Scored the same site we had last year, and our friends Tanya & Malcolm were able to do the same. These are perhaps the best of all the waterfront sites.
Rolled in Sunday afternoon, a nice sunny day, but the wind was coming in strong off the river. It was also a tad cool, and that would become the predominant theme of the week here. There was a fire ban in effect, so after dinner we sat out, got caught up, and enjoyed the setting sun.
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| Malcolm serving up a tasty liquor |
Seriously dull and overcast the next morning, the Driftwood Gods had the wind just pounding the shoreline. More often than not, this is what is to be expected at Driftwood...great park, but the weather off the Ottawa can be predictably unfavourable. Water was really choppy, so kayaking was out of the question. We went for a good hike up to an overlook of the Ottawa River, then back around through the woods. The woods offered a welcome respite from the constant wind, and it was much warmer. Malcolm & Tanya made up a tasty BBQ rib dinner, with a side of skillet potatoes and onions.
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| classic Driftwood |
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| cute to find along the trail |
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| the Jackson Pollock of rock painting |
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| Skillet Master |
A bit of rain overnight, and Tuesday was much the same weather wise. Another nice hike got us out of the wind, but was a bit challenging as we had to do some rock scrambling over a river run off bed a couple of times. Kinda fun mind you. We made up a dinner of grilled salmon with mango salsa, sitting on a bed of coconut rice. A recipe blatantly stolen from our friend Nancy. A strawberry meringue dessert had a nice summer vibe.
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| that wall of rain was not shifting |
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| nice sunset after a dull chilly day |
Wednesday served up a nice sunny day. The wind died down a bit, so the goal of the day was to get out for a kayak. We decided to head over to the MacKay Creek boat launch, and paddle back out to the Ottawa. It was nice and calm on the water, and the creek is really wanting to be a river. Great paddle along the shoreline, lots of birds to see, and interesting trees and foliage. Once we got to the mouth of the creek, we knew we made a good call on the paddle location as the Ottawa was pretty churned up by the wind. Back into the calm of the creek, enjoying a nice peaceful paddle back to the launch. A great paddle, finished off with mojitos on our sunny beach.
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| Tanya |
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| Dale rocks the Coureur des bois style |
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| beach mojitos |
Although the wind was up back at the campsite, we were able to sit outside and have dinner. Flank steak and a side of skillet rice with sausage and veggies made a hearty meal.
Rained real heavy overnight, which quite frankly was just fine, as most of the province was under a fire ban. It turned out to be a cold windy day, and many times we watched as a dark rain cloud moved across the river bay directly towards us. It was a day of relaxing, drinking coffee, and just hanging out.
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| Barley demanding attention |
Malcolm BBQ’d up some burgers for dinner, I made up some skillet grilled baby potatoes, and the weather drove us inside to eat in the toasty warmth of the Alto. The trusty Truma furnace ran most of the week, pushing back against the windy cold.
Up and broke camp early the next morning. Although the weather kinda sucked, we had a great time with Malcolm & Tanya...excellent camping neighbours, always lots of good conversation and laughs.
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