Tuesday, September 2, 2008

I Survived -- Barely!

It rained ! It poured !
It hailed ! It snowed!
It FROZE !

But I survived !

Thank you ! one and all for your kind comments and sending your prayers with me !
And yes !!!!! I did look longingly at the RV’s and Motor homes that so WARMLY and COMFORTABLY housed their camping owners !

It really was unseasonally COLD ! The night time temps went to freezing … 0’C / 32’F. We spent the evenings close to the campfire in temperatures just above freezing.
The four days we were there the mercury never climbed above 10’C/50’F.

I will save my ‘story pictures’ for my next posts …. But I would like to share here some of my favourite photos from the more than 300 my husband and I took.

I invite you to scroll down and click for the enlarged view - I added comments where necessary.

Friday morning the weather did not look great -- we could just make out the top of our mountain as we stood on our driveway ready to leave!

Then less than an hour down the road, the sky looked promising ... But .. that was to be the theme of our camping weather! Promises, promises is all we got !! If someone looked up and said .. "Ohh .. look... blue sky !!" and the response was slow in coming ... it was already raining !!
As we drove into the campgrounds there was a sign on the bulletin board warning campers to be on the look-out for a mother bear in the area.
This is the closest I got to a bear - wearing a green moss wig !!

BUT.. you never know what is lurking in the forest with its sinister eyes following you!
My husband took the below untouched photo because he thought the moss formation on the tree was interesting. He turned his camera to shoot the photo so of course that is how it came up on our computer screen !! To our amazement here was the face of the allusive Sasquatch !

Vic likes to get up early and walk down to the lake and watch the sun rise. With the unco-operative weather the sunrise was not spectacular . The sky would clear at night to reveal the amazingly bright stars, but by morning it was ready to play the cat and mouse cloud/clearing/rain game !





What did we do the four days we were there ?
Well for one thing, Lovella, I DID make roll kuchen... I have NEVER made roll kuchen before when my hands were FREEZING - even above the frying pan ! and this was mid afternoon! But they were a hit and orders are already in for next year !
We drove higher up on the mountain to a look-out !
No - our friend's son is not in danger of falling off the cliff -- he is just 'posing' for the camera !! That's me busy taking a photo.

We spent a fair bit of time around the campfire !! It was WARM. Again , that's me in the pink cap ! No blow dryer, no curling iron ?? time for a cap !!!
Where we camped there is a string of four lakes. A trail circles three of them and we did the loop.
Brandon overlooking the valley from a trail we hiked higher on the mountain where we could look down on the ski resort below . It was snowing while we were on this trail . If you look closely at the enlarged view you can see the snow flakes on Brandon's clothing !
While the Lord was merciful to us in allowing us to get our tent up before a rain storm hit it was apparent the next morning that a tarp was going to be a necessity ! So it was the three men's joint effort to get the tarp up. Of course it has to be tied HIGH on a tree !! A bundle of wood adds inches to a man's height !

but not enough !! Well, there is a reason why some men are bigger than others... Sometimes it just helps out !!!
and so the tarp was successfully raised !!

When the sun peaked out ... it was cause to take a photo !! quick !!!! This is on the lake trail.

Sorry these photos are a bit mixed up. I wish blogger would let you rearrange your photos without doing the whole reload !! The photo below is looking down on our campsite which is a very short walk from the lake in the distance.
Back to the lake trail.
A bridge over the lake .. It is higher than it looks.. and is a favorite jumping off place for those who dare !! This week-end it was rather deserted for obvious reasons ! although my kids who joined us on Sunday happened to be at the bridge when a young man was dared to jump off for a bribe of $20.00 .. He MUST have been desperate for money because he stripped to his underwear and jumped off ! Not surprisingly he surfaced gasping at the shock of the 'freezing chill' of the water !





With the larger views obscured by cloud ..... I happily focused on the little things which I love . The flowers were still blooming .... and the mushrooms/fungus were everywhere. Here are a few of my shots.






These were so tiny !! Adorable in miniature land. So to show the relative size, Brandon's finger ring is encircling them !







A meadow of daisies and other wild flowers.


Although it was very cold and rainy.... we did still enjoy God's creation and the fellowship of good friends and we had hours of God-talk ! My favorite subject !!
More to come tomorrow !!

9 comments:

Lovella ♥ said...

Oh Shoot, I don't know if you meant this post to be comical but I seriously laughed out loud. . . at parts.
I love that you made Rollkuchen, what a dear person you are to make them with freezing fingers.
It was definately colder for you than us. We said when we were there that we wouldn't go that late again and you went even later.
The pictures are great and I look forward to the God Talk. .

Betty said...

Wow! I can´t wait to see the rest! Even though it rained you have some very very beautiful pics! I love them. Too bad it was so cold, but I´m sure you still had fun.

Anonymous said...

I LOVE your pics! The lake was beautiful and so were the sunrises and the tiny mushrooms. I'm still laughing at Vic standing in Brandon's hands! I'm so glad you survived another year of camping ... especially with that Sasquatch lurking so close by!

Elsie said...

Beautiful pictures! Love the "bear", and the Sasquatch picture is hilarious! The ring around the mini mushrooms really gives the perspective on how small they are. Hopefully next year you'll be able to go in July, in a motor home, now wouldn't that just be perfect?

Anonymous said...

Julie, your photos and comments are great! Despite the cold, it seems that you had a very nice time. I'm not much for camping, so I can't imagine deliberately camping when it's cold and rainy! For those views (and the rollkuchen), however, I'd bundle up for a nice long hike!

James Janzen said...

Welcome home! Your pictures are awesome. I love the scenery pics of the lakes and trails best. You really need a motor home if you are going to keep doing this.

Lavinia said...

I'm just loving reading about the cold....I wish I were there....

These photos are AMAZING!!! It truly looks like God's country...what magnificent scenery, and you got some very lovely shots. The sasquatch...and here I was thinking that was a BC myth!

Lovely vistas in all your shots....but, sigh, I am just not one for camping. A cozy cabin in the woods sounds good, though..

Judy said...

I felt so sorry for all the campers the last few weeks...that just was not camping weather! But you do have beautiful photos...and I'm sure it will be a camping trip to remember always.

Demara said...

oh what lovely photos you took! Was that Vic standing on the tall man's shoulders? And snow? wow i sure don't want to see that up close anytime soon. i'm enjoying the sun! when it decides to shine!!

i'm glad you're back safe and sound.

missed you