It was a spur of the moment decision, to book a couple of days camping. We have only one place that we can go, without a car. I would choose to go there even if we had a car.
We live in downtown Montreal in a studio apartment with no balcony. The windows face another building which is a nice condominium apartment. They are spoiled people that make noise way too early.
It was exciting to think that we would have a couple of mornings without them waking us. We would just have the sound of the birds.
The campground is one that we discovered last year. We went twice. Getting there for us is fast. We loaded up our wagon with all of our necessities, and pulled it on a 30 minute walk to the port where river shuttles run to various places. Our city is an Island and around are other islands. An Island called Isle de Grosbois, is situated in a National park which is an Island called Isle de Boucherville national park. This is the site of the campground which is a 30 minute ride on ferry to the mainland shore. From there we take a 5 minute shuttle across the river to the campground dock.
When we announced to co workers that we were going camping, they were shocked. It had been raining and quite miserable the week before with not much hope of clear skies.
Marc announced that he had purchased a tarp on line, just in case. I wasn't thrilled with that purchase. Two nights camping at the end of the season, wouldn't be worth it. Too late. It arrived at the door. We now had a rain tarp.
On the way there we had promising blue skies with fluffy dramatic clouds. I was pretty sure we would not be rained on.
Even though camping is supposed to be relaxing, I think it involves quite a bit of work. Dragging things including wood to your site, setting up the tent, starting a fire, fighting off mosquitoes, and making food.
We decided to set up the tarp even though we were certain it would not rain. We weren't sure how to do it so there were strings all across the site holding the tarp up. We realized we were amateurs at tarp set up. Stupid city folks.
It was very fortunate that we had set up the tarp when we did. It started to rain lightly. We carried the picnic table under the tarp and waited for the rain to stop. It got dark with clouds.
After it stopped we pulled the table back out and continued our camping activities, which included drinking wine and making food.
The sun made it's way through the clouds. Everything looked beautiful and golden.
We were gifted with the sight of a rainbow. For us concrete jungle dwellers, it's really nice.
I hoped there would be deer roaming around like last year.
The first day we didn't see any.
The next day I spotted a deer by herself grazing. I get excited when I see these creatures. Growing up in cities means you see squirrels, cats and dogs mostly. I love them all though.
I didn't have a zoom lens with me so I slowly moved towards her. She was accompanied by a friend one time. They didn't really seem afraid of me and I could get quite close. Of course they would leave if I made any big moves.
They often just looked at me and I would say hello in a soft voice. They would continue grazing.
This beautiful mother let me get close. I imagined how some people would just think about steak if they saw these guys up close.
There is an Island connected to this one that has deer hunting. It seems these fellows don't fear or know about the dangers of people with guns.
I have no judgment towards hunters or meat eaters, it's just not my thing that's all.
I noticed that she was a mother after I saw two cute baby Bambis following her.
They seemed pretty relaxed and looked at me for a while. They eventually followed their mother. I may have gotten a little too close.
For food, I grabbed some things out of the fridge and brought random items with us. We don't eat animal products so we didn't bother bringing a cooler with us. There is a metal bin to keep our things in. This is heavy so the racoons don't get in.
Our lunch was done on our camping stove. I had brought some poor man's ramen noodle packages from the dollar store. I never get those but I though it would be good for not taking too much space.
It's supposed to be made into soup but I just cooked up some onions, garlic, ginger and tofu. I added some soy sauce and seasoning from the package. I added some broccoli and then the noodles which I had pre cooked. I wasn't sure where I was going with all of this.
We are the only ones that start a campfire before it gets dark. Us city folks go hard when we break loose into the wilderness.
The wood was 8 dollars a bundle. We splurged on 5 bundles. The guy at the shack where we bought them looked at us strangely when we asked for 5.
I had brought some vegetables that had to be cooked. A large zucchini and some weird shaped gourd like zucchini.
I decided to put them on the grill that was on the fire pit.
