Weekend at Oka and stuff
Jul. 18th, 2005 01:58 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
metawidgetThe little gathering Thursday night was nice... mostly Châteauguay Valley people, but some city dwellers too, and lots of chatting, food, drink and generally kicking around. The place is starting to feel like my own, and is getting quite comfortable. I hope I can stay for a while, and throw the occasional small bash (so all is not lost, ye who missed it and know who you are — I'd still love to have you down, jointly or severally, sometime soon).
I went to Oka Provinvial Park this weekend with Elizabeth. It was a fun, relaxing trip.
We set out Friday afternoon, four thirtyish or so, with packs and bicycles and a couple of panniers on my bike, up (walking) and down (mostly coasting) Côte des Neiges and Laird for Mont-Royal train station (central station doesn't allow boarding or alighting with bikes), piled into the designated bike spot in the front car, and enjoyed the ride out to Deux-Montagnes. Another cyclist was heading out to spend some downtime with his girlfriend at her family place in Deux Montagnes, he chatted us up. The cameraderie of people who bike to get places is really cool.
Our 20km or so bike ride to the campground was a little tentative, I'd been on some of the trails a couple of years ago and Ellie had been out there by car, but people were good about directions, and we made it to a back entrance to the park, wandered around looking for the check-in cottage. When we did find it (in the dark), it was bedlam with lots of campers and a take-a-number roll. I got 85. Now serving 36. That was probably the longest and hardest part of the whole trip. We staggered into our site around, set up our lightweight campsite (between sites that had been packed in pickup trucks and camp trailers, we were definitely a sleek little operation) and had a supper of fudgee-os, fruit, nuts and pita by flashlight before retiring for the night. We could play at being secluded (but were snapped out of it when some giggling neighbours pointed flashlights at our tent, inadvertently I hope but suspiciously timed...), and know that we hauled all our stuff through the last leg, not got lost, completed the check-in ritual, and assembled a tiny home under a pretty canopy of trees.
Saturday, we got the kitchen more in order... and realized that the fondue set we'd planned to use as a camp stove was short a burner. Momentarily casting about, Elizabeth remembered something about a camp stove made out of a tin can from her Girl Guides days. She'd also brought a single can of baked beans. Leatherman + can = hot beans for breakfast, and cooking for the rest of the trip! After breakfast, we hiked up through clouds of mosquitoes to a bunch of little locked chapels on a hill overlooking the campground and the river. We admired the view, talked, came back for lunch, swam, walked, talked, drew in the sand, skipped stones, played a bunch of chess, made sand castles, killed more mosquitoes, and settled in for the night in the stifling heat of a sturdy and somewhat podlike tent in hot weather. Lucky it was sturdy, though, 'cause it rained from sometime late that night until almost noon. We and our gear stayed pretty dry, amazingly enough, and really, there are many worse places and company to be trapped in and with waiting out the rain.
Sunday, we bicycled the whole way back through Deux-Montagnes, Laval and bits of Montreal, about 70km, stopping for an Indian feast at Pushap. Saw Elizabeth off at Atwater, made it home, unpacked some stuff, let my folks know I was alive, and then![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
loupdebois turned up for some impromptu beer, snacks and chatting. Went to bed pleasantly tired.
I'm so happy and lucky to be able to share this kind of experience with someone who I love that also gets it. Happy to get away from it all, keep my watch out of sight, live pretty simply and have a big stretch of time to enjoy the fresh air and the company. Didn't think to take many photos, but here are a couple.
This week, some work, some bike repairs (a couple of front spokes went on the trip as my bike mechanic had predicted -- time to get those fixed before they become a big issue), and then off to Oakville with my folks to celebrate the marriage of my cousin. It should be fun, pretty serious and religious (they're both church youth leader-ish types) but not too serious (this is my family here, and my dad's probably been practising his ukulele extra-hard for next weekend).
I went to Oka Provinvial Park this weekend with Elizabeth. It was a fun, relaxing trip.
We set out Friday afternoon, four thirtyish or so, with packs and bicycles and a couple of panniers on my bike, up (walking) and down (mostly coasting) Côte des Neiges and Laird for Mont-Royal train station (central station doesn't allow boarding or alighting with bikes), piled into the designated bike spot in the front car, and enjoyed the ride out to Deux-Montagnes. Another cyclist was heading out to spend some downtime with his girlfriend at her family place in Deux Montagnes, he chatted us up. The cameraderie of people who bike to get places is really cool.
Our 20km or so bike ride to the campground was a little tentative, I'd been on some of the trails a couple of years ago and Ellie had been out there by car, but people were good about directions, and we made it to a back entrance to the park, wandered around looking for the check-in cottage. When we did find it (in the dark), it was bedlam with lots of campers and a take-a-number roll. I got 85. Now serving 36. That was probably the longest and hardest part of the whole trip. We staggered into our site around, set up our lightweight campsite (between sites that had been packed in pickup trucks and camp trailers, we were definitely a sleek little operation) and had a supper of fudgee-os, fruit, nuts and pita by flashlight before retiring for the night. We could play at being secluded (but were snapped out of it when some giggling neighbours pointed flashlights at our tent, inadvertently I hope but suspiciously timed...), and know that we hauled all our stuff through the last leg, not got lost, completed the check-in ritual, and assembled a tiny home under a pretty canopy of trees.
Saturday, we got the kitchen more in order... and realized that the fondue set we'd planned to use as a camp stove was short a burner. Momentarily casting about, Elizabeth remembered something about a camp stove made out of a tin can from her Girl Guides days. She'd also brought a single can of baked beans. Leatherman + can = hot beans for breakfast, and cooking for the rest of the trip! After breakfast, we hiked up through clouds of mosquitoes to a bunch of little locked chapels on a hill overlooking the campground and the river. We admired the view, talked, came back for lunch, swam, walked, talked, drew in the sand, skipped stones, played a bunch of chess, made sand castles, killed more mosquitoes, and settled in for the night in the stifling heat of a sturdy and somewhat podlike tent in hot weather. Lucky it was sturdy, though, 'cause it rained from sometime late that night until almost noon. We and our gear stayed pretty dry, amazingly enough, and really, there are many worse places and company to be trapped in and with waiting out the rain.
Sunday, we bicycled the whole way back through Deux-Montagnes, Laval and bits of Montreal, about 70km, stopping for an Indian feast at Pushap. Saw Elizabeth off at Atwater, made it home, unpacked some stuff, let my folks know I was alive, and then
loupdebois turned up for some impromptu beer, snacks and chatting. Went to bed pleasantly tired. I'm so happy and lucky to be able to share this kind of experience with someone who I love that also gets it. Happy to get away from it all, keep my watch out of sight, live pretty simply and have a big stretch of time to enjoy the fresh air and the company. Didn't think to take many photos, but here are a couple.
| Elizabeth Saturday morning |
 |
| Improvised camp stove |
 |
This week, some work, some bike repairs (a couple of front spokes went on the trip as my bike mechanic had predicted -- time to get those fixed before they become a big issue), and then off to Oakville with my folks to celebrate the marriage of my cousin. It should be fun, pretty serious and religious (they're both church youth leader-ish types) but not too serious (this is my family here, and my dad's probably been practising his ukulele extra-hard for next weekend).
