July 8 - The Long Way Home

It was once again time to pack up the van. This time we did a much better job knowing that we were one our way home; plus, the boys wanted to sit in the very back seats of the van so they could charge their DSs. I was disappointed that the boys didn't want to stop and see any of the plane displays in Cold Lake, but figured it was best not to push my luck. They had been so well behaved that I didn't want to jinks it.

A visit to David Thompson in Lac La Biche was our first stop. David Thompson travelled more than 100,000 kilometres. He mapped the Columbia River system to the Pacific, helped pinpoint the sources of the Mississippi River, and explored much of the territory east and west of the Rocky Mountains. He later surveyed expensive portions of the border between Canada and the United States. Upon entering Lac La Biche the first thing I did was look for the information ? sign. I'd done this when arriving at most new towns. The information centre is located along the river front. We took a lovely walk down by the lake to find the David Thompson statue. At first my boys whined that I was forcing them to walk. I couldn't believe how lazy they were being. After a bit, it did feel like we'd gone to far. I knew we hadn't though because I was told we'd find it at the end of the trail. The views were exquisite. Suddenly the boys wanted to know why we hadn't camped here. Funny, I believe I gave them the choice last night, but they chose Cold Lake because it was closer.

The boys happily walked along the shore trail back to the information centre, as I walked along the road, taking photos of the many beautiful churches. Time for the boys to moan again...they were hot and they were hungry. Even though I'd told them we wouldn't buy any fast food on this trip, KFC looked like a wonderful option. We didn't have to go digging through the cooler or pull over to make a sandwich and we could stay in our air conditioned van, while continuing our journey.

Shortly after leaving Lac La Biche my 12 year old had to go pee very desperately. Apparently he'd forgotten how not hold it. Not wanting to pull over I jokingly gave him and empty pop bottle and mentioned how lucky he was to be a boy in moments like these. While, you give a 12 year old a bottle to pee in and he'll do it.

Thanks to the list we'd been given in St. Paul, I discovered there was a large Tireman in Grassland. It was so cute and certainly a "big thing". Although it was difficult to get pictures of, it soon became the boys favourite roadside attraction. From there it was off to another item from the list the Rocking Horse Ranch in Athabasca, which apparently is no more or perhaps never was. The girls in the tourist information booth were extremely helpful and enjoyed learning about the various roadside attraction we'd seen thus far. They also told me about a large chair a few Km north on Hwy2 in Ghost Lake Campground. As they told me, I couldn't almost picture the boys sitting in the van rolling their eyes.

Only two more stops and we would be home. Next stop Legal to find Depression Pete. After driving up and down the main street, plus a few back roads to find him, we eventually gave up. At this point we were all hot and getting grumpy from being stuck in traffic for so long with all the construction. So, I decided that we would save Morinville for another day and just go straight home.

By the time we got home the 500ml pop bottle was full. What had I started?

July 7 - How Lac La Biche Became Cold Lake

The next planned stop was Lac La Biche; however I decided to take a detour and drive to Cold Lake. I'd never been before and wanted to see its beauty first hand. My sister-in-law lived there at one point. Plus I’ve had either friends visit and they all had great things to say about it. Plus, it was slightly closer than Lac La Biche and the boys were ready to call it a day.

We drove into the Cold Lake Provincial Park and looked for a spot. While it was a nice campground, the spots seemed smaller than those at Ross Lake and we couldn't find any that were right on the water; although, I am sure that there must be some. Instead we drove to the Cold Lake M.D. campground. We needed to call from my cell phone for directions, but we did eventually find it. We ended up with a lovely spot close to the water. Generally we like sites that are a bit more private, but it worked well for one night.

For $5 we got a huge amount of wood; in fact we even turned some down. Looking back we should have taken it for future camping trips. Due to the rain, the wood lot was very muddy and I almost got stuck backing into the wood pile. Of course I was surrounded by men, so all I could do was joke about being a "women driver". I had a lot of help filling the back of the van, mostly with smaller piece that would require little cutting. With only two young boys to help me this was very important.

Before unloading the van back at the campsite, the boys really wanted to go for a swim. Once again we tied Buzz up to the "no dogs on beach sign" and got ready to play around in the water. I now know why it is called Cold Lake. It was freezing. I was the first one to get my hair wet and eventually did get used to the fridget temperature. The boys became fasinated by these tiny minoes swimming around near the shore, so we decided to try and catch them. I soon discovered that the trick was to disorientate them from their school and was the first one to catch one. However, the boys quickly caught on. I do have to admit that the occasional fish didn't make it through the boy's accidental pinching.

Now extremely wet and cold, it was time to light a fire. We did it in under 15 minutes and sat back to watch our camping neighbour try to start theirs. We could certainly sympathize with the frustration in not being able to start one. As the night went one, I did need one of the neighbours to chop some of the wood for us. Laughing at our small hatchet, he brought over his own axe. In return, I gave him some extra paper to see if that helped to get his fire started. I believe that all it did was create extra smoke.

With a park close by, the boys went off to play. As with many of their escapades this one didn't last long. They quickly returned asking to show me a rock. Reluctantly I followed them to three rocks that had been graffitied to say "the penis rock", which as it turned out was very fitting. Unfortunately now when people ask my boys what their favourite "big thing" has been so small they chuckle and answers, "the rock".