Sunday, July 26 to Saturday, August 1, 2015 (Monck Provincial Park, Quilchena, BC)

For a change, Sunday was rainy and cool...we even had the fireplace on! This week we are both working the "late" shift. Today, my shift was 12:30 to 7:30 while Steve was on 2:30 to 10:30. It was really strange putting on long pants to go to work...I even had full shoes and socks on! It was really a busy day in the gatehouse...actually, the whole week was really busy. I think it is a combination of people starting their summer vacations (the last week of July and the first couple of weeks of August seem to be the most popular vacation time with historically the nicest weather...it is the period that Steve and I always took our vacation when we worked)...and it's also a long weekend coming up (the first Monday of August is BC Day).
Steve had to pick up 20 of these cups filled with rocks that were placed and left all over the day-use area after some sort of game. More lazy disrespectful campers! Geez!

Monday morning Steve sorted recycling for a couple of hours while I took Tucker out for a walk around the campground. We stopped at the gatehouse for a brief visit but Sue was extremely busy...it's times like that that it would be nice to have two people covering the gatehouse; not only do you have to handle the line-up of campers/day-use people coming into the park but you also have the store part to look after.

After our walk, I dropped Tucker off at his home and then took a turn at the recycling. We're trying to get caught up...perhaps if we all do a little every day, we'll be able to keep on top of it.

I started work at 2:30 again today...Steve is on a couple of days of short 4 hour shifts, working 6:30 to 10:30. Again, it was a busy day in the gatehouse...we were sold out of campsites by the end of my shift.

Tuesday we had a semi come up into the compound to deliver ice...it never ceases to amaze me how they are able to get turned around up here. He came up to the edge of our site then backed up over the edge of the burning pile...

...and to the edge of the compound where it drops off steeply...

Did it!...and he's off, maneuvering around the corner of the shed...

We had a lot of people arriving at the park today...the Merritt RCMP Aboriginal Policing Services hosted what they called a "Canoe Pull". I understand they canoe Nicola Lake and this year the group was staying at the campground...roughly 80 kids along with supervising adults.
The canoes arrived around 5:00 p.m. The rain we had didn't seem to damper the games and fun time they had. Steve got a few photos while on his garbage run. They played "Double Ball" with a double rainbow in the back ground...very cool...

Wednesday morning, Steve and I took Tucker for a walk and a swim. As we were walking down the road out of the compound, "Notcho" the doe was there and didn't want to let us go by...I guess her babies were somewhere close by. I finally ended up having to take Tucker down through the bush to the bottom of the hill. He had a great time swimming at the dog beach...

Later that evening while working, Doug called Steve over. Notcho and her fawns were below the compound...

Thursday morning we decided to drive into Merritt for our weekly groceries. It was an absolutely gorgeous day! The lake is so calm...something that we haven't seen for awhile!

Merritt is going to be very busy this weekend with the 'Rockin' River Musicfest'

We left at 9:00 a.m. and were back home shortly after 11:00...the lake is still pretty calm...

After putting our groceries away, we had lunch...and then it was time to go to work. Steve took this picture later on...an interesting looking tent in one of the campsites...

Steve was cleaning the day use area during a very beautiful evening...

First thing Friday morning we had visitors for breakfast...

Where is Notcho?

All the photos were taken from inside our rig...

Here comes Notcho...

About 8:30, I put on my first load of laundry and then we joined Doug and Sue for coffee outside in the beautiful morning sunshine. Just a "splash" of Baileys! :-)

We did chores around the trailer...and basically just chilled inside with the AC running. It was a hot one out there with temps up to 35C/94F!

After dinner, we decided to walk down to the gatehouse for ice cream...Magnum Bars...yum! We also took Tucker with us...he had a visit with his mom and dad...and then we went for a short walk around loop 2. It was still pretty warm outside even if the sun had gone down behind the mountain!

Saturday (Wow, it's August already! ) was a pretty lazy day...we visited with Sue and Doug outside for a bit while Steve emptied and flushed the tanks. Then we went inside and I worked on this blog while Steve got caught up reading his magazines.

I was a little "antsy" and wanted to get outside, so I thought I'd go for a bit of a walk. After a visit with Sue in the gatehouse, I wandered down to the day-use area. It was another hot day with lots of people at the beach...

And there you have it...another week has slipped by. We're into August now...a busy time here in this beautiful park!