Camping? Anyone?

I dare anybody to go camping with us. ANYBODY!!!! Do you have the guts? Do you have the determination? Do you have the DARE?????

I swear we have some of the worst luck camping. (Yes, I know it could be worse, but for the dramatic flair I need for this story to be interesting, we're going with THE worst luck.) Last summer we had a nice trip planned. Down to Radium Springs, some golfing, a little hot springing, sightseeing. You know, the usual vacation touristy stuff. Then up to Banff to stay overnight at Lake Louise, because we've never been there. Then up through the parks to the Columbia Icefields to do a tour and on to Jasper to camp a couple nights before we headed home. Well, first stumbling block....I was pregnant and sick. My patience was low and I felt like crap. Morning sickness, heartburn, headaches, tired. Made for some really fun camping. Hear my sarcasim. Radium was nice and hot. +30 degrees and sunny. Lake Louise was rainy and cold. Whatever, we can handle the rain. Did I mention we did this trip at the end of July? Columbia Icefields the rain was coming down sideways. So no, we did not stop to tour. Jasper, much more of the same. Whatever, we'd spend a night and see what the next morning was like. Woke up to snow. Yes, people; SNOW! Yes, I know this is Alberta and the weather changes. But we did not pack for snow. Plus we had the slide out on the trailer and the awning down, and the snow piled up and our battery ran low on the trailer....we did NOT have full hook ups. Whatever. It was not a pretty site. We did get luck and were able to pull our awning in still intact. There was a point when I thought we were going to lose it. And the slide leaked like a sieve. But we managed to pack up and head home.

So this past weekend we headed down to Kananaskis. Now it is the end of May and the forecast called for heavy rains and low temps. Whatever...I've been through rain AND snow, I packed appropriately. 1030pm on Thursday we turn into Kananaskis and five minutes down the road the heavy rains turn to SNOW! Yep, snow. AGAIN! Hey, I packed appropriately. Lil' Miss had her rain gear and boots, long sleeves and pants. So did I. Mr. Hubs....he did not. I warned him. We'll leave it at that. So regardless of the snow collecting on the highway, we continue on. Mr. Hubs, he's ok pulling the trailer. He wasn't panicking...yet. We pull into Mt.Kidd and park in our site. The snow is just a-coming down. We don't roll out the awning, we don't put out the slide. Trailer is still somewhat functional without the slide. Tuck the kiddos into bed and roll ourselves up into our sleeping bags.

Yes, it was still snowing when we woke up. The snow plows were out, plowing out the very undeserving campers. Take note that the road Lil' Miss is walking on has already been plowed once.

People, I want you to look at how much snow has accumulated on that picnic table. There is a good foot there. And this is in the morning at about 1000am. So, what does one do when this happens? You can only hangout so long in a crowded trailer colouring, playing 'crazy eyes' (don't ask), and taking family portraits (on a different camera...). So daddy and Lil' Man had a nap and Lil' Miss and I went outside for some winter activities.

This included running through the snow, throwing snowballs at each other, and of course building snowmen. This is Lil' Miss' attempt at stacking snow.

And here are the mommy and daddy snowmen we built together. Take note of the snowman on the left. It sports a had designed and built by the Lil' Miss.

So that killed about an hour. It was 230pm and still snowing. What do fair weather campers like us do at this point? We pack up and head for non-snowing ground. We figured even if we camped somewhere else in the rain, at least we could safely put the slide on the trailer out and roll out the awning. So that is what we did. We headed for Calgary. And visited family. Camped in a nice campground there and got nothing but sunshine (for the most part).

So....the dare is still there.....Any takers? Wanna go camping?????