Ready to hike past the wreck of the Pesutta and up the Beach Trail in Naikoon Provincial Park, Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C.

Since our first summer, Ann and I have camped all across Canada, as well as in Africa and Central America.

There have been some pretty interesting stories during those trips ... (some of which I can't repeat on a family site!)

"HIT THE SACK!"

During the third night of our Bowron canoe trip, we camped at a site on Lanezi Lake with two German couples. Two of them spoke English, two did not. When we were saying "good night" after sharing some time around the campfire, I said, "Well, it's time to hit the sack!"

As we were zipping up our tent, we heard some German words sandwiched around the phrase, "Hit the sack!" followed by loud guffaws of laughter. Who knows what they were saying ...? ... Ann figured maybe they thought she was the "sack" ...

LET SLEEPING BEARS (?) LIE ...

While camping in a drive-in campsite in Banff in 1992, somebody form another campsite said they heard from someone else that there was a bear in the vicinity. A few minutes later, I swore I could hear a bear snorting around toward the washroom. Ann and I grabbed our flashlights and crept toward the sound ... of some guy dead to the world, snoring his head off in his tent!

ATTACKED BY RACOONIES

In the summer of 1996 we drove Ann's GMC Safari from Fort St. John to Toronto and back, mainly to canoe in Algonquin Provincial Park. The night before we arrived at Algonquin, we camped at Arrowhead Provincial Park, about an hour west of Algonquin. Ann was determined to sleep "under the stars" that night, so she slept next to the dying fire in a sleeping bag. I slept in the van.

About 5 a.m. I heard her wavering voice call my name several times, waking me up. I got out of the van and she said, "A whole bunch of racoonies were sniffing around me while I was sleeping! When I woke up, they backed off a bit, and when you opened the van, they ran up the trees!"

Sure enough, when I shone my flashlight in the trees around our site, there were several pairs of beady little eyes peering back at me.

Ann decided to sleep the last few hours before sunrise in the van ... 

CLEAR THE HIGHWAYS - SHOP-A-HOLIC ON THE LOOSE!

On our return trip from Toronto in '96, Ann decided that she wanted to go shopping at a mall in Edmonton before we went home. She wanted to go that day, Saturday.

The only problem was, we were in Regina.

But those who know Ann know that when she makes up her mind, there's no stopping her ...

She told me, "Move over, I'm driving!" And she drove all the way, averaging between 130 and 140 km/hour. 

We made it, 20 minutes before the mall closed. I barely had time to get a coffee and a magazine, while Ann had purchased jackets/accessories/etc. for three different outfits.

Shop ... shop ... shop 'til you drop ... (I think Ann invented that phrase ...)

There are many other funny stories about Ann's adventures in the outdoors ... but you'll have to visit the pages about Central America and Africa to read about them. 

 I'm not coming out of the tent until my coffee and Bailey's is ready!

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