.  We decided we had better go back and get some rest if we were going to do all that walking again in the same day. 

So, back at the camp, some of us went for a nap while others of us went for a swim in the pool. I did neither.  I just relaxed and sat and did some bird watching. 

I saw a beautiful black , white and orange bird I had never seen before. It was a Towhee. 

After resting up and having a good supper, we were all prepared to go on our next adventure.....Foresta Lumina! 

  For my sister's birthday, she wanted to go to Foresta Lumina in Coaticook, Quebec. I had never been to Quebec before (aside from Gatineau) so I was excited to be able to go with her.  We bought tickets online and we made reservations online for two campsites at Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook. We packed up the cars and headed to my cousin's house in Ottawa where we stayed the night before getting an early start the next morning.

  We had 4 cars in all. My sister, Anika, and her husband, Dean, in one car, myself in another, my brother, Carsten with his girlfriend, Penny, in another car and my cousin Shelli, her husband, Jeff, and their two girls, Tessa and Delaney in the fourth car. We decided ahead of time that we would take the toll route to get there because it would be faster. Taking the toll route was also another first for me. We also decided that since it was a 4 hour trip from Ottawa that we would stop at the first rest stop we could find just after the toll booth. 

  With the plan in motion, we set off on our way. It was a hot day and, unfortunately, my car has no working air conditioner. So I drove with the windows rolled down pretty much the whole way. Being in a car by myself, I had no passenger to text back and forth with the other cars in our convoy so I was not able to communicate with anyone until I could stop somewhere. I was a little nervous about that, but I didn't fret over it too much. All went well at the toll booth (aside from a car not wanting to let me into the line... but I managed to squeeze in front of  him all the same).

After the toll booth I started looking for a place to stop. We were travelling down highway 10 and this highway was in dreadful condition. The streets of North Bay in pothole season are better than highway 10 was. I kept thinking it would get better but it never did. It is in desperate need of resurfacing. 

​  At this point I didn't know if I was behind or in front of everyone else. I passed exit sign after exit sign with inviting signs that said "Mc Donald's" or "Esso" , etc. However, unlike Ontario's "En-Route" rest stops, none of Quebec's rest stops are directly on the highway. You have no choice but to take an exit and go into the edge of a town somewhere. I hate doing that at the best of times, let alone in a place I have never been before and a place where I don't really know the language at that. I didn't want to drive into a town and then get lost and have to find my way back onto the highway I had come from. I drove and I drove and finally my arm and knee was getting numb so I knew that I had to stop. I finally chose an exit and went towards an Esso with an A&W. Sure enough, the moment I got off the exit I made a wrong turn and was headed away from the Esso. Luckily I caught my mistake right away and was able to turn around within a minute or two. 

  I pulled into the parking lot of the Esso and was greeted by a "Horse of a Different Colour". It was a lot of different colours actually.  I filled up my car with gas and then began texting the passengers of the other cars. I found out that everyone else had already stopped for a break long before I had at various other exits. Turns out I was ahead of everyone else. That was fine though because the reservations for the park were in my name so it was probably best that I got there first anyway.  So I hopped back in the car and continued on my way. It was only about an hour or less from this point. 

It had been sunny and hot for most of the drive. But when I was just about 20 minutes away from the park the skies darkened, the clouds rolled in and the rain started pouring. The down pour was so heavy at times that on more than one occasion I was hydro planing with my car. I had to roll up my windows and the glass started to fog up. So then I had to turn on the defrost in the car. I am sure the town I was driving through was quite pretty, but I was having a hard time seeing any of it.  Finally I was happy to see the sign for Parc de la Gorge de Coaticook up ahead of me. 

To get to the park you have to drive through the covered bridge. It was quite picturesque. I loved it, 

 The other side of the covered bridge opens up into a large parking lot with arrows pointing in different directions painted all over it. I was not sure exactly where to go so I chose to follow the arrows on the far left that went towards a little building that looked to me like it was probably the main office. 

I parked my car and got out and went to speak tot he gentleman who was sitting on a chair just outside the door. I was hesitant to talk to him because I was not sure if he knew English at all. I was wondering if maybe I should be waiting for my sister's husband Dean to arrive because he is fluent in french. But I decided to be brave and so I went over to speak to him. Turns out that he knew enough English that we could communicate just fine. He explained that the little building was not the main office, it was just where the sell firewood and he pointed me in the direction of a much larger, round building that was the main office or the "Welcome Center". 

I went inside the Welcome Center and asked one of the girls at the desk if she spoke English. She did not but she got a lady named Manon who did speak English pretty well. I explained that I had reservations and that the rest of my group were still a few minutes away but would arrive soon. 

Manon started processing my reservation and she gave me a green, paper 8 to hang in my car window to indicate that we belonged in the park. The 8 had how many adults and how many children were on the site, as well as the date of arrival and the date of departure. We wondered if they used the shape of the 8 because it was a reminder that you could only drive 8 kilometers in the park or if it was because we were leaving on the 8th. We forgot to ask and we never did find out, but I think it was probably a reminder to drive only 8 kilometers an hour because I didn't see any other numbers hanging from other people's car windows and I figured it would be tricky to get some for departure dates that were double digits, like 22 or something. 

I was dismayed to find out that we were only allowed to have one car per site and that the other cars had to stay in the parking lot at the front gate. It's a little inconvenient but not something I hadn't encountered before at a couple of the Ontario parks. Once we got to the sites we could easily see why this rule was in place. Many of the sites are somewhat small and there really isn't room for multiple vehicles on a site. 

