Killbear Family Camping Weekend

Blake's family has gone camping for his whole life. Every year, in July, they head down to Pinery Provincial Park and camp. Usually, they meet up with the Campbell side of the family that he, unfortunately, doesn't get to see very often, and they have a "family camp". Sadly, the number of campers has dwindled over the years, so this year they had a family picnic. Due to the distance and the limited amount of actual family time, Blake and I decided not to go to this year's family picnic. It was just too far for us to travel. Instead, the weekend after the picnic, Blake's parents and siblings decided to start their own "family camp" tradition. This year, we chose to camp in Killbear Provincial Park. We were supposed to stay for a week, but since Blake is still in training for his new job, he was unable to take the time off. So, we just stayed for the weekend. The campsite was the furthest from us and traveling was tricky since Blake and I both worked on the Friday, so we didn't leave until about 6 p.m. The whole journey took us about 3 1/2 - 4 hours. I drove the first leg of the journey, but only made it about an hour and a half before I started to get "hangry" and we had to stop. I wasn't in the mood for fast food, so we went to an Independent grocery store and bought buns and a whole cooked chicken. I wanted to make it to the campsite before dark, so we didn't have time to stop and eat the chicken. I'm not sure if you have ever tried to dismember a chicken in a moving vehicle before, but it isn't easy. I had, of course, taken the passenger seat at this point while I attempted to make us chicken sandwiches for dinner. The drive felt long, but we eventually made it before it got too dark. Luckily, we didn't have to set up a tent at this point since Blake's parents had agreed to let us just sleep in the camper trailer. It wasn't long before we crashed after our long and busy day.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early. I had made a promise to myself that I wouldn't look at my phone while camping, so I was unsure of the exact time that I woke up, but the sun was up. I just knew that I was going to wake up when I wanted, eat when I was hungry, and sleep when I was tired. The habits of a true camper. I had really wanted to see the sunrise during this weekend, but both mornings I just barely missed it. I decided to head up to rocks to enjoy the views before the rest of the world woke up. It was so peaceful being up there alone, just thinking and reading. I even met another camper that was walking their golden retriever puppy along the rocks. It didn't get much better for me than that morning. Pure bliss. After about an hour or so, I headed back down to the campsite to spend time with the early risers. That morning, we had egg mcmuffins, then gathered our stuff to spend the rest of the day at the beach. We stayed in Harold's Point at Killbear and the beach was steps away from our campsite. I'm just going to say it, there's nothing more freeing than peeing in the lake. Did you really camp if you didn't pee in the lake at least once? I don't think so. Anyways, it was fun frolicking in the water with Blake and getting a (protected) tan. I've been reading the Patrick Melrose novels, while also watching the show, so it was great to have time to read too. We spent the rest of the day relaxing and catching up with Blake's parents and siblings. At the end of the evening, Blake and I watched the sunset together on the rocks. I then, quickly fell asleep in my chair, while everyone chatted around the campfire. I'm always first to fall asleep. It truly was the perfect camping day.

On Sunday morning, Blake got up with me to go and sit on Harold's Point rocks. It was nice to spend a quiet morning alone together. It was another great way to start off the day. When we went back to the site, everyone was shocked to see Blake awake. He's not known to be an early riser. We were in charge of breakfast that morning, so we made french toast. Just after we started making breakfast, it started to rain, so everyone piled into the trailer. While everyone was in the trailer, I chose to stay outside, under the tarps, and read my book. I got out my umbrella for extra protection, but was able to stay relatively dry. I can't read if people are talking, so I took this moment for myself. I probably looked like a lone wolf, just outside all by my lonesome, but I didn't mind. I did eventually go inside and spend some time with the family. After lunch, Blake and I headed home. We made it home late, so we just ended up eating Beefaroni for dinner, but it was just what we needed to end our busy weekend.

Hopefully next year we are able to go camping for longer because I think this will be a great new tradition for the Aylward family! I can't wait!