2012 Trip 8: truly a classic park...

Bon Echo PP - Sept 2012

Surprisingly little traffic for a long weekend. Getting out of Ottawa was slow, but once on Hwy 7, it was smooth sailing the whole way to Bon Echo.
Pulled in around 7:30, as it was just starting to get dark. New site this year, and it is quite large, level and with good privacy. Got the Alto backed in and canted to an angle a bit. All done in about 15 minutes.

Settled in, couple of beers to unwind, and put some Rodrigo Y Gabriela on the Tivoli. I guess the genre is Latin/Mexican acoustic, but that would be my attempt at a description. Regardless, the guy can play, and if you like the sound of an acoustic guitar being furiously played, then this guy is worth checking out. He also covers a few well known songs, and they are pretty fine as well.

chillin...

Saturday:
Serious relax this morning, getting the coffee together is about as strenuous as it got. Spent a little time catching up with my trip spreadsheet, where I track all the campground info where we stay, as well as our mileage and fuel consumption. This is also a good way to keep track of how far we have travelled with the Alto so far.

Went for a good bike ride, as this huge park is great for cycling. Travelled all over, stopped at the lagoon, where they have a park fundraising bbq every weekend and grabbed a couple of brats for lunch. Viewed the iconic Bon Echo rock...rising 400 ft out of the water. The water appears very low this year which is understandable after the dry summer we had this year. Afterwards, spent the afternoon at the beach. Bon Echo has a nice beach. It is a good size with lots of room for all, and the sand extends well out into the lake. Water temp was still nice, so the noodles got a lot of float time. Lots of activity on the beach, as the park is packed this weekend. Labour Day is truly the other bookend of the summer, everyone absorbing as much fun as they possibly can.

Bunch of sliders for dinner, with sides of potato and macaroni salad, the macaroni only on my plate as Dale is a serious non-fan. And, you guessed it, G&T to start.

Sunday:
We could feel the temperature dropping later in the evening, and the low last night was 51F. Great for sleeping, except Dale did find it a touch chilly so tonight the duvet will be pulled out. Not a cloud in the sky this morning, so it should be another nice afternoon for the beach. At this time of year, when the lakes start to get cooler, time in the water is much more valuable.

Another nice long bike ride, with a stop at the camp office to pick up the Sunday Toronto Star, Dale being a big fan of a morning newspaper read. Wandered around the park looking at sites and how people have them set up. Saw a nice Airstream, but really, they are all nice, regardless of the age. Eyeballed a couple of sites that overlook the Mazinaw Rock, which we will try to reserve for next year. Looking at that impressive mass of granite from your own site would be very cool.

Beach did not seem as crowded today, perhaps a bunch of campers pulled out this afternoon. weather again was fabulous, and the water was great. Swam out a fair bit past the buoy line, but even then, I was never any where near over my head. It was nice just swimming along, practicing various strokes, then just floating to relax. Floating in water has to be one of life's most relaxing moments. Think about it. The vast majority of time we spend grounded to something...our feet on the ground, in a chair at work, asleep at night, all these normal activites, gravity is holding us firmly to the earth. Floating, you are surrounded by water holding you up. No real pressure points, a true sense of being in relaxed limbo. If you are fortunate to be bouyant, it truly is virtually effortless...the simple act of breathing, the air in your lungs keeping you afloat. Perhaps the occasional scull stroke to help you out, but for the most part, nothing. What else can duplicate this feeling?

After the beach we headed into the village of Cloyne to fill up on gas for the drive home tomorrow.  Discovered a neat little village store that sells homemade baked goods, like mini butter tarts and wild blueberry pie, so we just had to buy a bunch, with some peanut butter cookies thrown in as well. These are heading home for future dessert pleasures!

Dinner this evening is Glebe Meat Market beef kabobs with rice, quick and easy.

Monday:
Yet another serious relaxing morning which has been the theme of this weekend. When you are on vacation, perhaps you are really only doing a different type of work. It can get pretty hectic cramming into each day all the things you want to do and see, driving and exploring here and there, that by the end of the day or week, you have not really stopped. So this weekend, the plan was to just move slow, catch up on a few things, and most of all, just simply chill. Mission accomplished.

Some campfires this morning were creating a lot of interesting smoke patterns coming through the trees...

A bite to eat for breakfast, then a couple of power walks around our camp section, and that was pretty much it for the weekend.