Catching up

I feel like I’m about 3 blog posts behind!  So, to catch up…

On Thursday we hung out for the morning, and then the kids wanted to go see Despicable Me 2 (in 3D).  It was cute, but nowhere near as good as the first. The kids thought it was funny though. 

Friday we moved up to Watipi Campground, a whole 6 minute drive north of Blackfalds in preparation for the 20^th anniversary party of my dad’s band, The Ducks.  We stayed in the group area – basically a big meadow.  (Which is a good thing, since it was full of party goers by Saturday evening.)  Bob and I managed to get the trailer leveled side to side, which was actually a bit of a difficult task since the meadow sloped quite a bit.  But then we couldn’t get the hitch open.  Since the get-go this hitch has been really hard to open (all three times so far), and we just couldn’t get it to go.  It didn’t help that we were twisted off to the side and weren’t at the right height for it to disengage easily.  A couple sets of helpful hands later, and we finally got the darned thing off.  Hopefully greasing up the king pin will help with that.

Learning about fifth wheel hook up has been frustrating, to say the least.  No one at the dealer showed up what to do.  They just directed us in and said, “okay, good to go”.  Well, no.  It’s not quite that simple.  It’s not really hard, but I’m used to bumper pull hitches.  This is just different enough that I have to learn it all from scratch.  Thanks to my dad for giving some pointers!

Anyway, the party was a huge success and great fun.  Well over a hundred people came out to partake in the music, food and revelry. The music was great, and it was wonderful catching up with people I hadn’t seen in years. There were some people I hadn't seen in at least 20 years. Crazy! 

Many of them knew about our travel plans, and we filled in the details for those who were curious. (Mom and Dad must have been talking).   It was interesting hearing other people's perspectives. Many were approving, some were envious, and the odd person was a bit resentful. Those are all okay reactions. At the end of the day, what they think doesn't determine how this adventure goes. Although I definitely appreciate helpful advice and suggestions on what to see when we're in an area. (PS, would someone please come up with a name for this thing we're doing! - or does "life" cover it?) 

We spent today travelling to Jasper National Park to meet up with Bob’s parents, and his brother & family.  A longer drive than I’d like (I want to be done driving by supper time!) but now I get to spend some time with my niece. Yay! We traveled on the Icefields Parkway, a beautiful stretch of road.  I’ll write more about it and Jasper tomorrow.