  It wasn't long before everyone else in our group arrived and checked in. Manon told us how there was going to be live music on the patio of the Welcome Center that night (every Saturday evening) and that there would be a movie playing in the upstairs part of the Welcome Center that evening as well (Spiderman, in French). 

​ It was still raining and everyone said that they didn't really want to set up in the rain. However, we did want to see the camp sites. So we took two cars and half of us drove up to the sites while the other half stayed behind at the Welcome Center.

  The sites we had reserved were A8 and A9. We were very surprised to find that another group of campers were already sitting on A8. They had put the backs of 2 hatch backs together with the hatches open and put a tarp over them with a picnic table underneath to form a make shift tent to shield them from the rain that was coming down as they prepared their lunch. I went up to them and tried talking to them but they did not speak English very well. I told them that they were on our site and they said that they were not. I asked them if they had site A8 and they said that they did. So we were confused at this point. 

However, as time went on we doubted that they were ever told that. After about an hour, it stopped raining so we were able to put up the tents on the site that we did have while we waited. 

Since it had been raining, the ground was fairly muddy. There were ferns and undergrowth everywhere and all I could think of was "we are going to be eaten alive by mosquitoes". The amount of ferns made it look like we were camping in a jungle. As it turns out though, the Bracken Ferns along with a forest of Hemlocks, acts as a natural mosquito repellent! We were mosquito free the entire time we were there! It was so wonderful! 

Unfortunately, you couldn't go exploring through the underbrush though because there was a risk of encountering poison ivy. 

We waited for close to the 2 hour mark and as time went by we realized that the people on our site were not even trying to get off it. They were in no hurry at all. They weren't packing up and there had been plenty of time for them to eat and get on their way. So when Dean went down to switch our cars around he went and spoke to Manon about it. In no time at all Manon arrived again. This time she had a security guard with her.  She spoke to the squatters again and told them in no uncertain terms that they had to pack up and leave and they had 5 minutes to do it in. Manon and the security guard stood by and did not leave until the squatters were gone. We were grateful to Manon and the security guard for handling the situation for us in a professional manner. We did not have to deal with the squatters ourselves at all and Manon took care of it all for us. With the squatters gone, we were finally able to put up the other tents. 

Once everything was all set up we were able to relax and explore the park. The sun was shining again and the temperature was getting hot again. Shelli and the girls got their swimsuits on and headed on down to the pool. 

The girls had a water fight at the Splash Pad. 

Penny and I took a walk back down towards the Welcome Center. I marveled at the beautiful Smoke Tree growing on the side of the path. I was particularly interested in this tree because we had just planted a tiny one in my front yard at home and now I could see what it will eventually look like. 

Near the smoke tree is a little pond with a couple of chairs next to it so that you can sit and read a book in the shade. 

The back of the Welcome Center has a huge ramp leading up to a huge open doorway. It kind of reminded me of a barn. 

I was surprised to find that not only was there a large makeshift screen for the movie that would play later that evening, but there were also tables with a bunch of board games for kids to play. There was also a bean bag toss game and a pool table (but Dean told us later that the pool table was small and not the best ... but I was impressed they had one at all). 

Penny and I continued our exploration of the main park grounds. They have a large jungle gym, some swings and slides. They have a picnic area near by too. 

Right above the playground was a large flock of birds (the following days this flock got even larger. I think someone said there were about 70 of them one day. It was amazing!) At first we thought they were turkey vultures, but then we saw some a little closer up as they swooped down and around and we realized that they were not. 

They seemed to be some sort of hawk. Carsten, Penny and I looked them up in Penny's bird book later on. 

As far as we could tell they were Broad-winged Hawks. They migrate in large flocks called "kettles".

The bathroom near our site was not your usual vault toilet. Instead it was a port-a-potty. Normally I am not fond of port-a-pottys but this was was very clean. So clean, in fact, that I didn't even see any insects in it and it didn't smell bad. Unfortunately there was only one to share for everyone on all the surrounding campsites. But it never seemed to be much of a problem. 

We saw some Ragged Robbin flowers on our walk back to the campsite. 

Back at the campsite Penny made a little friend. This little chipmunk would come by every day and seemed to like Penny a lot. Perhaps it was the smell of her shoes.  

We got a fire going for supper. The interesting thing about the fire pit was that it wasn't secured to the ground. It was the bottom of a metal barrel and it still had the bottom in it. So we could drag it around to where ever we wanted to. The down side was that it had no grill so it was hard to cook on. 

And one side had a tall back on it so if you were sitting in a circle around it someone was always looking at the back of the barrel instead of at the flames. 

After supper, Dean took Anika for a walk. Little did she know that it was so that she was distracted and wouldn't see us setting up for her birthday. Since this trip was the Foresta Lumina theme we brought a bunch of things that glowed in the dark. We had balloons that glowed (they were supposed to glow for 15 hours...they glowed for days!! Best birthday balloon purchase ever!). We had glow sticks and glow in the dark rocks and cotton candy and presents.

And there were cupcakes decorated like fairy houses with paper fairies on top. 

The darker it got the better the lights glowed. Anika came back from her walk and was surprised to find the place decorated and presents ready to be opened. 

We wound down the evening with a marshmallow roast over an open fire. 

Aside from the little hic-up when we first arrived with the squatters on our site, we were really enjoying this park so far. And we hadn't even gotten to the best part yet. Tomorrow we were going to see Foresta Lumina!