Camping in the Kootenay Plains

{the view from our campsite}

The other weekend (Father's Day weekend), we ventured out on our first camping trip of the year! We really didn't have any plans to camp in June, but when my best friend Karen invited us to join her family and some others at a group site, we figured why not! Karen and her family camp a lot, but we've never been able to join them before. I knew it would be a blast for Sully to have other kids to play with during the day, and the beauty of camping with your friend who has a trailer is chances are good that if you forget something, they will have it!

We packed up Friday morning and made the 3.5 hour drive north west of us to the Calvacade Group campsite in the Kootenay Plains. For local folks, this is about 65km west of Nordegg. The drive for us was beautiful, as it took as through the mountains up towards and through the Banff and Lake Louise area. I've never camped in a group site before, so I really had no idea what to expect. All I knew was that the sites were unserviced (not an issue for us since we tent it anyway) and no running water, so pit toilets only. I called ahead to make sure that the walk from our site to the closest outhouse wasn't too far and was told that each site had it's own outhouse.

When we arrived, I was taken aback by how beautiful the area was. Nestled in amongst the mountains, you would never expect the area to be a campsite. There were 8 sites and only 3 were booked for the weekend. But each site was so large that even if you had neighbours, you would barely notice. Our site in particular, also had a large outdoor shelter, complete with a wood burning stove and picnic tables in case weather took a turn for the worse. Pretty cool! Firewood was also included in the cost of camping which was great as we didn't have to haul any along with us.

We arrived around 4pm, quickly set up camp and then spent the evening cooking, eating and drinking, while the kids and Karen's dog ran around and played. So much open space for the kids! A couple sets of friends weren't able to make it after all, so it was just us, Karen's family and Karen's husband's Aunt and Uncle. It was great spending the weekend with my best friend and watching our kids play so well together.

As for night time - I'm not going to lie. It was COLD. I wasn't really thinking about how early in the year it was, so I was not prepared to be so cold at night! I definitely regretted taking my leggings out of my duffel bag at the last minute! Emmy was a trooper though and napped and slept great! Karen leant us a travel sized playpen for using in the tent, and I brought along her Dockatot. At whatever time she would wake up to eat in the middle of the night, I would just bring her into bed where I kept her till morning.

I was worried about how Sully would take going to the washroom in a pit toilet, but he thought they were totally funny and awesome! He couldn't get over the fact that he was peeing into a big hole and that there was no handle to flush. Thank goodness he thought it was a novelty to use them! And I have to say, the outhouses at the campground were spotless and maintained daily, which made using them that much easier.

I already feel like the rest of the summer weekends are filling up quick, so I'm so glad we made it out once already to camp. We do plan to keep the rest of our camping trips this summer closer to home, but we definitely plan to return to this place again in the future!

{the coolest 6 year old I know}

Do you like to camp? Where's the best place you've every camped?

Tent or trailer? :) 

A Little Mountain Getaway

Last week, we decided on a whim, to head to the mountains for the weekend! Meaning, we booked a hotel room Friday afternoon, packed that evening and loaded up the car Saturday morning. Who says all spontaneity dies once you have children? ;)

We didn't have too much of an agenda - the hotel we booked had a pool with a waterslide, and we knew we wanted lots of time to enjoy it with Sully. He loves swimming right now, and loves going down waterslides, so we knew it would be a big hit with him (it was!). We stayed at the Best Western in Canmore, and I would definitely stay there again. The rooms are nice and clean, there was a fridge and microwave (a definite must when traveling with kids!), and a fireplace! Plus, my other must have when staying at a hotel: hot continental breakfast. Nothing makes you feel like you're getting your monies worth than a free breakfast for you and your kids! Unlimited juice for everyone!

On Saturday, we headed out past our hotel, to Banff, where we had lunch and then walked around for about an hour. It was unfortunately raining all day, but it wasn't too cold so it wasn't miserable. Plus, Sully had a blast jumping in all the puddles and throwing snowballs on the sidewalks (snow plus light rain equals the best snowballs).

The hotel had a late check-in time of 4pm, so around then, we made our way from Banff back to the hotel. We changed into our swimsuits and headed down to the pool for a few hours. Emmy slept in her bassinet the entire time, which allowed me to get a few runs in down the slide and some time in the hot tub. We ordered pizza in that night for supper and when it was time for bed, Jim and I wished each other the best of luck! Haha! We chose a room with two queen beds so that Jim and Sully could sleep in one, and Emmy and I slept in the other. Sully was pretty restless all night and fell out of bed once (oops!), but thankfully Emmy slept well, other than needing to be fed and changed once in the middle of the night.

