Thank You Mr. Redneck

Our family went camping to Spruce Woods Provincial Park from July 12-14.  I had visited this park as a teenager, but for everyone else this was a first time excursion.  Our ride there was gently sprinkled with "Where are we's" and *sigh* "Are we ALMOST there's" from the back seats, but Jeff & I were thoroughly enjoying the breathtaking sights along the way.  It's amazing how very exciting hills and valleys can be when you've lived your entire lives in the prairies.  

Our campsite (bay 8 sight 13 to be exact) was sooo awesome!!  It was ginormous...we could easily have set up 10 tents on this sight!  And it was grassy, surrounded by lush trees and bushes, and it was directly across the road from the camp office, the firewood supply, and the bathroom.  Awesome!!!  Our friends Ben & Cindy Klassen and their 3 daughters set up camp at the sight directly beside us, and we had a wonderful time sharing this experience with them.

The campground surrounds Kiche Manitou Lake, which has a very nice little beach.  The water was cool but not frigid, and thankfully nobody encountered any leaches.  We also rented paddle boats, and explored the unique horseshoe shaped lake in this way.  

I would have to say that the highlight of the trip for me was the 7 km hike through the Spruce Woods forest and Spirit Sands.  The sights truly were breathtaking, and trudging through the large area of sand dunes brought to my mind many a Bible passage.  I tried to imagine what it would be like to wander in the desert for 40 years, and suddenly I was very very thirsty!!!  We did not bring enough of our own water along, so we did what we had to do.  Yup.  We pumped water from a well that had a sign beside it saying, "DO NOT DRINK", and...........that's right!  We drank it!!!!  It tasted like pennies, but we were so parched that it was as if we were gulping the most exotic tropical beverage known to man.  Now don't you go and worry, thinking to yourselves that we are totally, irresponsibly bonkers to have done this.  Before we poured liters of this liquid down our gullets, we had a talk with Mr. Redneck.  I do believe that was actually his name!  So Mr. Redneck of Glenboro told us that he's been drinking water from that well every day for the last 30 years, and it ain't never done him no harm.  Thank you Mr. Redneck.  That's all we needed to know.  ;)  

So yeah, highlights of the trip:

1. The beautiful scenic drive
2. Huge grassy campsite
3. nice, clean beach
4. paddle boats
5. mostly sunny (one 2 hour thunderstorm on Saturday)
6. free firewood (right across the road)
7. touring the interpretive center with all kinds of preserved (?) wildlife creatures
8. acquiring our very own Provincial Park passports and getting a Spruce Woods stamp in them.
9. hiking through the woods
10. walking on the Spirit Sands dunes
11. camp stove and campfire cooking
12. hanging out around the campfire
13. talking to Mr. Redneck
14. drinking questionable well water
15. watching our dog Charlie and Ben & Cindy's dog Zeke play together
16. coming back from the beach to find that a raccoon had stolen most of our potato chips

It was an amazing time of friend and family fun and bonding.  Till next time...........