Camping at Earl Rowe Conservation Area
Hello,
For my first official post, I wanted to share our first camping trip together.
Before I get into that though, I would like to say that when I was growing up, my parents took my sisters (I have three older sisters) and I on many, many camping trips and other outings. I do not have a good memory, but I do remember having a blast on these trips. They are a big part of my childhood. I know that Ron also went to cottages and camping when he was growing up. Another reason why we both wanted to get back into it.
We actually have never gone camping together! Shocking, I know. We've done many nature walks, but never overnight stays anywhere. So, we bought a tent and a few other key missing things and booked a very last minute, one night camping site at a conservation area not too far away from us, near Alliston, Ontario.
Now, our kids are normal kids. They love each other and tend to get along or know to stay away from each other. Of course that Saturday morning they both woke up on the wrong side of the bed and kept getting in each other's way and on their nerves. Great start. We had packed the car (which we now know is a bit small for all four of us and all the gear we need haha) the night before to try to lessen the stress of the next day. So we had breakfast and headed over to Ron's parents place to try and put up the tent. For the first time. At least grandma would be there to watch the kids while we tried to put up the tent. I'm glad we did because it allowed us to know exactly what needed to be done when we arrived at our campsite.
Quick grocery shop and hop in the car and we were off! We chose Earl Rowe Conservation Area because it wasn't too far away (a bit over an hour from our place) and they still had availability. We had no idea if we had picked a good site or what to expect, although the reviews on TripAdvisor were mostly good.
We were indeed surprised to find that the back of our site was right on a meadow! We were expecting to be in the forest, but we still enjoyed our site. It was within the Westside campground, in the Trillium Woods section. We had trees between sites, so you still had privacy and the meadow actually ended up giving us a wonderful surprise when some deer came to graze, at a distance. We were near a drinking water source and some washrooms. All in all, we lucked out.
Putting up the tent took longer than we wanted as we kept having to break up fights between the kids, because even though they had plenty of toys, they both always wanted what the other one had. Such is life!
We went for a short walk and then proceeded to build a fire as it was near supper time and I realized we forgot my chicken hot dogs! I had some turkey bacon, so figured I could cook some up on the camping stove as Ron cooked beef hot dogs over the fire for him and the kids. Now, we don't have our own stove, but one of my sisters (the one that lives nearby) has two. She let us borrow the old one, so we bought propane bottles and all was good. Until I went to use it and noticed something was missing. The connecting hose. This was totally my fault for not checking to make sure we had all the necessary parts when I picked it up. So, I took my pan and placed it on some embers in the fire pit. It all worked out. We were able to roast some marshmallows and enjoy ourselves around the fire before getting some very exhausted kids to bed VERY late.
The kids slept well! I was very happy about this because you never know how kids will react when not sleeping in the comfort of their own beds. Although they are used to travelling to visit family, they still have an idea of where they are and what is around them. The only issue we really had was when Brock had to pee and Zoé was left alone in the tent. Ron took Brock to the washroom and I stayed at the site, when Zoé woke up and noticed she was alone in the tent (we left a lantern on low for them to have some light) and she was not happy. I went in and she calmed down and then crawled right back into her sleeping bag when big brother came back. They slept in. This never happens. I'm glad they did because I didn't sleep well haha.
We got dressed and ate a nice breakfast. We decided to go to the park. It was one of those nice old-fashioned wood ones we used to play on as kids. The kids had a blast. We decided to drive over as it was nearing lunch time and we didn't think the kids would have enough energy for the walk. We came back for lunch, packed up all our stuff as we had to leave the site by 2pm and then climbed in the car. We drove over to park near the pool so that we could do a very short hike. We chose the Little Trail and didn't walk the whole thing as it was running late.
We had a great trip. Some scraped knees, Brock discovered he prefers his marshmallows not roasted and Zoé didn't care if hers were roasted or not, as long as she had some! We are glad we did this short trial run as we have a longer trip coming up in a couple of weeks.
I've left out some details and probably forgot things that happened, but this will have to do. I tried to include information or links with further information for those who are interested in going to visit Earl Rowe Conservation Area. They have many things to offer such as a pool, plenty of hiking trails and a lake. I would recommend. We drove around a bit and found a site that fit a bit more our idea of what we would want so maybe we will go back next year to Earl Rowe and try to book that specific site. Who knows.
I hope you enjoyed this entry. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to do so in the comments section.
We shall see where we will roam next!
