Summer Mail Call!

 I know, I know... it's October and I'm just catching up on summer mail now. Sheesh! First up is this post card from Rocky Mountain National Park.

It's from Little Fox... they had some great hiking!

And then another one from LF... this time from Theodore Roosevelt National Park in South Dakota. Cool! I wonder if they stopped in to visit with Jerry & Ben?

More hiking... that is one lucky fox!

Thanks for the post cards Little Fox!! And for hosting the mice for such an awesome summer (and spring... and winter)...

Finally a card from Jerry & Ben!

They wrote a long note! And sent a Starbucks card!

They picked it up in Thunder Bay earlier in the year and just liked the look of it. It is beary pretty...

Thanks for all the mail!

An Adventure and Back-Alley Fish!

Hullo! Today we are doing a little hike to check out another potential swimming hole on Haslam Creek. If you'll recall from a few weeks ago, the one spot we have been to on the creek was a definite "NO" from Rose... but this spot looks like it has more "civilized" access...

First... we hike this stretch of logging road behind a locked gate.

There are lots of pretty flowers out.. These are pearly everlasting and we picked some.

This is tansy... don't let your cows eat this...

And some pretty bracken fern!

The Scotch Broom is in full seed pod mode. One plant makes soooooo many seeds!

There's some fireweed... so pretty and if you have a fireweed meadow... you would get amazing fireweed honey from bees!

Finally (well, 15 minutes later)... we reached a locked gate across a bridge. We are going to deke to the left here...

Although we had a peek over the bridge... hmmm... the water is beary low...

On both sides... there might not be much swimming options here at this time of year.

But let's check it out. Rose and I had seen folks with coolers coming from this area soooo... where there are coolers... there must be water! Or so the logic goes.

Scramble over this berm...

Follow the trail through the woods...

Almost there!!!

And here we are!! There's the bridge... the water is nice and cool... but it's certainly not super deep.

But it's a pretty spot.

Maybe it would be better earlier in the year when the water is higher... we'd have to check.

And then... back home... we are cooking up some dinner that we got in a back-alley... well... back-RV deal! Friends of ours were driving across Canada and unloaded some frozen fish onto us... but not just any fish!

Frozen halibut!!! Mmmm.....

It's not salmon but this little bear isn't choosy...

And some potato wedgies...

And cucumber salad with fresh dill from the garden...

While the fish cooked we hung up our pearly everlasting to dry...

They make beary nice dried flowers...

mmmm... it's ready!!!!

Can you smell it???

Dinner's served!!!

And no, there weren't any leftovers... although... other friends of ours brought over some more frozen halibut... it's good to have people with fishy connections, you know!

Choco Ice Cream

 Hullo!! Do you remember when I visited Gramma earlier this year? She showed us how to make ice cream out of frozen bananas!! So we are going to try it at home now...

We typed up the recipe because the scan Gramma sent was a bit fuzzy to work off of...

We have been stockpiling over-ripe banana slices in the freezer...

Now we put them in the food processor...

And gather the other ingredients while the slices soften a tiny bit.

Maple syrup, cocoa powder and instant coffee... We actually had to go and buy instant coffee cause it's not something we keep in the house!

Alright, we are ready... let's whaz it up!

There it goes!!! 

Look... it's ready! That was fast!

I know... bananas as ice cream? It really doesn't taste like bananas. We have a banana-phobe in the house and in a blind taste test... there was no "ewwwww... banana!!"

Time to dig in!!! It was delicious!

More Swimming Holes!

 Hullo! Yes, yes, more swimming adventures with Rose!

But these will be more "fun" and not just a race to see how many spots we can go to in one day. And so we need supplies...

Swimming always needs supplies!

First we have some Snicks... they are plastic weighted snakes that the humans throw and then dive for... they are not competitive... no, absolutely not.

Then there's the water ball to throw around...

And finally, the water pumper guns!

Mama thinks those are the most fun but Rose is less keen... possibly because she doesn't have decades of experience of how to fire and reload FAST!

And we've got the towels, water shoes, sun screen and goggles!

 Let's go!

The first spot is on the Nanaimo River (of course) but farther upstream that last week's challenge. There's a bit of a walk under the power lines...

Someone is excited!

There are tonnes of Oregon Grape bushes under the powerlines! Loaded with berries...

Not sure we are going to be canning Oregon Grape jelly this year, but this is good to make note of for next year.

And then we reach the drop off...

The river IS way down there... somewhere... but we are not going down that way.

We are going this way...

And then this way... you can see the blue-green water down there...

It's a bit of a steep trail...

But there's ropes to hang onto...

And then... finally... we are here!!!!

It's gorgeous. The water is warmish and uber clear and there aren't tonnes of people here on weekday mornings... 

There are lots of big boulders in the water and some of them you can jump off of, into the deeper water...

The only thing with this spot.... 

Is the scramble back up!

Alrightee!! That was fun... and now we are going to another spot - on Haslam Creek. This was a place we had identified last year as being a potential swimming hole.

Rose hasn't been here before but she is game to try it out!

And... well... she was not impressed!!!

Oh the swimming hole is nice enough, super clear and cool water but... the scramble down from the suspension bridge was epic and Rose was muttering that she is NOT a mountain goat....

But for beauty... well, you can't beat it. And the scramble was worth it... according to Mama. But Rose says "NO!"... so this place will NOT be on future swimming hole challenges. Ah well... You don't know until you try!