The Girls Gather Again

It's that time of year again where the girls gather for their annual camping get together. This year we were back in Driftwood Provincial Park. 

There were a few of us missing, but the ones that were able to make it were excited to be there. 

I brought gifts in the form of marshmallow roasting sticks that I had put their names on using a wood burning tool that I bought this year. Wasn't the most beautiful work, but it got the job done. 

Melissa was our official Fire Tender. 

We have been gathering once a year for about 6 years or so now. Over the course of that time we have had a couple of T-shirts made as souvenirs. Anika and Julie both wore theirs on this occasion. 

We helped each other put up tents and get their luggage inside. 

Diana brought some decorative lights to give the sites a nice homey feel to them. 

It was nice to catch up after not seeing each other for about a year. 

The sun was shining and it was beautiful weather for the entire weekend. 

However, for the first time that we have ever been here, we were not able to go into the water because there was blue-green algae.  You could see it floating around as the waves rolled up onto the shore. Despite notices being posted at the Park Office warning people to stay out of the water, we could still see some people swimming. 

Not all algal blooms are harmful. However, all naturally occurring blooms of cyanobacteria have the potential to be toxic. Blooms can appear and disappear within days or even hours, and be non-toxic one day and producing toxins the next. At the mild end of the spectrum, some blooms cause skin irritation if you swim in the water. By ingesting these toxins, health concerns may include:

• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Numbness of mouth and extremities
• Headache
• Dizziness
• Confusion
• Short-term memory deficits and motor weakness
• Respiratory problems
• Paralysis of the muscles of the chest and abdomen possibly leading to death

They had us at "skin irritation". We weren't taking any chances and decided to stay out of the water. 

Besides, the view from shore was a lovely one. 

Not only that but there were Monarch butterflies feeding off of the milkweed plants all along the shoreline to look at. 

And on the same plants we could also see a number of Monarch caterpillars. 

Actually the various types of caterpillars were quite plentiful here this year. 

We saw Pink-Striped Oakworm Moth caterpillars.

And Rosy Maple Moth caterpillars. There were a lot of those. 

And a couple of little green inch worms. 

Every year that we go to Driftwood we always have to go and look for "Our Log".  It floats in the river all year long and over the course of the winter it moves around. Every year we have to go look for it to see where it ended up. Sometimes it floats quite a ways away and other times it is close to where it was the year before.  After a bit of a walk we found it. Of course we couldn't go in the water to go sit on it but it was nice to just see it. It's like greeting an old friend. 

Once the sun started to go down we began to start thinking about what to eat for dinner. 

Melissa had brought with her a pair of blue welding gloves so that she could put food on the grill and take it off without worrying about getting burnt. 

Ingenious!  Now we are all thinking about going out and getting ourselves a pair of welding gloves for camping! 

And for dessert?  One of the girls tried a new take on S'mores. Instead of using graham crackers, they used a waffle cone. It turned out pretty sweet! 

That night we added some colour changing packets to the fire and watched the colours of the flames dance in the darkness. 

The rest of the weekend was spent mostly around the fire talking, laughing and drinking. 

We didn't mind that there was not a whole lot going on. We were still happy. Doing nothing was all that we wanted to be doing. 

By the end of the weekend we were all a bit hung over, and running on only a little bit of sleep. 

Even our Fire Tender was in need of a nap by this time. 

Looks like we will need a vacation from our vacation.  :)  ​

But we wouldn't change a thing. 

We have a full year to rest up so that we can do it all again.  See you girls again next year!