Sibbold Point Provincial Park

June 18th 2014                                           318968

Cannot believe a whole week has gone by and we are on the road again.   However this will be real fun.

Yesterday was quite the "weather" day here in Durham.  Rain, storms, high humidity, high winds, power outages, all followed by rain we have never seen in our life, non stop thunder, and guess what?   We were in the midst of tornado watches and warnings.

It all got really loud and a lot scary about 5 pm.  Then, once again, no power.  So took our drinks to the front porch, where it got too damp, due to the deluge of rain hitting us.  Time to retreat to our bar until it all subsided.

It did - then we took a look out the kitchen window.  Where do we begin?

A section of a tree in our yard did not survive the storm.

Would you believe that huge piece of tree fell right between the steps of our deck and caused no damage to the deck whatsoever?

We really had to get this tree removed quickly, as we had to leave early Wednesday morning.

So Mike chopped and sawed, and I stacked wood as quick as I could.

The yard was clean enough for is to leave by 8 pm, so time for supper.










There was still some rain left hanging around in the morning, but nothing too bad.  We were all ready to leave about 9.45 am - a little later than we had anticipated                     318968

It was a really nice drive to the park, along the Niagara Escarpment and through the countryside.

Hope to check out this Dufferin County Museum and Archives one day soon.

Arrived at the Park about 12.15 pm   319150

Took site #909. Large site with some shade and some sun - perfect for us.

After lunch we wandered to the beach area. I had never been to Lake Simcoe before, so found it quite interesting.  It was still a bit misty, but not cold and no rain at this point.

Found a nice dock to check out, still misty over the lake.

Walked along the trail for a while and found this very interesting pool.  Over run with Tadpoles.

Stopped along the edge of the lake.

Scenery not too bad at all!

More scenery.  

As you an see the lake was not immune to the storm either.  A tree down over the rocks.

We saw a friendly raccoon out for a stroll trying to see if there may be anything exciting to retrieve for dinner.

We headed to Eildon Hall, which would have been great to go through, but it was only opened weekends, right now.

The well area at the Hall looked more like a Gazebo.  And as you can see the grounds of the Hall were magnificent and went on for miles.                                            

Back to the beach area, and you can see Georgina Island sitting comfortably in the Lake.

Took the trail back to our site.  We found these flowers blooming in the stream along the way.

                                              Nice quiet evening around the camp fire.

Thursday 19th June 2014.

Awoke to sunshine, which was really nice, as we are heading to Ruth and Brian's today for a celebration lunch, about 45 km away.   We are getting together for Aunt Patricia and Uncle Len's 60th Wedding Anniversary.  We are surprising them.  Let's hope it is a good surprise.

The weather was perfect and we arrived at Ruth's at noon, as planned.  Chris followed us in. It was so good to see everyone again - it has been a while since we were all together.

It was a good surprise and we all had a lot of fun.  Lunch was wonderful, thank you Ruth and Brian.

Lots of pictures taken, and so good to catch up again, especially on such a special day.

 Aunt Patricia and Uncle Len.

                                                  Patricia,  Len, Ruth and Chris.

                                                          Brian and Chris

                                                         Ruth and Chris.

A very special gift, for a special day. Letter of congratulations from Queen Elizabeth .

Patricia and Len received many similar letters from dignitaries, and of course many more cards.

We were very honoured to be a part of such a special day.

Time to head out and return to our camp site.  We left about 4.45 pm.  It was a good drive back through the country, not too busy for the time of day.

                 After such a fantastic lunch we had a light supper around the camp fire.

                                    Certainly a special day to chalk up in the memories.

As you can see, once again this site is not liking me.  I cannot place the pictures and text where I wish to.  I will try again, but if it still does the same - well so be it!!!!

Friday June 20th 2014.                                                319250  

                                  

Another bright sunny day, and this Woodpecker came for a visit before we were all packed up ready to head home.  Have to see about the rest of the tree clean up when we get back.

Left about 11 am.  We stopped at The Antique Store on Highway 48,  Very good, but a little expensive.  However, it was fun to wandered all around the store and grounds.

