Living the Dream!

Living the Dream!

It’s week two at Spray Lake and we’re pretty organized and comfortable now.   We’ve got water hauled to our location, our woodshed is full and we’ve had a number of campers over the past long weekend.  The weather wasn’t the greatest, but some hearty souls stuck it out the whole weekend.  

We had a group of kids up from Calgary who always come out on the May 24^th weekend…they seemed like good kids though their campsite grew a bit past the maximum allowed over the weekend…it’s not like we were busy  and they were having a good time so we let it be.  We had a German fellow in a camper stop in one evening.  He had just returned from two years travelling in Africa and was now on his way to Alaska where his wife was meeting up with him.  Once there they were going to board a float plane and fly to an isolated community on the Bering Sea and then kayak 1400 kilometers along the shore.    Needless to say he sounds like quite the adventurer.  Another couple was from Switzerland and they had just arrived in Calgary, rented a camper and were starting their journey to Alaska.  They had a five week trip planned.  Their English was not very good but they were certainly interested in everything, especially the animals, and we had a nice time chatting with them.  Aside from that we had a variety of people camping and having fun.

The other night I woke with a horrible headache…my head gets cold and turns to headache so I got up in the middle of the night to take some Ibuprophen.  It was pitch black and I didn’t want to wake Tom who was snoring nicely so I got up and felt around in the area where the pills were.  I found the bottle I wanted and took two of them.  The next morning I checked the bottle and found I’d taken two “Centrum Silver, Multivitamins for Men”……hmmm…no wonder I felt so virile that day!  

Oso sniffed out a beautiful big jack rabbit the other day.  The rabbit was a lovely soft grey colour with a big fluffy tail…big, big rabbit too.  He’s also got us up a couple times at night barking at moose travelling through the campsite…not sure if he smells them or hears them but he sure does know when they are close.

We had the dog sled people up at the campground this weekend.  They came up to tidy the area where they tie up the dogs for their dog sled tours.  The company’s name is Snowy Owl Tours and we talked with the fellow who owns it.  He said he did over 1500 tours at Spray Lake this past winter.  Not only do you get to ride the sleds, you are taught how to handle the dogs and “mush” your own sled.  I found it really interesting…guess people come from all over the world for that experience.  He said he owns over 120 dogs…imagine feeding that brood!  Oso thinks he could be a sled dog, but now that he’s got a sore knee maybe he’ll have to seek out a different career!

We’ve also been watching this fellow on the lake who comes up and para-skis on it.  When I first saw him I thought he was nuts, but now realize that he’s out on thick enough ice with very little water below since the lake is pretty well drained at the area he’s skiing on.  He is about my age and has been up almost every day this past week…wish I had that much energy!  Anyway, he gets out on the ice and puts on these skis that are about two feet long.  They are very slick and when his parachute catches the wind just right, he zooms back and forth across the lake.  It’s fun just watching him but I don’t like the ice that much to actually try it, especially after seeing him fall flat while going so fast.

There are mountain bluebirds all over the place up here.  I think they must be mating and trying to nest in the bushes down near the lake.  I haven’t been able to get a good picture of them yet, but will keep trying…they are so pretty.  They remind me of Mom’s friend Elaine, who says the bluebird is her emblem.  We’ve seen osprey, lots of ravens, robins and plenty of little tweety birds that I can’t identify.  I’ll have to get myself a good bird book!

The scenery is spectacular here…I can’t get over how beautiful is it sometimes and can spend hours just wandering and enjoying it.  I hope you enjoy the pictures too!

Mt Engadine...moose country!