Grandpa and grandma wanted to take the family on a camping and fishing trip to Blood Indian Creek Reservoir and the trout stocked lake. The kids had not really done any fishing before, so they were quite excited about the idea. We initially planned a four day trip, but cut it down to three given that our first planned day was high winds and driving rains.
Thankfully, we could put most of our camping supplies in their van. It takes an incredible amount of stuff for a family of five to sleep for a couple nights! The sleeping bags alone constituted a small mountain. Someday I will have to invest in some of the more compact ones, either that or a trailer to haul it all in.
Day 1
A 2.5 or so hour long trip highlighted by taking a small ferry across the Red Deer River in the Alberta badlands. It was a beautiful, sunny afternoon to get set up, explore the campground, and for grandpa to introduce the kids to fishing. Around the campfire that night I read the kids a story from the book, “A Fine and Pleasant Misery” by the great outdoors humorist, Patrick F. McManus, called The Purist about how 12 year old boys are the most passionate fishers. Seemed to fit the bill.
Day 2
Rain. And lots more rain. Mostly gentle showers, but a few dark storms went over too. We did have a few breaks in the weather throughout the day while watching the next one coming in. It is big sky country over there with hardly any trees to block your views. Despite the soggy weather, we had a good time hanging out in our oversized tent (which someone had once called the Taj Matent when we set it up at another campground). We read some more stories, played games in our tent, and during some of the breaks in the rain, went fishing.
Five fish were caught by our crew that day, or more accurately, five fish were caught by Adelaine. Ellie and Ethan had a few nibbles, and Ellie now has her own “the-one-that-got-away” story, but only Adelaine actually landed them. At one point she landed two trout at once, one on each hook on her pickerel rig (a “double header”). I think Ethan was a bit put out that she got all the fish!
Day 3
It seems that without the rain to dampen their spirits, the local waterfowl get an early start at the day. By my reckoning, about 4:30AM the symphony started with the geese, followed by the smaller birds. It was a very cold night, and as I lay there reading a book, waiting for the kids to wake up, I am trying to cover every bit of me to fight the chill. I am wearing a toque, in a sleeping bag rated for 5 degrees C (a typical outdoorsy lie, on par with “the fish was this big”, and descriptions of tent sizes that are roomy and “sleep eight), running a little camping heater, and I had finally put on my sweater, yet I could still feel every gap letting in cold air into my sleeping bag. To my great surprise, I watch Ethan slowly wake up and stick his feet out of his sleeping bag and note that he didn’t immediately recoil them back in in shock. Instead, he keeps them exposed to the cold, even spasmodically kicking them around for a while as his 7 year old body charges up it’s daily dose of mischief.
We did get a bit more time drowning bait in the lake, but no bites on this calm morning, so Adelaine retained her record set the previous day. After another hearty breakfast, we begin the slow process of packing up and heading home.
On the way, we stopped by the hoodoos near Drumheller. Adelaine and Ethan were game to climb up to the top to the grasslands above, so I went with them, and then guided them back down past the cacti and the snake we saw along the trail. So fascinating to see the layers that are normally unnoticed beneath our feet, laid down by the great Flood. They each grabbed a sample of the plentiful coal seams that are found in the surreal landscape.
It was a wonderful trip with many new memories made! Thank you grandpa and grandma for making it happen and for all the fantastic food.
