Category Archives: Travel

Let’s hit the lake!

Posted on August 6, 2012 | 2 comments

It’s holiday Monday and it’s hot, so let’s go to a lake! Our favourite mountain spot for cooling off is Surveyor’s Lake in Kikomun Creek Provincial Park near Fernie, BC. It has a sandy beach, warm water and the added bonus of “wildlife” for the kids to watch (crayfish, singing loons and my favourite, western painted turtles).

A kid-approved summer pastime.

When not building sand castles, we like to rent a two-person kayak from Turtle Haven Rentals ($20 for one hour) and turn it into a four-person conveyance by squeezing both Avery and Bennett on. We then paddle around Surveyor’s Lake and adjacent Engineer’s Lake looking for sunning turtles, trying to spot trout swimming in the unbelievably clear water and touching silky lily pads as our kayak skims over them.

The two busy beaches scare the turtles away at Surveyor’s Lake. Paddle under the bridge and see them at neighbouring Engineer’s Lake.

We kayaked up to this little dude sunning himself.

If we’re feeling energetic we’ll walk the three-kilometre Surveyor’s Lake Trail that winds around the lake, and breathe in the lovely scent of sun-baked pine needles that carpet the path.

When we get back to the beach we simply can’t resist jumping off the dock into the cool water. Heaven!

Bennett musters his gumption and jumps off the dock!

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Family travel trend: hiring a professional photographer

Posted on July 24, 2012 | 2 comments

New trends in travel appear every year. The destination wedding gave birth to the babymoon and, once kids were in the mix, families decided they needed to travel with grandma (multi-generational vacations) for her babysitting services.

Now that the entire clan is jetting off to Maui or the Bahamas every winter, well-heeled (or, ahem, flip-flopped) travellers have realized they need to hire a professional photographer while on holiday, to capture the magic of every sunset moment on a memory card, with the lighting, outfits and facial expressions just right. They want to guarantee they’ll look good for the annual Christmas card or the Facebook photo album that shares their posed beach frolics with the world. This trend is so hot, some resorts are offering sessions with a pro as part of a vacation package.

Now, I’m all for hiring a professional photographer for certain occasions. Weddings, the newborn photo shoot, and the session every several years to capture your kids getting bigger, come to mind. In fact, we hired Jessica Harcombe Fleming Photography to take some snaps of us last fall.

We hired a professional to get pictures of us with our kids (then aged four and six).

But shelling out for those perfect moments miles from home seems a bit over the top. Shouldn’t holidays be spontaneous? You’ve left your structured days back home and you should be able to throw on a sloppy sundress, go without makeup and not worry about everything being just so. Isn’t part of the fun of family holidays the ridiculous photos that come out of it? As one blogger lamented, this trend will put an end to those awkward, kitschy “Griswold” moments typically captured on film.

The “Griswolds” go hiking. Forced nature commune on Canada Day in Fernie.

Proponents of the trend say it takes the pressure off Mom or Dad to be the on-call photographer; that way, they can enjoy the holiday with both eyes instead of worrying about viewing highlights through a lens. A small price to pay, they say. Also, this way they don’t have to rely on random strangers to capture an image of everyone together. (Maybe it’s just me, but I think this random stranger did a pretty good job.)

A “random stranger” does a pretty good job capturing a sunset beach moment of our family in Ixtapa, Mexico. Cost? Priceless.

What do you think? Would you hire a holiday cameraman, or are you content to tote your own point-and-shoot and hope for the best?

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Camping with kids made possible by motorhome

Posted on July 17, 2012 | Leave a comment

Before we had children my husband and I liked to camp. Backcountry or even front country, you’d find us heading west on many summer weekends. Now, the very idea of camping in a nylon tent with two children induces an instant headache. We tried camping with Avery when she was 14 months old and I wrote about that failed adventure for the Calgary Herald.

Camping with kids is a lot of work.

Six years later our daughter loves camping. She thinks it’s the best thing ever, after s’mores. Bennett, however, is not 100 percent sold on the glory of nature or the benefit of slumbering in its midst. More specifically: he hates fires. And fireworks. Really, anything crackling and hot with a flame. And camping without a fire is kind of like skiing without powder: you can still do it but it’s not going to be as much fun.

We became aware of his pyrophobia last summer, on failed camping attempt No. 2. All was going well in the great outdoors until it was time to roast hot dogs. As soon as the campfire was lit, Bennett retreated to the car and refused to come out. He then refused to go to bed in the tent, which was within earshot of the crackling fire. By refused I mean he screamed and cried hysterically blubbering, “No fire! Go away fire! Put it out! Waaaahhhhhh!!” (I’m sure other campers within earshot must’ve thought we were trying to brand him or make him walk on hot coals or some similar torture.) We ended up driving home at about 10 p.m. Our takeaways from that trip:

  1. No more fires.
  2. Why are we torturing ourselves in a tent, anyway? Let’s peel away whatever shreds of camping self-respect we have left and get a motorhome already.

Fortunately, my in-laws took one for the team and invested in a motorhome. We borrowed it and “camped” at Gull Lake this past weekend.

Ah, nature! Got my barcalounger and a view of the throngs from the porch.

Inside its retro 1981 cabin Bennett felt as secure as if we were staying overnight at a motel. Outside, he was wary of the firepit, but we assured him there would be no fires. After he went to bed we closed the windows, drew the curtains and turned the fan on high (gotta love RV hook-ups!). Then, we lit a honking huge fire and made a bunch of s’mores.

It’s not camping unless there’s a fire + s’mores!

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