I really admire people that have their kitchens outdoors. It's nice, not hear a fan over the stove while cooking. Not to mention I can relax sitting down while I randomly prepare stuff. I had no plan when I started.
I brought a couple of potatoes and sliced them into hasselbacks.
We had brought some tin foil to wrap things for the grill.
It would be boring to just have veggies and potatoes on the grill so I made a sauce from items that I had brought.
I ended up with a curry sauce that had a base of onion, tomato, garlic, ginger and a spice mixed that I had brought along.
During the cooking of the sauce, a camp worker came to talk to us. I'm sure he was smelling the delicious sauce and thought how strange of a thing to eat at a campground.
He warned us that we would have some neighbours next to us and across from us that would arrive in an hour. It was late evening already.
He informed us that it was two groups of teenagers.
My heart sank. I thought we would have a nice peaceful evening. He gave us his phone number and said if they are too loud or misbehave, we should call him.
Some of you in other parts of the world, may not be familiar with the kind of teenage behaviour that can go on in these parts.
The teenagers arrived when it was starting to get dark. They drove to the other part of the park and had to walk with wagons for close to an hour to get to the site. There were around 11 or 12 of them all together. Two sites and four tents.
Our dinner took a while to cook but it was worth the wait.
At some point in our two days we had veggie dogs on the grill. Some racoons tried to take the buns off the table when we weren't looking. Caught just on time.
We had our dinner while the teens set up their tents. At this point they were pretty well behaved and seemed to be a bunch from decent families. I started to relax.
We were really surprised that they went to sleep in their tents before we did. I know that teenagers like to sleep late, so I was now sure we would have a great sleep and could wake up as late as we usually do. We work late and sleep late.
These teens woke up before 7 a.m. and started talking like a flock of seagulls!
I realized that it had been too good to be true.
It was beautiful morning so we decided to embrace our sleep deprivation. It's the story of my life.
We made a promise to ourselves that we would go canoeing around the island. The morning we were woken up by the teens, we realized it was too tiring to get into a canoe and start paddling.
There was a paddle boat at the dock that was chained up. This would be a good way to be on the river without going through the work of moving a canoe.
Time to go back to the city. We packed up to go to the boat to take us to the other side. There we would get the ferry back home.
Trouble in paradise!
The bolt came off one of our wagon's wheels. The wheel was falling off without it. We would not be able to drag all of our things from the pier to our home.
I was devastated. What were we going to do. Marc went to search for the bolt. It would be like a needle in a haystack. We had to forget it. The boat had arrived. We put our back packs on and carried the wagon on to the boat with the wheel dangling. It was embarrassing. The boat driver must have thought we were insane.
While we were on our way to the other dock, Marc remembered that there was a mechanic shop right on the corner. We decided that when we got there, we would empty out the wagon and I would wait while he took the wagon to see if they had a bolt. I was nervous that they would say no. It's a very French town. Most people there don't speak English. Marc speaks French but will be clearly Anglophone to these people. Sometimes they will not have anything to do with Anglophones.
Fortunately to my relief, Marc came back wheeling the wagon with a new bolt securely fastened. This is a 300 dollar wagon so I was relieved that it was back. The mechanic didn't ask for anything so Marc gave him twenty dollars for the five minute job. It was well worth it.
It had been rough up until the wheel problem was solved. After that we could enjoy our ride back on the river.
Two days spent completely outdoors, leaves two caged city dwellers feeling refreshed, despite the lack of sleep. We'll have to wait until next year to do it again.
design by: @KidSisters
Nice green woods with friendly deer. Your camping food looked yummy. Would love to try the sauce, noodle and baked potatoes.
Luckily, the wagon could be easily repaired. This one is very expensive here too! It’s nice to go camping there. I like the ferry journey too.
Hope you could have more holiday soon!
