A “reloaded” post is a quick-clipped summary of a bunch of small things from the past few days. I want to write them down, but I am either lacking in (a) details or (b) time. That’s just how it goes sometimes. Enjoy.
The Hots
Summer arrived in force this weekend. The weather turned towards the low- to mid-thirties (Celcius) which is about as warm as it gets around these parts. Along with rolling power blackouts, air conditioner and fan shortages in the stores, and a distinct lack of frozen lemonade at the Calgary Stampede, I spent about ten bucks on cold water over the course of the weekend, which if you think about it, is pretty stupid. Except it isn’t — wasn’t — because we were all pretty darned thirsty.
Camping
We’ve been doing this annual camping thing with friends for a couple years now. A few months ago a whole batch of sites were reserved at Gull Lake — a big, old fresh water lake in Central Alberta with a long beach and water shallow enough that you can wade out half a kilometer without going past your waist. We packed up the car, piling it to the roof (and still didn’t have enough room) and dragged our butts South on Friday. Two nights of tent camping, beach fun, beers, barbecues, and giant marshmallow s’mores (for the kids?) and we were pretty tired. I took a whole thwack of photos, too — of course.
Stampeding
Without much more than an overnight break at my parent’s place, we unloaded the car of our camping gear, had some showers, and continued down the road South in the blistering heat to check out the Calgary Stampede. Claire’s grandma had bought us all Grandstand and Chuckwagon tickets waaaaaay back when they went on sale in the winter, and that — combined with the all-day ride passes — made for a pretty wild day of Stampeding fun. The girls got to try some rides, see the Superdogs show, eat some cotton candy, wear their new cowGIRL hats, and stay up far too long past their bedtimes to see the show and fireworks.
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