We finished our work week of afternoon/evenings Thursday and on Friday (14th) we took highway 5A up to Kamloops. The remnants of a wildfire burning near Stump Lake was causing a very hazy/smokey sky...
It was just a pretty uneventful few days as life continued on at Monck. I ended up working in the gatehouse Saturday while Steve worked around the trailer on his day off. We had lots of visits from our resident deer family...
Sunday afternoon, Bill and Sherry arrived in the park. Steve had corresponded with Bill over at the rvhappyhour forum but had never met him. They are from Brentwood Bay on Vancouver Island and came to check out the park. Steve went down to greet them later on in the afternoon.
Then Monday evening they came up and joined us for happy hour...
Tuesday, we rode our bikes down to their site and joined them for a drink. 'Notcho' and her babies delighted nearby campers as they wandered through the campsites...
We had a lovely time chatting with Bill and Sherry...very nice meeting you, we'll have to connect again sometime down the road!
Wednesday evening we had a "double-date night"...something we had been planning with Doug and Sue for a long time. Since discovering last April that their wedding anniversary is August 22 and Steve's birthday is August 24, we decided we would all celebrate together. With Sue and Doug on days off and Steve and I working days, we planned our date for August 19th...and dinner at The Keg in Kamloops was the venue.
Steve and I splurged on Steak and Lobster...while Doug and Sue had Prime Rib...Yum!
After dinner, we took this picture outside of the Keg, then decided to wear off some of that fabulous dinner by going for a walk along Riverfront Park...
It was shortly after 9:30 when we pulled back into Monck Park...what a great evening out! Thanks Doug and Sue for providing the transportation...a great evening with great friends! We had a blast!
We had our usual day shifts on Thursday. We were excited because our youngest son, Chris and his wife, Angela are coming from Vancouver to camp for the weekend. We managed to get a double site for them to share with friends that are joining them. Steve was cleaning their site and couldn't believe what absolute pigs the previous campers were...garbage and recycling in the firepit...
...and three different piles of used tea bags just left on the ground! They also left a trash bag tied to the gate post outside their site as well as lots of cigarette butts and garbage everywhere.
It took Steve almost 1/2 an hour just dealing with this before raking out the double site! Believe it or not this was the grandparents site and the adjoining site with the kids and grand kids was much cleaner...go figure. There seems to be a difference in camping etiquette between regular Rvers and many vacation/weekender type campers!!!
Friday, our day off, we headed into Merritt for our weekly grocery shopping. Chris was expecting to get off work early so they could leave and get to the park before dark. He was successful and they arrived shortly after 7:00...their friends Jamieson and Robyn arrived just before them. We were at the gatehouse to greet Chris and Angela when they arrived...
And then we walked down to their campsite. It was a beautiful evening...Chris bought a new tent...it was a little tricky figuring out how to set it up the first time but now they've done it once, shouldn't be a problem...(left to right...Jamieson, Robyn, Chris, Angela, and me)
A short while later, another friend of Chris' arrived...another Chris. We sat and chatted with them while they got their camp set up and then we headed home...looking forward to spending the day with them tomorrow!
After a relaxing start to the day Saturday, we did a few things around the trailer and then walked down to Chris and Angela's campsite. The kids had a chilly night...the temperatures dipped to a chilly 7F/44C during the night, the coolest night we have had in a long time. We'll lend them an extra sleeping bag tonight!
Everyone was game for a hike today, so late morning we headed off. We walked up to the trail head across the road from the park entrance and hiked the west trail.
Chris and Angela's friends packed up and headed out early Sunday morning. Once Chris and Angela were all packed up, they came and spent the rest of the morning with us. We had lunch and then it was time for me to head down to the gatehouse for my shift at 12:30. So I gave the kids big hugs and said goodbye...so very good seeing them! What a great weekend! See you next month when we return to Fort Langley.
During his shift Sunday afternoon, Steve noticed a dog tied up in the day use area which isn't allowed. While trying to locate the owner he noticed that the No Dogs Allowed sign was laying on the ground so had to deal with that first. He eventually located the owner and got every excuse under the sun. Later on while cleaning a site Steve noticed the same guy driving around with people in the back of his truck so had to deal with that too.
Monday...August 24th...Happy 60th Birthday, Steve! We were having our morning coffee when we spotted a different deer 'couple' out our back window...a doe and this fork buck...
Steve worked a split shift today...a couple of hours at 11:00 to help clean sites...and then 6:00 to 10:00. As a small celebration of his birthday, I talked him into taking a short 10 minute break...and we shared a 'birthday pie' with Sue and Doug...
It was a very short break for him but nice just the same...then he was back on the golf cart again to finish his shift.
And that pretty well brings us up to date again...only a couple of more weeks to go and our work here at the park will be over...
