Jul
2019

We’re baaaaack!

I had so much fun seeing my cousin Marshall, playing at the beach and camping for a whole week!

He said

When you plan a week of camping you hope that the weather you get is okay. I mean you’re outdoors for a week, it is a foregone conclusion that there will be at least some rain in the forecast. And part of what got us into two brand new trailer upgrades in the last three years was the idea of being a growing family and being trapped inside when inevitably it rains. Both Wolfie Too and now, Wolfie III were the space we needed with a 12 year old daughter who is close to eclipsing my height.

When we booked this trip six months ago, it was the dead of winter and we envisioned a less snowy and more sunny week deep down knowing that we’d be happy if we got two or three days of sun. What we ended up getting was nine straight days of sun and absolutely zero rain. What was even better was we had a hot spell that put temperatures over 30ºC for four or five days and heated up Arrowhead Lake to make it the perfect place to spend a good chunk of our days. In fact the water was so warm on Saturday that it felt warmer when the temps dipped down to 28ºC.

Part of our reason to choose Arrowhead was because it puts us 30 minutes down the road from Charlie, Todd and Marshall in Bracebridge. But, this park is quickly becoming one of our favourites and solidifying it’s spot in our every summer plans. It’s seven minutes to downtown Huntsville – a beautiful little town considered to be the heart of The Muskoka region. As we said it is also close to Charlie, Todd and Marshall in Bracebridge, and equally beautiful little town. The camp sites are huge with tons of green space, and the lake is shallow, sandy and beautiful to swim in. And the site we chose two years ago, 262, is the perfect for our trailer and allows room for Charlie, Todd and Marshall to stay on the site in their tent.

One of the fun happy accidents to happen this week is a band that we love Bahamas that we have friends in was playing in Huntsville at the Algonquin Theatre for two nights. So, Charlie, Danielle, Emelia and I went to see them Thursday night. It was a great show and we got to visit with our friend Christine who plays in the band after the show. Christine’s partner Ali who we’ve been great friends with for some time just bought a Trillium trailer like our Wolfie and we got to geek out over upgrades and things that they can do to upgrade the trailer and make it their own! Seven minutes after the show, we were back at the campsite which was a treat.

The rest of our week really was sleeping in – waking up when our bodies told us to – enjoying our coffee and breakfast while listening to CBC under the large awning of Wolfie III, and planning our days at the beach on Arrowhead Lake. We got in bike rides around the park, took in the sites at Big Bend Lookout and Stubb’s Falls, as well as saw the brand new Visitor Centre. We ended almost all of our nights playing cards by the campfire, having s’mores or watching a movie together. Some of the nights Emelia even asked to go to bed and put herself to sleep. It was pure bliss.

Today came sooner than we wanted it too—as the last day of camping always does. But, there was not one single moment we wished we were somewhere else or were we ready to be back home yet. I guess that’s the best sign of a camping trip gone well, when you’re pulling out of the site thinking, “can’t we just stay another week?”. The trip back home was peppered with the usual traffic tie-ups on Highway 400 once we got between Barrie and Toronto. It was a long, hot ride that Emelia decided took entirely too long. But, we’re home now.

I couldn’t have wished for and gotten a better week away in Wolfie III and our skin is all sharing varying degrees of pink & crispy to tell you about the amazing weather we had. We’re full on memories and smiles of a week well spent with family friends and – most importantly – each other—and we have the pictures to prove. And while it’s a little sad to put the ending thoughts for this trip out, the reality is in two and a half weeks we’re back out again in Wolfie III for a weekend trip close to home at new home rink campground, Golden Pond.

She said

What an amazing week! This week could not have been more perfect if it tried. After a a long, wet and cold spring the weather this week was exactly what we all needed.

As the week came closer we were stalking all the weather apps and at first the weather was looking like lots of rain and moderate temperatures. As the week got closer the weather started really looking up. As the week ended the weather was only calling for rain for one or maybe two days. Well the forecasts were all off, we didn’t have a drop of rain and even had some unseasonably hot days. It could not have been more perfect. As the heat kicked in the bugs moved out and it let us enjoy campfires every night and lots of time outside enjoying one of the most beautiful parks.

As John said we booked this trip months ago, we didn’t anticipate having any problems booking so I missed the starting booking date which meant I got logged into Park Ontario’s website to find that Arrowhead was booked solid for all their electrical sites for the Canada Day weekend. We opted to arrive on Canada Day and stay until Sunday. As John’s work schedule for July was coming together we found out that he had the open shift on the prior Saturday and Sunday off. With the new trailer we wanted to be out as many possible days we could. Knowing there was a chance we would be rolling into the campsite late we opted to book on the other side of Barrie close to Orilla and not venture too far into the Mukokas to allow us to get to our site before dark. John ended up being off at noon which allowed us to get on the road earlier and have our trailer set up at Heidi’s Campground by suppertime.

The park served the purpose, not the best campground but it did have an inside pool and hot tub with a fair bit to explore for the two days we were there.

Canada Day morning we got up earlish got things cleaned up and headed on the way to Arrowhead which was about 90 minutes down the road. The second we set up the trailer on our favourite site the stress level dropped instantly. We just love this park. Second only to Bon Echo, Arrowhead is quickly becoming our top campground. For campsites it is hands down our favourite campground. They are massive, private and tree covered. It was perfection!

Once we had supper we packed up and headed into Bracebridge to meet up with Charlie and her family for the Canada Day celebrations. I have to say we are blown away at the who celebrations, for a town of 16,000 it is way beyond and above what we even see here in London. The whole downtown is set up with activities and then there is the fireworks – WOW just WOW!

We got back to the site late that night and settled in to wait for the arrival of Charlie and her family the next day to join us at the campground. Once again we were so lucky that they had some time off to join us to camp for a couple days. Adding to the fun this year was the addition of Todd’s nephews for a few days. The kids all hit it off and played and explored for the next two days. It was exactly what we hoped for. Lots of time as a family in nature.

The week went by far too fast and we are back to reality again tomorrow. But in just over 2 weeks we are out again for an extended weekend to spend time together before Emelia is off to her first sleep away camp. The summer is off to a perfect start, and we cannot wait to make a million little memories this season.

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