Amplified Thoughts

It's a camping life for me!

It's a great time when you get to go camping two weekends in a row! It certainly doen't happen all that often, at least not in my life! First off, Kyle Liz and I headed down the the coast to take in Summit Pacific's Grad ceremony. We were able to get away on a Thursday night, and so arrived at our campground at Cultus Lake at 1:30am. The next day, we had all day to do whatever we wanted! So, Liz went to visit her grandparents while Kyle and I rode the Skytrain into Vancouver and back, stopping in a Long & McQuade in Surrey to check out some guitars :)

The next day, we packed up our site just in time .... as soon as we started to head out down came the rain! There is nothing worse then packing up your camping gear while it's wet - so we were very blessed! We decided to take our time on the way home, and travel the Hope-Princeton Hwy, rather the taking the Coquihalla. Such a beautiful drive!! We even went off the main road a bit to check out where Lizs'family used to camp in the summer, although at this time of year there was quite a bit of snow still!

Fast forward to the next week: I'm trudging along in my week, when I get a phone call from my cousin. Turns out her daughter broke her arm a couple of weeks ago, and since the arm wasn't healing properly (doctor's fault) they needed to travel down to Children's Hospital in Vancouver. I gladly told them that I'd love to drive them down, and so we did.

Part two of camping ... while they were at the hospital: I camped at Porteau Cove, just south of Squamish, which is right on Howe Sound! It was one of the most beautiful sites I've ever been to! Tenting sites ... right on the ocean - how great is that! So I set up my site, and took off to hang in Van for a bit before returning. As I set up my stuff, I realized that in my rush to get on the road at 5am - I forgot my sleeping bag. No problem, I thought, I'll pick one up this afternoon at MEC, or find a cheap one at Canadian Tire or something. Turns out I didn't have time to get over to MEC, so I thought I'd head up to Squamish for supper (Taco Bell ... why isnt' there one in Vernon!!!!!) and look for a place to get an inexpensive sleeping bag there. Turns out, Squamish is much smaller then I remembered it. No Canadian Tire, that I could see, no Wal Mart - and nothing open at that hour where I could buy some bedding. So ... do I drive all the way back to North Van to pick up a sleeping bad, or just tough it out? I decided, foolishly, to tough it out.

After watching some seals play in the surf, and a large cargo ship go sailing by, I layed up my clothes are prepared to enjoy some sleep. Yah, um.. that didn't happen. I was soo cold!!! I even thought about asking some of the neighboring campers if they had a blanket to spare, but didn't. I did eventually fall asleep, although not for more then an hour or two at a time. All this to say, I will never forget my sleeping bag again!! And, I really enjoyed my two camping trips ... got so much thinking, reading, and pondering done. I mean, how great is it to read a great book on a sunny day, on the ocean!! Priceless!

posted by Jesse @ 11:46 a.m.