On our third day in camp, we got up bright and early to have breakfast, which consisted of bacon and cinnamon buns (cooked in foil over the coals from our fire). Mike and I made coffee with the MSR filter that his brother Ben gave us for Christmas. It was a beautiful, relaxing way to begin the day.
After we had eaten we decided to take the kids on a bit of a hike near town.
At the end of the trail is the home/shop of this rather odd woodcarver, who has been in Radium for as long as I can remember. He carves a lot of faces, and I snapped a few photos of the shop when we passed by.
After we had wandered around in the trees for a while, we decided to head back to camp for lunch. On the way we stopped at the river to collect water for purification, and give the kids a chance to skip some rocks. Mike had a good time teaching Lincoln how to select and skip flat rocks across the water. I was pleased to discover that I could still remember how to skip rocks myself.
Syd was less interested in skipping stones, but she gathered up rocks of various colors and shapes for her rock collection, which she arranged on a flat spot by the river and thankfully did not insist on bringing home with us.
We got back to camp where I fixed pizza sandwiches and smokies for a hungry crew. It was raining off and on, so the kids ate in the vestibule of the tent, while Mike and I huddled together under the open rear hatch of the SUV. It passed quickly enough, and just in time for dessert, which was cake in an orange! The kiddos watched with fascination as I hollowed out four large naval oranges, combined cake mix ingredients in a zip-top bag, and then after pouring the batter in, wrapped them in foil and arranged them in the coals.
When we pulled the out, around 15 to 20 minutes later, we unwrapped them to find our cakes baked just right. It turned out really well, and it was a fun cooking activity for kids to watch.
After lunch we went for a walk around Lake Enid, where we found lots of fat minnows in a creek (we stopped to net a few and show the kids) and a frog. The kids enjoyed watching the tiny fish darting up and down the creek. They each got a turn to catch a few in the net and then release them back into the water. We played outside in the sunshine and then gathered wood to build a small fire for cooking dinner. There is no shortage of things for kids to do outside when you are camping. After dinner we drove to the beach in Invermere, where the kids had fun at the playground, and had the opportunity to play hide and seek with some deer that happened to wander right past us!
We played at the beach until it started to get late, before packing it in and going to camp for one last fire, and smores before bed.
The following day, it was time to pack up and head for home. We let the kids scamper about while we took everything down, loaded it up, and then piled into the truck and left our campsite. On the way out of Radium we saw THREE more bears! Mike even shot a few seconds of video of one young grizzly, who was eating grass on the side of the road.
Awsome the kids will remember those camping trips forever, it is such a great part of growing up, Cal I’m sure you remember the great trips to the mountains on horse back with Grandpa, and you will probably always remember the Dukabours.
The camping food looks awsome,awsome,awsome