Becoming a Favourite
/Murphy’s Point Provincial Park
September 14 - 16
Still driving…
This trip was REALLY last minute. We knew our season was coming to an end quickly and we wanted to get out at least once more before our last chance at the end of the month. I had been watching the Provincial Parks reservations and there were at least a few electrical sites at Murphy’s Point Provincial Park earlier in the week, so I wasn’t too worried. Of course, things got busy as we packed up (we’re still not super efficient yet) and got on the road. As we were driving, I looked at the website and realized there was only ONE electrical site left! I tried to book online, but there ended up being a problem, so had to call and book. It was a little more stressful than I had expected, but ultimately, we didn’t want to arrive to find out the last electrical spot had been taken.
We ended up in site 46 in Hogg Bay, which was on the smaller side and not as level as some of the other sites we’d been on. But it was still pretty. It took more of our blocks to level Holly this time. Luckily, the plug in was MUCH closer and we were able to plug directly into the 30 amp outlet. Good thing, because it was HOT all weekend and we were able to try out the A/C.
Since we didn’t spend much time planning, we cheated again and ordered sushi to take with us for supper. Good call, because it was the second week of September and it was starting to get dark much earlier than in July! We arrived around dusk and the light disappeared quickly.
Saturday turned out to be a pretty full day! It started early with a quick dog walk, coffee and breakfast.
Our campsite was right at the beginning of one of the hiking trails, so we decided to try it out. We went on the McParlan House Trail, but instead of turning towards the house, we continued on the Rideau Trail towards the Silver Queen Mine. We didn’t make it that far - it was hot and Daisy seemed to be getting pretty tired, so we turned around and headed back, going around the section by Loon Lake.
By the end of the hike, Daisy got back, had some water and pretty much passed out. She’s an early morning dog with tons of energy, but usually likes to nap mid-morning. We’re still not sure how to train her out of the early morning (5 am!) wake ups, but we tried just pretending we were asleep, hoping she would return to bed and go back to sleep. This plan backfired and the result was a broken screen in our door! You see, we’ve taught her to ring a bell that hangs on the door knob at home when she wants to go outside, so if she wants a door open anywhere else, she thinks she needs to scratch at it! Add this to the list of things to be fixed… For now, we’ve used newspaper and duct tape. The newspaper is actually good, because she can’t see out and bark at people!
such a pretty veiw out our back window
After lunch, we went for a drive into Westport. We walked along the harbour a little bit and then headed to the main street, poking around in some of the shops. Daisy was allowed in some, but not many. It was SO hot that we decided to get some ice cream. There were two ice cream shops and we decided on one of them that had a little outdoor patio (Vanilla Beans Cafe & Creamery), where we could sit with Daisy. They sell Kawartha Dairy ice cream (which is some of the best!). Wouldn’t you know, we walked into the Cafe, only to discover that the owners are a family that used to live in our neighbourhood and, for most of elementary school, two of their kids were in my kids’ classes! We had lost track of them when they moved so it was lovely to have a brief catch up, learn that everyone is doing very well and that their decision to raise their family in a smaller town has been a good one.
While in Westport, we picked up a brochure of things to see and decided to check out the Scheuermann Vineyard and Winery just outside of the village. Chris isn’t a big wine drinker, but we did a self guided bike tour of a few wineries in Prince Edward County the summer before and we both enjoyed the process of trying various wines. Their selection is limited, so we tried all of their wines, enjoying the white Vidal best. It was also oyster season, so we had fresh, shucked oysters as a treat! While there, a family (grandparents, adult children and a baby) came by. We struck up a conversation with them and found out their family had been coming from northeastern US every year to the Westport area for their holidays. It was a special year for them, as it was the first year that they were bringing a grand baby! We really enjoyed our time here and will return again, especially since they were very dog friendly and Daisy was able to come with us.
When we were done at the Vineyard, we went in search of Sand Lake, just outside of Westport on Highway 36. We initially drove right past, but turned around and stopped for a peek. What a gorgeous place, especially later in the day! Daisy must have been SO hot, because it was one of the first times she went almost fully in the water!
We headed back to our campsite, where I started a fire and we made chicken roll ups for dinner. Despite the heat, the bugs weren’t great later on and Chris went inside. I put out the fire and joined him shortly after. Even after the sun went down, the temperature stayed over 30 degrees celsius, so we decided to be sure the A/C worked (especially since for once we were plugged in to 30 amp service). It did, but it’s pretty noisy, so we’ll try to stick with the fantastic fan as much as possible. It’s pretty great for less hot weather and acts more like a sound machine than the A/C, which sounds a bit like there’s an airfield close by.
We had some out of town family coming over early Sunday afternoon, so we were up and clearing out earlier than usual. We still managed to leave a little later than we would have liked and barely beat our company back to our house!
Murphy’s Point Provincial Park is fast becoming one of our favourite places! It’s not a huge campground, but there are some good trails to walk, it’s dog friendly, there are some cute towns nearby and the best part is, it’s not too far from home!
Ottawa - Murphy’s Point PP - Westport - Muphy’s Point PP - Ottawa
Towing: 193 km
Driving: 56.7 km
