OK – I’m writing this – or at least most of this on the 14th, but it is evening now so it is close to the 15th. We waited here until September to start getting warm weather and I have been enjoying the days outside as much as possible.
Last week I went on vacation! I left the city for 4 whole days and spent them with my friend Connie at Riding Mountain National Park – or just outside the park at Elkhorn Resort.
The initial idea was to go someplace where we could go horseback riding and then it expanded a bit to include a spa day. Those were our two main objectives, but we also did quite a bit more. We took the little cruise ship around Clear Lake, we walked along the shore of the lake for several kilometers, we walked the boardwalk in the marsh and we went on a game drive (well – kind of anyway). Each day we walked into Clear Lake from the lodge (about a 10-15 minute walk), where we wandered around, had a meal or snack, took the boat ride and started off on the game drive.
For the game drive, we followed a park ranger to a few good viewing locations for elk or moose in the hopes that we would see them. He had several ways of calling the animals and he did get responses from the elk – but we did not see any. We did finally see a moose and the moose was responding to his calls also – but the moose could see all of us standing on the road trying to get his picture, so he went off into the bush instead of coming closer. We did get to see a bear den and a wolf den on the trip, heard some coyotes and learned about some of the different plants and trees that grow in the area.
Instead of trying to put pictures in here, I am just going to give you the links to both my facebook pictures and Connie’s facebook pictures for you to see.
my pictures
and
Connie’s pictures
We were beginning to wonder if we would ever get our horseback riding in because there was a sign up at the stable saying that the ride had been canceled due to the weather and trail conditions. Of course, we walked over to the stable pretty much as soon as we had checked in and that is when we first saw the note. Next morning we were up bright and early to head over there again to see if we could get on that day’s ride – but the sign was still up and no one was around. We did hang out with the cats at the stable though and made friends with them. Later that afternoon, the hotel told us that the next ride would be in the morning, so we quickly booked with them. That meant our ride was in the morning on Thursday and our spa treatment was in the afternoon.
The ride was great – there was just the two of us, plus a newlywed couple from Saskatoon and two employees – one to lead us and the other to chat with us and ride circles around us. We didn’t see any wildlife on the ride either, although we were told that it was not unusual to see deer.
Thursday was also the 3rd anniversary of the Nkorho camera going live with Africam and on the Friday a party was being planned at the waterhole. I knew I was going to be on the road at that time and would miss it. One day soon, I will make the time to sit down to watch the videos made at the time. 
Saturday morning, one of the tires on my car was flat – completely flat! I have a small pump in my car that runs off the cigarette lighter (I knew that lighter would come in handy one day), so I pumped the tire up. An hour later, it was starting to get low again, so I called my friends at CAA to change the tire and put the little donut on. I was told a 50 minute wait, but had hardly hung up the phone when I got my 5 minutes away call.
I took the tire into a garage this morning before work to get it fixed, only to get a call from them a few minutes later, saying that it was a goner. The guy from CAA had mentioned that it might be too far gone to save – so that really didn’t surprise me. The car stayed with them for the day to get 2 new tires put on.
Last night we went to see Luck Be A Lady at Celebrations Dinner Theatre. I have never seen such a small audience at one of these performances – but the show was great. It finished much earlier than usual, but the breaks were shorter because it didn’t take long to serve the meals to everyone.
Apparently, the house next door to be was sold again, shortly after the last sale when the new owners just didn’t finish the purchase. This time is has been bought by a young couple who plan on building a duplex. The came to see me last night and brought a drawing of their proposed home and indicated that they would be living in one side. They have to get the property re-zoned for a duplex and there will be hearings scheduled over the next few months. There is one coming up that I should attend, so that I know I am getting all the information I should have before demolition begins. Although I would prefer a single family home, this is better than the 4plex that the other owners were thinking of and the design fits in well with the neighbourhood. I do appreciate that the new owners took the time to come and see me before they put up a huge re-zoning sign in their yard today.
After the vacation, it was nice to get back to some of the normal things, like walking the dogs along the river. While we were there, I thought a few times that they would both enjoy some of the walks that we went on – although Dakota probably couldn’t have covered some of the distance we walked.
My first day (actually my first and second days) back at work were very busy days. Programs started back up Monday and both days had many new and returning members joining up and lots of questions. The days both went by very quickly and now that vacation days are used for the year, I have to work 5 days each and every week.
