Camping trip!

Hi everyone

Noemi in Algonquin Park!

I'm supposed to be studying for my midterm tomorrow and doing a million other things, so this will be short. But I wanted to post some pictures of my fabulous weekend!

Last Thursday evening, I got a call from a friend, Nathalie, who I had met in church a few weeks before. She told me that she was going camping over the weekend, and I was already feeling sad that I wouldn't see her in church on Saturday, when she asked me if I wanted to come. I was speechless. So I told ;) her that I'd call her in half an hour and tell her my decision.
It took me less than 5 min to make up my mind: I was going to drop everything (I hardly get anything done lately anyway), and was going to go camping, which had been my dream for quite a while!

So, I arranged to borrow a friend's sleeping bag, and on Friday afternoon Pekka (another friend from church I just met a few weeks earlier, and who organised the trip) and Nathalie came to pick me up. Then off we were! We went to Algonquin Park, which is in the province of Ontario (google it!). It took us 4-5 hours to get there, not counting the time we spent shopping for food, and having a very late dinner. There were 5 other people there too: a German friend of Pekka's, his two brothers, and two girl friends of his.

Canoeing!

We finally arrived in the park very late (past midnight), found a campground, set up our tents, enjoyed the warmth of a campfire for a little while (it was freezing!), and then went to 'bed'.
The next morning we had breakfast at our gorgeous campground, packed up everything, and then set off on our first canoeing adventure. We spent the whole afternoon on a river, enjoying the great outdoors. It was simply breathtaking! I couldn't stop taking pictures!

Evening at Achray (our second campsite).

That evening, we camped at another campground, which was right by a lake. Pekka, Nathalie and I made two trips down the road to gather wood for our campfire, but it was still so cold that we ate dinner in the car. :)

Early morning sun.

I went to bed around midnight, and all of us (except Nathalie) got up around 7am to do an early-morning canoe trip in the hopes of seeing some wildlife. When Pekka and his German friend had been in the park 3 weeks earlier, they'd seen a moose and a bear, and they were hoping to see either (or both) again this time. We did see a beaver and a wolf (which are rare, apparently!), which was so exciting! But I enjoyed just being out on the water and in nature so much! Even if we hadn't seen any wildlife, the canoe trip would have been special.

Nathalie and Pekka making toast for breakfast Sunday morning. :)

We were gone for several hours (we took a 30 to 45 min walk too), and when we got back Nathalie was so happy, because she'd been very bored. :) We then had breakfast and packed up our tents and things, before heading out for a final afternoon canoe trip. We canoed to a trail and took a walk to another lake (which ended up taking us 2 hours - there and back), and when we got back to our canoes, the evening light was perfect, making our canoe trip back to the campground so beautiful! My arms started really aching at this point, but we made it back ok. :)

Evening light on the fall colours, Sunday evening.

Then, we loaded the canoes on the cars, dropped them off at the rental place, and drove back to Montreal. We got back past midnight, and on Monday I was so tired, I was sleep-walking everywhere. :) I felt really 'excercised' though, which was such a nice feeling! But it was also depressing being back to my old routine. Oh well, life has to go on! It was such a special weekend! I'll really treasure all those memories!

Well, that's it from me! :)
Hope you're all well! Leave a comment if you visited! I always wonder if anyone except Ruth still visits (thanks Ruth!). :)