This picture will explain my weekend...

I left the office Friday night to sunshine and blue skies. I stopped at Walmart and picked up the cooler and by 6pm I was on the road to the Gregoire Provincial Park. It is about 20ish km from FMMA. Close enough to home if you forget something but far enough away that you no longer feel that you are in the city. And you aren't. The campground is off the highway and the whole park has trees, trees and more trees. They are 30+ feet tall and provide some wonderful shade. My campsite was a great size and I was very impressed with the amount of coverage between sites. What's the point of getting away if you can look out the front of your tent and into your neighbours.

I quickly set up camp, collected my fire wood and the weekend was off to a great start. I cooked my steak--which I must say tastes so awesome cooked over charcoal. After supper I managed to get my campfire going and enjoyed the evening in front of the crackling logs. Around sunset I headed to bed and read a bit before finally falling asleep. Without the cats to get me up I was able to sleep in until around 9am. Record breaking. It had rained during the night which I found very peaceful and relaxing. It was still raining when I got up so I was a bit damp when I returned from my little walk around the campground. It wasn't a downpour  but a light sprinkle yet enough to discourage sitting on any of the furniture at the site. I made my tea and oatmeal and was then trying to decide if I should pack it in and head back to FMMA or stay and see if the weather would improve. I wanted to stay and so decided to set up rain camp.

The back was high enough that I could comfortably stand and the front was low enough that the rain didn't pelt me. Basically it was a good shelter considering I tried to put it up by myself with out help of chair or ladder. And my shelter went up much faster with my one woman team than the one at the next campsite with two guys and two ladies attemping to set it up...and their wasn't any taller than mine.

I happily set up my little kitchen and my book, radio, etc and happily spent most of the day in my shelter. It was quite nice actually. The putting up the shelter part left me wet and dirty but a change of clothes and I was dry for the remainder of the day.

Lunch time...chunky soup and some delish french bread with melted cheese on top.

My chair got wet over night in the rain so I put my rain coat over the back to keep me dry and a bag from Ikea on the seat. It worked.

One of the holes in the roof of my shelter. The tarp is recycled from my trip across Canada so it has a few holes in it. This is by far the biggest one and it didn't really seem to leak much so it's ok. I can't see me investing in a new tarp this year when this one will do.

So the first picture of this post...is one of the sides that helped to hold up the tarp.

The rain let up late in the afternoon and I spent about 90 minutes wandering up and down the roads and paths at Gregoire. It's quite nice and I'm hopeful that I can head there again--soon.

 Saskatoon berries...they were a big attraction for not only the people camping but also for bears. I was warned when I checked in that there had been some bear sightings prior to my arrival. No bear viewing for me which is quite fortunate as far as I'm concerned.

 A picture of Gregoire Lake...or as much as I could see of it given the overcast skies.

 Berries of some sort. They look like they have wings on them.

Good weekend all around. Looking forward to the next camping trip. Maybe next time Lac La Biche.

The cats were good as gold and didn't destroy anything in the apartment...nothing was even out of place. I think Tundra my little stress eater managed to put on a couple of pounds but other than that no damage to anyone or anything. Way to go girls!