We didn't have time to go swimming again Sunday morning, but we did take advantage of the hot breakfast, and then once we were packed up, we headed back out towards Banff to drive around and explore. There's so much out that way that I've never actually seen and we made lots of notes of places we will return to once it's a) warmer out and b) the kids are older.

Then on our way back into the city, we detoured a bit towards Kananaskis and attempted to hike to Troll Falls. I did this hike on a girls weekend trip just over a year ago, and it's an easy, family friendly hike. I knew I wanted to return with Jim and Sully one day, but unfortunately, all the rain turned the trail into a sheet of ice. We managed to get about 3/4 of the way by walking on the edges of the trail where there was still some untouched snow, but it was challenging for Sully and for me since I was wearing Emmy. But my family was a great sport about it and Sully walked the entire time, so I was proud of him! I'm sad they didn't get to see the frozen waterfalls, but we will be back!

And that was about it! Our little hike ended around 5:30pm, so we hopped back in the vehicle and made the drive home. Despite the logistics of traveling with a toddler and a newborn (ohhhh the logistics!!), we had a really nice time. The weather didn't end up being as nice as we had thought it was going to be, which made everything a little bit more challenging - like stopping to nurse and change diapers - everything had to be done in the vehicle with it running. But I think we made the best of it, and a trip to the mountains, no matter how short, is always so good for the soul.

Camping at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park

Last weekend, we took Sully on his very first camping trip. We talked about going camping all summer, but there never seemed to be a weekend that worked and sites book up so far in advance. I'm not an experienced camper by any means, but it's something that both Jim and I want to make a part of our children's lives. I think camping is a great learning and life experience, especially tent camping! We may have only gotten out once this year, but I already feel better prepared for the years to come!

Thanks to some recommendations from a coworker of Jim's, we decided to camp at Writing-on-Stone Provincial Park. We wanted something with a different landscape and somewhere new in the province we hadn't been before. We were also confident that because Writing-on-Stone is so south, we'd probably luck out with warmer weather so late in the camping season. And luck out we did! During the days, the temperatures hovered around +30C (86F), and while our first night was pretty chilly, our second night was really warm.

Anyway, the drive to the Park is about 3 hours for us, so we decided to make the mini-vacation a bit longer and got a hotel room in Lethbridge for the night before. Which means, it was only about an hour from the hotel to the campsite which was perfect. We stopped to see Albertosaurus and climb the hoodoos at the Milk River Visitor Information Centre on the way.

The campsite is located just down the hill from the Writing-on-Stone Visitor Centre, and is nestled amongst the hoodoos and the Milk River. It's not visible at all from the road so it was quite a pleasant surprise when we arrived. Our site we booked was huge, and really well shaded, which I was very happy for. There's a day area for visitors, with lots of green space, picnic tables and a playground. There's a little store where you can by some amenities like firewood, ice and ice-cream, and right beside it is flush toilets and pay-showers. The rest of the toilets in the campground are pit toilets (but very clean). 

We spent two nights camping and I easily could have spent a third night there. Sully fell asleep both nights in his play-pen, but ended up in bed with us usually around 1 a.m., which actually worked out well since he's a little furnace and kept me nice and warm! Our days were spent hanging out around the fire - seriously, Sully was entertained for HOURS just picking up and throwing rocks, washing rocks in the dish basin, collecting pinecones - flirting with the little girl at the campsite next to us.

We also visited the playground and went for lots of walks. There's actually a really nice beach down by the river, and although there was a water advisory, most people still went in, either to swim or float on it. There are also trails starting at the campground that will take you up through the hoodoos and to the visitor centre. Or you can drive up to the visitor centre and hike from there. There are also guided tours you can pay for. Honestly, it was much too hot for this pregnant momma to do any hiking during the day, but we did explore the Battle Scene trail one evening. Of course, my fear of rattle snakes was at an all time high the entire time we were out on the trails, but thankfully, we didn't spot any! 

All in all, it was a fantastic trip and it's amazing that everything went so smoothly. We didn't forget anything major, we all enjoyed ourselves and I only had to get up to use the washroom the first night! #pregnancywin And of course, it goes without saying, it was great to disconnect (no cell service down in the campsite!) and just soak up all the time with my little family.

We will definitely be back to camp there again next year!

P.S. If you missed it - I talked all about what food we ate while camping in this post from last week!


Do you like camping?

Are you a tent or trailer camper?