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? :) 

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?

Meal Planning: Camping Edition

Thanks to SPUD for providing a shopping credit in exchange for this post. And thank you for continuing to support the company's that make this hobby of mine possible! As always, all opinions and reviews expressed are my own. At the bottom of the post is a promo code for 

A Slice of Brie readers!

This past weekend, we took Sully on his very first camping trip. We packed up our car, headed south a few hours and pitched our tent for two nights. We hadn't been camping in a few years and bringing a toddler along with you is a complete game changer. On our camping trips of the past, we pretty much just winged it when it came to food. Surviving on hot dogs, s'mores and beer is all fine when you're young and don't really care about how you feel when you wake up in the morning. Going into this camping trip though, I knew we needed a plan when it came to what food to pack.

I'm a big fan of meal planning, so it made sense that I would plan out 3 days of camping meals, including snacks. In doing so, I wanted to avoid 3 things: packing too much food, not packing enough food and making a bunch of last minute grocery store runs. As a mom and a pregnant mom at that, it was important to me that I had healthy meals and snacks to balance out the chips and s'mores! I also didn't want to feel sluggish during the day or have any reason for my sensitive stomach to get upset.

Enter SPUD! Utilizing their home delivery for fresh produce and groceries, I placed an order with them to have my Spud Box delivered two days before we left (delivery is free two days of the week in most areas!). I chose an arrangement of sausages, fresh fruit, yogurt, organic oats, soup, hummus, and organic cheese. Combined with ingredients already found in my pantry and fridge, the only thing we had to stop for on the way out of town was a small pint of milk.

I made sure to keep our meals and snacks easy, tasty and appealing to both my husband and my toddler. I'm not saying camping shouldn't be fun and you shouldn't splurge on some junk, but a little bit of balance never hurt anyone! We still enjoyed our fair share of s'mores, beer (for the husband) and chips (my guilty pleasure!).

Here are the meals I planned out for the 3 days:

BREAKFAST

Organic Rolled Oats cooked over the camp stove with Sultana Raisins, Cinnamon and Fresh Berries.
Pork Euro Frankie's
Toast with Homemade Apple Butter or PB (or both!)
Organic Kiju Apple Juice Boxes

SNACKS

Greek Yogurt with Fresh Berries
Sip Yogurt Drink from Bles-World
Cucumbers and Cherry Tomatoes with Hummus
Fresh Fruit (bananas, strawberries, blueberries, plums, apples and pears)

LUNCH

Tuscan Tomato Soup from Happy Planet with Grilled Cheese Sandwiches
Avocado on Toast
Beans with leftover Rosemary Garlic Sausages

{hands down my favourite meal of the bunch - this soup is delicious and organic cheddar cheese is a game changer!}

DINNER

Wagyu Burgers (no buns) with avocado and cucumber slices on the side
Rosemary Garlic Sausages with buns
Corn on the Cob

BONUS SNACKS

Chips
S'mores


Written out, it feels like a lot of food, but it fed us perfectly for our trip, which was technically, two breakfasts, three lunches, two dinners, plus snacks. The key is figuring out how much of everything to bring because it's not like when you are at home and you can easily store left overs in your fridge. This is where knowing your family and their appetites comes in handy. (I'm still trying to figure this out about my toddler though!). Luckily, fruits and vegetables do well in a cooler and while I may have brought more than we got through, I didn't have to throw anything out before heading home.

I don't think we will venturing out on any more camping trips this year (stay tuned for a full recap post of this trip next week), but I'm already looking forward to next year and meal planning for those! It was fun to pre-plan out our meals and let me tell you, the stress of arriving at our campsite and not having to figure out what to eat despite a cooler full of food, was so nice!

And good news for you! If you want to try out SPUD and experience having fresh, organic and local produce and groceries delivered right to your door, you can use my referral code to receive $20 off your first SPUD Box! Code: CRCAL-FRABRH


Do you meal-plan for camping or just "wing it"?

What's your favourite camping meal?

Have you ever used a grocery delivery service before?