The weather was so good we stopped near Shelburne for a nice picnic lunch, and arrived home just in time for Happy Hour.

Fantastic few days again - special days.

Where next ?

Will try again to reset the pictures and text - this is not funny anymore!

Inverhuron Provincial Park. June 9th 2014

Monday June 9th 2014                                         318754

All packed up and ready to leave for Inverhuron Park.   It's about 10.00 am and brilliant sunshine.

As you can see it was another very easy, quiet drive to the park, and already the lake is looking quite inviting in the distance.

We are meeting Jeff and Elijah at the park. They bought a new large tent and they too are looking forward to a couple of days away.

All set up at #66 for us and #67 for Jeff.

We wandered over to Jeff's site to see how they were doing with setting up.   

Just on the roadway between both sites we found a snake enjoying the sunshine.  No, we did not tell Elijah.  He does not do snakes at all!  I think he would have got on his bike and rode all the way back to Durham.

                                                       









Well, as you can see, the setting up went well, so now time for a late lunch then time to explore the beach.

The beach and the trail was really nice, and the weather was so good.

We all enjoyed it and as you will see, took far too many pictures.

The boy's enjoying the beach.

Not sure what they had seen here, but it looked like fun.

The flowers were blooming along the trail.

The Pitcher's Thistle, although quite tiny right now, was still flowering nicely.

And we even found a babbling brook to complete the picture.

The Lilly pads were in abundance along the Little Sauble River.  

And that made the frogs very happy.

I had fun wandering the beach and the river's edge with my guys.  Hope we can all do this again before next year.

It seemed like a short walk along the beach and the trails, but when we got back it turned out it was over a mile.  So a good way to spend an afternoon.

Back at our site Jeff and Elijah set up a couple of games, one was like Horseshoes, and was a lot of fun.

I just enjoyed relaxing in the sunshine and watching the guys have fun, and lots of laughs.

Equally as good - it was Happy Hour now.

After the games were all done, the boy's went back to cook their dinner, and my Chef got busy .


Delicious - as always!

Elijah and I wandered the shoreline at dusk and got a few shots of the sunset.

It was a great evening and not too cool.

The fire was working well when we got back from the shore, so it turned into story telling time.

Elijah had a packet of "Mystical Fire Lights".
Man did we have a colourful fire tonight.

All in all it was, once again, a really enjoyable, fun day, and the weather could not have been better.





Tuesday 10th June 2014

Yes, once again a wonderful bright sunny morning.  Then another magnificent BBQ breakfast.

So time to plan the rest of the day.  Right now it looks as if two nights might not be enough here. 

The boys got ready to go to the near by Bike Park, while we got ready to hike the perimeter of the park.

This part of the trail was good, but there were some spots that were not accessible due to construction.

The shoreline trail was good too.

Saw some more flowers in bloom.

Back to camp for a while and the boys returned too.  So we all settled down for some well earned lunch.

Some clouds started coming in over the lake, but still not at all cool.

After lunch the boys started packing some of their things as it sounds as if we are in for some heavy rain tomorrow.




                  







Mike and I relaxed for a while, read our books, then headed for a stroll along the beach.  Very clear and calm lake right now.

You never know what you might find on the beach.    

       





Never a truer word said!!!!

After supper we all sat around Jeff's fire , more stories to tell.

   



 More fun times and another good day over.











Wednesday June 11 2014                                                     318837

Yes, the rain arrived through the night.

It was enough for the boys to get up, throw everything in the car and hit the road about 7 am.

We just took our time and packed things away each time the rain eased up.  So all ready to leave about 11.30 am.

Stopped in Port Elgin then onto Owen Sound.

Cloudy, humid weather by then.  So not a bad day to be heading home.

Arrived safe and sound in Durham about 3.30 pm.                                  318968

   

After unpacking, and a visit from Elijah, who got home safe and sound too, Mike and I took a nice walk through our own park. 

Once again the weather had turned into a beautiful day.

It has been a fabulous few days.

Looking forward to the next trip, no idea where or when, but you will know when we do.

Catch you then.