Campgrounds and CAMPGROUNDS!

Having travelled across Canada twice now, I'm beginning to be a bit of an expert on Campgrounds in this fair land.  They fall into three main categories:

Parking Lot
Cute and Quaint
I Could Live Here

Parking Lot

The Parking Lot campground, you would think would be least expensive but you'd be wrong!  They tend to be set out on acres of land with little gravel pads and your basic services (water, sewer, power, a picnic table and a fire pit).  Your next door neighbour is an arm's length away and the nearest thing to a tree is the little plastic flower hanging in the washroom.  If they are planned well, your front door does not exit out into their sewer line - but that's just a faint wish.  However, better the sewer line than a thousand little plastic bikes and old picnic gear.  The Parking Lot Campground is fine for a short - one night layover where you plan to sleep and then be up and away in the morning but definitely not aesthetically pleasing.

Cute and Quaint

The Cute and Quaint campground is how I would classify our Home away from Home at Hilden.  Scotia Pine Campground is beautifully designed with large trees between each site, a pool, a gift shop and a laundry.  There tend to be more older travellers here than little children and definitely more pets.  These places are quiet, pretty and friendly and ofter very reasonable.

Parks and Beaches

I Could Live Here - is a place I discovered today.  The place is called Chrystal Lake Campground somewhere between Vermilion Bay and Winnipeg.  After driving up the lovely manicured driveway I was greeted by a virtual park (like golf course green).  All I could think of is, "Clark would be SO at home here!"  Ann's other half gets great joy from caring for his lawn and for putting his little John Deere to the test.  This place looks like he been here, too.  The sign on the door says, "Find a spot - we'll see you later!"  So I pulled into this pristine, super level, blacktop pull through site with all the business parts near at hand.  Hooked up and am now off to enjoy the big sandy beach  and wiggle my toes in the lake.  Oh, and it's just about the lowest cost campground I've come across yet!  You gotta love it!

I've always hoped that some day someone in our family will NOT glaze over when I start talking about family history.  So you can imagine the joy I felt when receiving an email from grandson, Mark about the Grade 12 History summer class he's taking (he's actually just finished Grade 10 and trying to get a jump on the years to come)  His project was to do a family tree!  Yay!  Jim, his grandfather, is also interested in genealogy so he had two pretty good sources to work with.  While I'm not kidding myself that this is the beginning of a grand passion for family history on Mark's part, I'm very proud of the work he produced.

Mark's Family Tree Project

To be continued..............................