Oct
2020

Putting the Camping Season to bed…

I am thankful that even though they tightened the health restrictions we can still do Cheer… A little differently, but we still can!

He said

This weekend was the official last, real weekend of camping. We will be back to the trailer next Friday night but that will be basically to button her up and get ready for her winter nap. Saturday we will hitch up and pull Wolfie III out of her summer fun zone and bring her to her winter resting locale and say our goodbyes to Auburn Riverside Retreat for the winter. In six months (but, who’s counting?) we will be back to spend another glorious, summer season. And I won’t lie – it was bittersweet this weekend – knowing this was our last hurrah.

We never saw ourselves becoming seasonal campers as the one thing that really hooked us to trailer life originally was being able to hitch up our mobile abode and move the places that appealed to us. It was nice to spend our summers being able to take in some of our favourite locations and not be pinned to one spot. With a global pandemic, along came the need to find something that would afford us the ability to get away from the city and to be able to use the trailer. When Auburn (and a seasonal site) became that reality, we thought we’d give it a try and see how we felt. And not even a month in, both our camp neighbours The Sherwood’s and us were already talking about next year.

To say we were pleasantly surprised with being stuck in one place for the summer is the understatement of the year. We quickly found out that the Goderich To Guelph Rail Trail was a short bike ride from the park and I had somewhere I could get out for my daily bike rides. Down the road (or 10km on the bike path) there is Cowbell Brewing. And then of course the setting of this trailer park was less trailer park and more Provincial Park which suited us perfectly. Added that there is tubing to do on the Maitland River out the back of our river-side campsite, and then the elk farm at the back end of the campground and we have everything that we could want. The added bonus is that our camp neighbours are The Sherwood’s!

While the weekend was fairly chilly the fire and the laughter with friends really kept us cozy. I was able to get in my last ride of the season on the Goderich To Guelph Rail Trail on a sunny but crisp, beautiful autumn afternoon. It’s amazing to see the transformation of the park as more than half of the seasonal campers are packed up and gone, and a good portion of the leaves are down off the trees. It truly looked like a different place. It was sad to say our unofficial goodbyes to the park today but it’s also great to know that in six, short months, we will be back!

She said

Things are finally starting to settle in for us. I had my first week at work and I feel I am adjusting well and fitting in with the small group. Everyone has been so supportive and the management there are so amazing. It has been a bit of an adjustment for us as a family as I am used to being able to get things done in the day but the fallbacks are far outweighed by the new job—the freedom of having our home be a safe harbour for Emelia and us in very uncertain times.

This week was also my birthday, I received flowers from my new boss and got a very generous gift from Emelia and John—I finally have my own pair of AirPods! I have been wanting these for a while and now that I am back to working out before work I am loving that I have them even more. On my actual birthday Emelia and I spent the evening together as John had to work. Emelia really wanted to get me something just from her for my birthday and she wanted it to be personal things for my office. She and I went out and she picked out somethings to make things feel more personal and remind me of her while I am at work. It was the perfect way to spend my birthday.

By Friday we were all more than ready to head up to the trailer for what is going to be our last full weekend of the season. We arrived to some cold rain so we opted after supper to spend the night inside with our friends watching movies and sharing some laughs. Saturday we woke to cold temps but lots of sunshine. We took the day pretty lazy but did get some of the end of the season packing done. We were able to soak in some time around the fire after getting back from town to see one more sunset while grabbing some dinner for Emelia. It was a sweet end to the strangest summer.

We will miss the trailer, we will miss the place that we could feel life was somewhat normal, miss time with friends, miss nature and the slower pace that trailer gave us. So the countdown is already on, only 26 Saturdays until we can be back at the trailer for another season – not that we are counting.

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