Convicts in Camp!!

Yes, we had six prison inmates in the campground yesterday. No, they hadn't escaped! They were here under a prisoner work program to help with some cleanup around the campground. What a great idea!

Our first visitors!

The campground we're managing is kind of off the beaten path. So when people who know us make a special effort to come and visit, we're really appreciative!

Late Monday afternoon, Wendy and her friend Phil showed up for a four night stay! You might remember them from when we passed through Moose Jaw on our way up here a month ago.

Blogger Interview...Episode #1

Okay, here's something new for us. Travel with Kevin and Ruth is introducing a weekly Blogger Interview series, and the first edition is today!

We're going to try and bring you some interesting and entertaining people who are out there writing travel and RV'ing blogs and perhaps introduce you to someone new. Our first attempt celebrates a couple who are moving on to a new stage in life, and we're so happy for them!

A new feature for Travel with Kevin and Ruth!

Starting tomorrow morning, and for the rest of the summer, we're going to be doing a once a week write up called the Travel with Kevin and Ruth Blogger Interview series where we choose a fellow blog writer and traveler to profile here.

The fish was "this" big...!

We're not into fishing, but it seems we're the only ones at this campground who aren't. Most people who come here, come here to fish. The lake has a good supply of pike, perch and walleye, and also the odd Sturgeon. I guess the name, Sturgeon Lake, came from somewhere!

But one guy has a fish story to tell, and I have the pictures to prove it...

Well that was a busy day!

It started at around 8:10am. Knock, knock, knock.

Okay, so I go answer the door. It's a guy from the restaurant saying they have no water. I walk over to our sink and check our faucet. Nope, no water there either! That meant the whole campground had no water.

This is not a good start to the day.

Fantastic show of the Northern Lights!

Well we had a treat last night!

I walked out to do my final check of the campground at around 11:15pm and the sky was alive with color! I wish the pictures were better, but you can get an idea of what we saw. I'm gonna have to mess with some settings on the camera to try and get some better ones, hopefully they'll be out again tonight.

Bring on the campers!

Our hands and wrists are sore, but the raking and cleanup is finally over and the campsites are ready for the long weekend. We had a couple of early bird campers show up yesterday, and so last night we had four sites with people on them.

But by this evening, we expect it will be close to full!

Anyone want to buy a ZAP?

"What is a ZAP?", you might ask.

Well, a ZAP is a little 3 wheeled electric vehicle. And given that we have a lot of readers who are RV'ers, we thought one of you might be interested in a different kind of tow vehicle, or even something a little better than a typical golf cart that some of you might use at your RV resorts down south.

And we know where there's one for sale!

Your honey may not be honey!

A couple came through the park yesterday trying to pick out a site to reserve for their summer holiday in July. We got to talking, and it turns out this couple are honey producers. In fact, they are one of about 150 commercial size honey producers in Saskatchewan.

But we found out something disturbing. It's not right and we wanted to tell you about it.

$5 for drinking water?

Strangely enough, it seems that everybody up here buys purified drinking water. We haven't quite figured it out yet, but I would have thought that well water would have been good enough. Here at the campground, it's from a well, but they've got this chlorine drip system that it goes through and even though I'm sure it's safe, it simply doesn't taste very good!

Aren't you supposed to rake leaves in the fall?

I think so. And I think it would be easier to do them in the fall. The problem here is that the camping season ends September 30th, and possibly earlier depending on the weather. Most of the leaves are still on the trees when they close things up.

Call the fire brigade!

Found out yesterday that being campground manager also means I'm on the fire brigade! Not officially of course, but a call came through the office that there was an "uncontrolled fire" burning about 3 kms (1.7 miles) from the campground.

Our first campers have arrived!

And in the last 24 hours, the ice on the lake has disappeared. It's amazing because it pretty much disappeared overnight. Thursday night it was there, and Friday morning there were only a few big sheets floating around. Later yesterday, it had gone!

How many ways can the sun set?

I was looking at some of our photos last night and realized how many different sunset photos we have! Some of them are really colorful. Interestingly some of the best photos are not taken looking towards the sunset, but just using what little light is still shining in the opposite direction!