The long week­end was just plain relax­ing. It’s good to get out every once in a while, although once a year is enough for me to appre­ci­ate my clean room, my com­fort­able bed, and the com­pany of my kitty cat. Getting to know Chris, Aaron’s brother, was a treat.

Thumbnail: Burning log
Thumbnail: Wet and dry leaves

It driz­zled for most of the week­end, but it wasn’t enough to stop us from play­ing poker in our tents or under the tarp. As can be seen in the last photo, on the last day, the leaves were com­pletely dry under our tents (left side of the pic­ture) while leaves on the ground were soaked through (right side).

Thumbnail: Barbecue grill
Thumbnail: Coffee cake

Even camp­ing food is easy. Meals cooked over the fire are plate and utensil-free. Cake is eaten with hands, and one feels no more guilty in the com­pany of oth­ers than gorg­ing alone.

Thumbnail: Friday night
Thumbnail: Moonlight
Thumbnail: Night trees
Thumbnail: Tree canopy

I man­aged to get some great shots at night. I still won­der how I’d do with a nice dig­i­tal SLR though. The one in the bot­tom right cor­ner came out espe­cially well: the cir­cu­lar lens pat­terns of my Maglite can be made out in the leaves.

Thumbnail: Drive through
Thumbnail: Bowling balls

One of the best parts of camp­ing is pass­ing through all the lit­tle towns along the way. It always reminds me of the drive up to John’s cot­tage. The build­ings are homely and unique, with so much per­son­al­ity. We passed by an old, work­ing drive-through in the mid­dle of nowhere, and I had to get a pic­ture of the weath­ered sign. There also hap­pened to be a tiny, pastel-coloured bowl­ing alley, and we decided to play a few games. Funny how the one time we end up going bowl­ing is the time that Trolley couldn’t go with us (he’s never been bowl­ing, and we keep telling each other that we have to go with him sometime).

Thumbnail: Fungus growth
Thumbnail: Trillium
Thumbnail: Salamander

A growth, a flower, and a lizard. I have no idea what is grow­ing on the log, but I do know that the flower is a tril­lium, which is the provin­cial flower of Ontario. It’s also pro­tected, which means that one can get fined for pick­ing it (Any per­son who con­tra­venes the act is guilty of an offence and on con­vic­tion is liable to a fine of not more than $50,000, or to impris­on­ment for a term of not more than two years, or to both). The lizard is a sala­man­der, and there were a few crawl­ing around in the leaves.