Camping -- Oldmill RV Park

About one Friday a month Scott gets an EDO, or earned day off. We love it!

We'd been trying to convince our good friends the Coopers to give camping a try and July's EDO was the perfect opportunity. The weather was supposed to be fabulous so we thought we'd head back to La Manche. Unfortunately we waited until the night before to book a site and La Manche and everything else within a 2 hours drive was reserved. We got desperate, and against our better judgement, we finally secured 2 camping sites at an RV park 45 minutes out of town. 

To say the site was ugly would be an understatement. Compared to the rugged natural beauty that abounds in Newfoundland, this place was a complete hole. More like a gravel parking lot than a place to commune with nature. But, true to their word, the outhouses were the absolute best I have ever experienced.

We kicked off the campout with a delicious lunch interrupted by a heavy rainstorm. 

We positioned ourselves under the tent canopy and the open tailgate of the van. Thankfully, Newfoundland weather changes quickly and it was soon over.

Then it was time for homemade rootbeer!

Dry ice is so much fun!

Watching the little boys experience dry ice was great. It was not Scott's best brew because the root beer extract was nearly solid.... and expired 3 years ago. That just means we will have to try it again!

The biting flies were not nearly as bad as our trip to La Manche. Helen got two bites, and I think she was the only one in our family to get any. It's so creepy how the first thing you notice is blood trickling down! They aren't painful, but they itch badly. Joseph still has a scab from La Manche (a month and a half ago!) because he can't stop scratching it. Luckily, Helen left hers alone.

Scott made the most incredible dutch oven dinner of potatoes, cheese and bacon.

 He felt horrible all afternoon and night, and was great to still play master chef for us.

 

Our boys loved wandering around with their buddy Lincoln. There wasn't a ton of space to roam between campsites (There are three sites in this picture. Way too close to each other!) but the kids made do and enjoyed "hiding" from the parents. They also had fun playing at the big playground, and throwing rocks in a stream at the edge of the campground.

Helen spent most of her time in the pack n play. And loved it! Something about being outside just makes babies happy.

These two are really starting to enjoy being together. Scarlett is four months younger than Helen and they are destined to be BFF's. They mostly demonstrated their friendship by tackling each other, but were so much happier to be together than alone in the pack n play.

Photos compliments of the lovely Taralee.

When it came time for bed, we folded down the van seats, put the pack n play inside and put Helen to sleep in there. But she just stood up and watched us through the window. Both babies had a terrible time falling asleep because of all the noise our fellow campers were making. It was something of a foreshadow for the night ahead... 

Our next-door-neighbors began playing music really, really loudly at 2 am. The babies both woke up, and we all laid there listening to babies crying and Brad Paisley singing for an hour and a half. Eventually Scott pounded on their RV and explained it was time to turn the music off. Scott scared them to death, and I am a bit ashamed to admit how happy that made me! We all slept great after that. 

Relaxing with hot chocolate after a breakfast of sausage and homemade donuts.

The skies were clear on Saturday and we decided to find a good place to swim. Taralee and I interviewed as many fellow campers as we could and got the best tip from a grade-school girl on the playground. She said to follow the traintracks for 30 minutes and there we'd find a swimming hole. Although she seemed sure of herself, we decided against wandering off on her advice alone. 

We also stopped a railroad enthusiast who was examining the abandoned train tracks that dead-ended at the RV park. Although he didn't know of any swimming spots (neither did his friend, who he called on our behalf) I learned some interesting things about the rail system. Apparently the rails in NL are more narrow than mainland Canada, because it was cheaper to build them that way. Train cars would be sent from mainland Canada and then refitted with wheels the proper width once they got to NL. It wasn't ultimately very cost effective to do it this way, and it wasn't terribly safe either as the train cars constantly derailed on the narrow tracks. There were freight and passenger trains, and the the passenger trains were called the Newfie Bullet. It operated for 90 years, but because retrofitting cars to fit the tracks was so expensive and made them so unstable, the Newfoundland rail system was abandoned completely in 1988. All according to our new friend. 

Some Googling from our phones yielded an article in The Scope magazine about some local "secret" swimming holes. We decided to check one out back near home and we weren't disappointed! 

You park along the main road to Cape Spear, then hike off into the woods. At one point you wade through a stream, and then pass a rusted-out van. The swimming hole is on Punch Bowl Pond and the scene was picturesque.

      Photo compliments of the lovely Taralee.

We will definately go back!

   Photo compliments of the lovely Taralee.