It's funny because it wasn't even like a holiday, it was just our regular days off work. We can't get a reservation for those days any more so that's it for the year. They have openings only for days when we work. We just have to wait until next year if the world hasn't ended yet lol. Two days in nature and that's it.
Oh! You work very hard so you need to recharge your battery in nature more often. I do hope you’ll get some extra days off from time to time. Yet you have to save some money for your other plans as well.
Hope you’ll have lots of bonuses and rewards from your hard work.
Really peaceful moments. You spent excellent moments. You cooked in nature and really amazing. In a word incredible. Thanks for sharing your great content with beautiful photography and alluring delicious dishes. Friend.
Aww how lovely your comment is. Nature is something we can't have during six months of the year if you live in the city. It's so cold!!!! I have to get out as much as possible. I wish I live where you live.
Thank you very much for your visit my friend.
Awesome camping and that deer looks so delicious....
Oh yum yum yum...
By the way since I'm indigenous it's cultural!
Haha yeah I don't eat meat but I can still get into your head or someone's head and understand. I almost had a yum moment myself lol.
That food looks delicious, especially the sauce and potatoes. We love grilled potatoes and zucchini. My son asks when we grill, can i have some of that green gerkin you cook. lol
Sorry to hear about the trouble you had with your Bollerwagen as we call them here. We bought ours a few years ago now when we first went camping and cant live without it now, it is so handy. Ours was just a cheap one though but has lasted fine so far. Whether to the beach or pool , you can just throw everything you need in it. It has even transported the kids when they were smaller.
I hope you guys are nice and refreshed, we also have some neighbors who seem to want an audience to whatever they do and it is nice to get away. lol
Haha so cute that your son says it's a gerkin. I love a child that is willing to eat a vegetable. I don't see much of that here.
Mein Bollerwagen let me down. I thought it was indestructible. Now I will have to get spare bolts to take with me. Or perhaps we put way too much in it. I guess we pushed it too far. I wish we would have had them when I was a kid . I would like to be dragged around in one lol.
The neighbours are worst then ever. I give up!
There is nothing better than a few days camping to get away from the city and the noisy neighbors.
It's good that they bought the tarpaulin and be prepared for the rain, I'm sorry that your privacy and silence have been ruined by those young teenagers
I love the dish you have cooked, it looks really delicious
I take this opportunity to wish you a happy start to the weekHello dear friend @carolynstahl good afternoon
Hello dear friend. Thank you for your kind words and support. It really is nice to get out of the city. I don't see much nature here downtown.
Sending warm wishes.
It's always great to see city folk out and about in the wilderness...and that they want to do it!
Great post.
Everyone should want to do it but yes I do know people that wouldn't last a second lol.
There was a family that walked around with their head bent to a cell phone every time I saw them haha.
Thank you for your support!
Oh yeah, there's always those sorts of people, head buried in the phone and missing out on everything. I don't understand them, and am happy not to be one.
Wow, have a wonderful time my friend!
Thank you my friend!
Wow, it's good to sometimes take a break from the hustle and bustle of the city. Your time out looked really exciting, you even got to see a rainbow. continue having fun.
Yes I could just live in this kind of setting. I spend most of my time inside the walls haha. Rainbow is a nice bonus. Thank you.
You're welcome 🤗
You've had a memorable day, a beautiful sun with rainbows as a bonus, even though the rain was alarming but I'm sure it all paid off with natural beauty that is still very natural
When it comes to food I don't have the slightest doubt about it, and until now I still hope to cook for you😅
Enjoy your day and always be healthy
For me nature is difficult to be in. The city life draws you in and the weather is usually miserable here. Winter is so bad that going outside is unbearable.
I am dreaming of the day when I feast on your beautiful cooking my friend. Thank you for your visit.
Winter, I've never experienced that, maybe I'll be very cold when that happens, and your homemade soup is the solution 😅
😄
This kind of activities are always good to clear your head and get out of the systematic way of living in your city, by the way very nice pictures!
Yes so true!
Thank you so much for your comment.