Fireworks, Moose and Possible Changes…

The week started off with a bang…literally!  Tom and I were sitting in the fifth wheel last Thursday night…it was rainy and cool so we stayed in.  Suddenly we heard this huge BANG and instantly thought someone was shooting off bear bangers (bear bangers are sort of a huge firecracker that sounds like a shot-gun blast …they are used to scare bear away, though are illegal in the provincial parks).  Tom poked his head out the door to see what was going on and there was a tall plume of smoke rising from the area across the lake where the pay phone is located.  Just then four kids came driving in and said that there was a jeep on fire across the way.  Just then, fireworks blasted out of the site as well.  We called 911 and Conservation and then went over to the site to see if everyone was ok.  Here was a fellow, his jeep burning wildly, and he’s taking a video of it happening.  Is that what you would do?  We thought it was kind of weird.  We asked about the fireworks and he said that he was a climber and that he carries fireworks to set off whenever he reaches the peak of a mountain.  He said that he stopped the jeep because he thought he had a gas leak and when he stopped his jeep suddenly burst into flames.  We stayed until the fire department arrived and even then they had to pull the guy back from the jeep and make him stop filming.  There were loud bangs and pops as various parts of the jeep blew up and once the firemen sprayed water on the jeep, some bright blasts of magnesium fire exploded from the vehicle.   We came to find out the next morning that the guy had been reported as illegally off-roading up at Mt. Shark and that’s how his jeep’s gas tank was damaged.  Wonder if that will affect his insurance coverage???

Marc left on Thursday as well.  We were sad to see him go but the weather was not predicted to be any better the next few days so he decided to head south.  Hopefully he got to see Lindsey in Cranbrook on his way through.  Here’s a picture of him as the Grumpy Camper!

The weather last week was cold and rainy…the worst week of the summer as far as weather goes.  This week it has warmed up to where we are wearing shorts again and we’ve not had rain through the day since the weekend.  On Sunday night we went down to Lower Lakes Group Campsite for a staff bbq.  It was really nice to connect with some of the other campground managers and enjoy their company.   We saw a moose on the way home.  You’ll notice in the picture the whiteness of the left side paddle of his antlers.  That’s where he’s been rubbing the fuzz off them.   He was a nice looking fellow but I’m afraid my pictures aren’t that great as we sort of coasted by rather than stopping to take pictures.  Oh well, I only have about 800 moose pictures already!  (That’s not a lie…I transferred my pictures from my old computer to my new computer and I had over 6500 of them…whew…snap-happy or what!)  I can’t help it though…I just love the moose!  The picture above is one of my favourites taken at Mt. Engadine when we were here in 2011.  

Today was really quite nice and sunny.   We drove down to Boulton Creek to hand  in our registrations for the week, have showers and pick up supplies.  It is about a 40 minute drive and absolutely gorgeous.  We saw a beautiful big moose cross the road in front of us at one point but he disappeared into the bush before I could focus on him. 

We got to talk with our boss, Ian, today about the possibility of moving to a different campground.  There are several couples retiring and so at least two other campgrounds will be open for new management.  One is at Lower Lake, which has more sites but a much smaller footprint than ours, and the other is Eau Claire, on Hwy 40.  Lower Lake would be nice since its closer to showers, laundry, the store and other campgrounds.  We both do love Spray Lake, but it is the largest campsite, being five kilometers long, and is a lot more work than the others.  I guess we’ll have to weigh the pros and cons and see what happens.    As you can see in the picture above Spray Lake is a fabulously beautiful spot.

While Marc was here we stopped at the Nordic Center here in Canmore.  It is a building left over from the Winter Olympics when they were in Calgary.  Much of the cross country skiing and other winter sports actually took place up in the mountains around Spray Lake.  The Nordic Center now is used as a place for sporting events, summer camps, equipment rentals and as a meeting place for sports minded people.  I was impressed that they still had the flags of nations standing near the entry to the center…very impressive!

We are starting to plan our next adventure and are thinking of heading to the east coast and down to Florida, then across to New Orleans and on through Texas and the Gulf Coast to Arizona.  Sounds like a huge trip, but we’ll have time to do all of it.  Neither one of us have been as far as the east coast, though Tom did spend a few weeks in Mississippi when he was in the air force.   We might as well do our traveling now while we are still in good health…maybe we’ll get that wanderlust out of our systems eventually!