Salt Spring with friends

So the Salt Spring Island camping trip was a success. We ended up having a large crowd - I think there were 13 people - and it worked out well because the first people to arrive secured our group of friends a sweet group site on one side of the park, and a little vehicle-accessible site for Mark & I with the Boler on the other side of the park. This meant that we could socialize as much as we wanted to, and then run away to our own private site when we'd had enough! It was great! Well, mostly.

There was the one issue where, the first night, there was a couple with a tiny infant and a toddler camping in a tent at the site next to ours. The toddler SCREAMED everything instead of speaking normally and I couldn't say anything about him using his indoor voice because, well, shit man, he was outdoors. So as soon as he woke up early, early in the morning we got to hear him screaming "MOMMY LOOKIT ME...MOMMY LOOKIT ME....MOMMY LOOKIT ME" and other repetitive useless things. Oh yeah, and the infant liked to cry a lot. In the middle of the night, early in the morning, it didn't matter, that baby cried. And I couldn't ask them to keep it down because mothers do scary things when their children are threatened, like ripping off my head and stuff. I just wanted to enjoy the peace and quiet of the woods and I ended up feeling like a jerk because you're not supposed to hate little children and resent their presence.

Are you?

The second night was much better. The loud and awful family was replaced by a large pack of nice, respectful lesbians. The lesbians liked our dogs and our Boler and didn't make loud noises while I was trying to sleep - it was much better! Also, they left a neat little display at their camp site when they pulled away the next morning.



Oliver the Min Pin came with us so it was our first camping trip as a "family" with both dogs. Since Oliver had been abandoned by his previous owner in a camp site, I promised him that we wouldn't leave his side. We cheated and left him with friends for a few minutes at the ferry terminal (hey Robyn, I thought you weren't a dog person!) but otherwise he was with us 24/7. He made some strange gremlin noises the first day, but calmed down a bit after that. It's gonna be all about exposure for this little guy. We've got to teach him that new situations usually mean fun stuff for him, and that we are worthy of his trust. I think it'll come, with time.

He was cold at night even though the weather was mild, so he got tucked into my hoodie and when we got back home from the camping trip, we bought him a little jacket for the Yukon trip.

Arlo the dog likes camping and had lots of fun, but he aggravated his allergies and ended up chewing some of his skin off of his itchy, itchy feet as a result. Foolish boy! We will make sure to control what he sticks in his mouth on the next outing.

Most of the humans seemed to have fun. It was a really different mood than when Mark and I went camping alone, and although I'm glad all my friends were with me this time, I was glad that we had Gabriola Island to ourselves, and I'm glad that we'll be going to the Yukon alone. A fun bit of trivia: there were 13 people and 7 dogs in our group. At least 3 people in the group suffer from allergies to dogs badly enough that they had to bring medication. Yes, they hang out with everyone's dogs ALL THE TIME, and one of those allergic individuals is in the planning stages of getting his own dog. Our friends are amazing people.

Salt Spring is a beautiful place, but it's on the border between "artsy" and "take-advantage-of-the-tourists-y". We knew that prior to going though, so it's not like it was a disappointment. The open air market was fun to wander through, and I almost got waaay ripped off on a sun hat. It had a price tag of $55 tied to the hat band and I liked it so I tried to buy it. (No other price tags to be seen anywhere on the hat.) I knew I was in trouble when the lady asked me if I wanted just the hat, or the had AND the hat band. Turns out the HAT BAND ALONE was $55, and the hat itself was an extra $60. Um, what? No thanks!

Mark and I got noticeably more efficient at packing our camping stuff into the back of the truck this time around. The funny thing is, we were just gone for two nights, but for our three week trip next month there won't be much more junk to add to the pile. You still need most of the stuff whether it's two nights or three weeks (ie. blanket, pillow, dishes, cutlery, etc.) There'll be a bit more clothing to add, and more food, but not much more. We tried to organize things into bins and milk crates and it worked much better this time and was easy to keep organized. We also have our packing list saved in a word document, so we won't have to re-invent the wheel every time.

We've also gotten a really good idea of the few things we should buy for longer trips. These little weekend outings sure are useful!

That's about all I have to report about the Salt Spring Island camping trip. You can make assumptions about the weekend's activities and you will be correct. (Okay I'll help. There was: marshmallow roasting, alcohol drinking, hiking, weenie roasting, campfire-sitting-arounding, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. It was good.)