Rachel
For my first official post, I wanted to share our first camping trip together.
Before I get into that though, I would like to say that when I was growing up, my parents took my sisters (I have three older sisters) and I on many, many camping trips and other outings. I do not have a good memory, but I do remember having a blast on these trips. They are a big part of my childhood. I know that Ron also went to cottages and camping when he was growing up. Another reason why we both wanted to get back into it.
We actually have never gone camping together! Shocking, I know. We've done many nature walks, but never overnight stays anywhere. So, we bought a tent and a few other key missing things and booked a very last minute, one night camping site at a conservation area not too far away from us, near Alliston, Ontario.
Now, our kids are normal kids. They love each other and tend to get along or know to stay away from each other. Of course that Saturday morning they both woke up on the wrong side of the bed and kept getting in each other's way and on their nerves. Great start. We had packed the car (which we now know is a bit small for all four of us and all the gear we need haha) the night before to try to lessen the stress of the next day. So we had breakfast and headed over to Ron's parents place to try and put up the tent. For the first time. At least grandma would be there to watch the kids while we tried to put up the tent. I'm glad we did because it allowed us to know exactly what needed to be done when we arrived at our campsite.
Quick grocery shop and hop in the car and we were off! We chose Earl Rowe Conservation Area because it wasn't too far away (a bit over an hour from our place) and they still had availability. We had no idea if we had picked a good site or what to expect, although the reviews on TripAdvisor were mostly good.
We were indeed surprised to find that the back of our site was right on a meadow! We were expecting to be in the forest, but we still enjoyed our site. It was within the Westside campground, in the Trillium Woods section. We had trees between sites, so you still had privacy and the meadow actually ended up giving us a wonderful surprise when some deer came to graze, at a distance. We were near a drinking water source and some washrooms. All in all, we lucked out.
Putting up the tent took longer than we wanted as we kept having to break up fights between the kids, because even though they had plenty of toys, they both always wanted what the other one had. Such is life!
We went for a short walk and then proceeded to build a fire as it was near supper time and I realized we forgot my chicken hot dogs! I had some turkey bacon, so figured I could cook some up on the camping stove as Ron cooked beef hot dogs over the fire for him and the kids. Now, we don't have our own stove, but one of my sisters (the one that lives nearby) has two. She let us borrow the old one, so we bought propane bottles and all was good. Until I went to use it and noticed something was missing. The connecting hose. This was totally my fault for not checking to make sure we had all the necessary parts when I picked it up. So, I took my pan and placed it on some embers in the fire pit. It all worked out. We were able to roast some marshmallows and enjoy ourselves around the fire before getting some very exhausted kids to bed VERY late.
The kids slept well! I was very happy about this because you never know how kids will react when not sleeping in the comfort of their own beds. Although they are used to travelling to visit family, they still have an idea of where they are and what is around them. The only issue we really had was when Brock had to pee and Zoé was left alone in the tent. Ron took Brock to the washroom and I stayed at the site, when Zoé woke up and noticed she was alone in the tent (we left a lantern on low for them to have some light) and she was not happy. I went in and she calmed down and then crawled right back into her sleeping bag when big brother came back. They slept in. This never happens. I'm glad they did because I didn't sleep well haha.
We got dressed and ate a nice breakfast. We decided to go to the park. It was one of those nice old-fashioned wood ones we used to play on as kids. The kids had a blast. We decided to drive over as it was nearing lunch time and we didn't think the kids would have enough energy for the walk. We came back for lunch, packed up all our stuff as we had to leave the site by 2pm and then climbed in the car. We drove over to park near the pool so that we could do a very short hike. We chose the Little Trail and didn't walk the whole thing as it was running late.
We had a great trip. Some scraped knees, Brock discovered he prefers his marshmallows not roasted and Zoé didn't care if hers were roasted or not, as long as she had some! We are glad we did this short trial run as we have a longer trip coming up in a couple of weeks.
I've left out some details and probably forgot things that happened, but this will have to do. I tried to include information or links with further information for those who are interested in going to visit Earl Rowe Conservation Area. They have many things to offer such as a pool, plenty of hiking trails and a lake. I would recommend. We drove around a bit and found a site that fit a bit more our idea of what we would want so maybe we will go back next year to Earl Rowe and try to book that specific site. Who knows.
I hope you enjoyed this entry. If you have any questions or comments, please feel free to do so in the comments section.
We shall see where we will roam next!
Rachel
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