2012 Trip 2 - Amazing May Weather...

Silver Lake PP - May 2012

Silver Lake is becoming our Victoria Day Weekend destination.  We are booked into the same site as last year, one that offers nice privacy on 3 sides, and is set in from the road a bit. Traffic was not too bad at all.  Did not notice too many other trailers on the road, which given that we are pulling our own, it is something we seems to keep an eye out for. Even getting out of the city was smooth.
Part of me wonders whether the reduced traffic on the road is a function of the higher gas prices, or do families just not travel much any more. Is this caused by the pace of family life these days? Has organized sports replaced family time? Are kids so active that it is impossible to schedule anything else, be it camping or whatever?

We got backed in and set up with no problems, but then again, there really are few problems you can actually encounter. Plus, we are getting really good at scoping the sites and deciding where to place the Alto. We have continued our routine of grabbing a sandwich to eat on the road, and that works out great. Does not matter what time you roll in, we have already eaten and it is one less thing to be concerned with and our stomachs are not growling to be fed.

The campground is pretty empty, not deserted, but clearly less than the same weekend last year. Where is everyone? We wonder if the drinking ban in Provincial Parts on the May '24' weekend has something to do with it, and that they have all gone to private campgrounds (to drink)??? 

Trilliums are out everywhere in full bloom...Dale spent a while wandering the campground photographing them.

Did a little wander of the campground to see what's around, then retired to the Alto and watched a few episodes of the Big Bang Theory. One of those good TV series that we never got a chance to get into. We are using the downtime on the weekends to catch up on a few of these series that we never watched. Another series we are watching is Mad Men. Heard so much raving about this one that we figured this was a good way to check it out as well.

Saturday...
Woke up to two to three police cars racing by our site with their lights flashing and stopping at the end of the road, then a ambulance followed.  What we could figure out is that a younger woman (from an adjacent site) must of passed out at the washroom, and needed medical help to bring her back?  They spent some time with her but she was not taken away, and was seen afterwards wearing her hoodie with dark sunglasses.  She looks like she has and is still living the hard life...sad for the young boy who appears to be her son.

Jim poked around the trailer and I took a walk down to the beach. Water is quite warm, one lady said that it is the warmest she has felt it in May. Tomorrow the temperature will be rising above 30 degrees so we may be able to jump in for a dip while out paddling.

Got ready and took off for Paul & Helen's cottage to spend the afternoon and stay for dinner.  Late in the afternoon Jim and Paul went off fishing (catch & release), and Helen and I went out paddling around their lake. Their lake is a perfect size for paddling. Came back to a delicious dinner of teryaki chicken thighs, broccoli salad, and roasted potatoes. Beautiful night with longtime good friends.

Sunday...
Got up slowly,leisurely reading and having our classic camping breakfast, homemade egg mcmuffin with cheese and spicy capicolla. Relaxed mostly in the morning, tuned in a radio station to get the latest weather, and as anticipated, it is to be a glorious day. Got ready for a paddle and headed to the lake. Unloaded the kayaks, then decided to check out the water, as there were quite a few people swimming. Being the May weekend, we figured the water would be chilly, and all the people now wading around were just hardy souls. Big surprise, the water temp was very nice. Definitely swimming temp. Had a bit of a dip before heading out, as it really helps keep you cool as you are paddling.

Headed across the bay from the campsite, to the other side of the lake. This is where the cottages are, as Hwy 7 runs right along the water on the side the park is on. The water is almost flat as glass, just a tiny bit of a breeze to help keep you cool, but not enough to bother your paddle. Lots of cottagers up this weekend. Not only is it awesome weather, but it is the traditional weekend to open up. People were all by the shore, either putting in their docks or boats, or just relaxing in the sun. Plenty are swimming or just floating around in the water.

Made our way almost to the end of the lake, a perfect paddle. The water is very clear and deep in places, and the shoreline is a combination of rocky and sandy parts. There is a fair amount of tall weeds coming up from the bottom, perhaps this is a byproduct of the water being so clear. The sun must reach down pretty far, and this probably helps the growth of these weeds. The do not for the most part reach the surface, but still odd to see so much of it. Not as bad as Opinicon Lake, where we went a couple of summers ago. Now that lake was really congested with weeds. Again, really clear water, but clogged right to the surface. That was a challenging enjoyable paddle.

classic rocky pine shoreline...

 When we got back, we went for another little swim, then sat in our chairs on the grass. Dale was reading her book, and I took a Magic Eraser to the kayaks. This does an incredible job of removing all sort of little marks and stains from the bottom of the kayaks. They truly look brand new afterwards. While relaxing and watching the people, there was a commotion at the dock area. A young couple were sitting on the shore, which is really a built to be a dock, and all of a sudden she jumps straight up and is screaming. Naturally, this gets everyone's attention. Nothing disasterous going on, as she settled down right away, and they were now looking at whatever was on the dock, from a safe distance I might add. I wandered down to where they were, along with a few others, to see what had happened, and what they were looking at. From her explanation, the two of them were just sitting, legs dangling in the water, with lots of sunfish swimming around them. She was looking at the sunfish, when from the deep, this huge water snake came barrelling straight up towards the surface, chomps down on the belly of a sunfish, and propels itself and the sunfish right out of the water and up onto the dock...right beside her. Hence the screaming. Hell, I'd be screaming too!. It then released the fish, spun around and grabbed it head first.

Then the swallowing started. Naturally the fish was flopping around like crazy, but it was seriously overmatched. One big problem...the fish was too big for the snakes mouth. Try as it might, it could not seem to stretch enough to get much past the gills... and it had a way to go from there. This went on for easily an hour, with the snake trying to find ways to leverage this poor fish down for its meal. A little bit of nature taking place before our eyes, but still creepy just the same.

 Got back to the trailer and checked the temperature. Outside it was 90F, and inside it was 93F. Quite the temps for May. Dinner tonight is chicken ceasar. Q'd up some thighs, sliced them, and mixed all the parts together... Very yummy. Relaxed in the evening, started to watch a vid, but one of us was soon dozing off. Seems to be cooling off nicely, so it should make for a nice sleep.

Monday...
Cooled off nicely last night. Pretty quiet morning. We certainly have no problem just hanging out and relaxing in the morning, and that is exactly one of the benefits we look for with our weekends away. At home, we always seem to be doing something, and by the end of a day, you feel a little exhausted. In the Alto, relaxing is the first order of the morning, well, that and getting the coffee going...

Started to get things sorted to pull out. We are stopping in Perth to see our friend Paula, so we plan to pull a little earlier than normal. So the end of an amazing May weekend draws to a close, the hightlight being a nice swim in May, something that you are not able to say many years.