Glamping with the Giesens

This past weekend was a complete 180 from our last. If we camped OFF the grid at Barrier Mountain Outfitters, we were definitely glamping ON the grid at Canyon RV in Radium Hot Springs, BC. From our beautiful, grassy site to Wi-Fi, to clean washrooms and free showers with hot, running water, this was definitely our kind of glamping. We five (including Kira’s BFF Jaylene), had the best time. The kids cried a little when it was over and Dave said he wished we could have stayed a whole week. I was truly relaxed as I read magazines in our hammock. The weather was perfect – sunny and hot all three days we were there. We went to the Fairmont Hot Springs in nearby Fairmont and soaked in the naturally hot water. We went shopping in Invermere. We ate dinner at our favourite place out there, the Black Forest Inn, and even got dressed up for it! Yes – dresses and makeup for the ladies and showers for all. Of course, we went geocaching and hiked up to the Sinclair Creek waterfall. We ran out of ti...

We had barely even pulled our trailer into our site at Barrier Mountain Outfitters when Dave joked that I already had a blog post. I had to laugh, because indeed I had been writing it in my head the entire time we’d been driving and trying to park the trailer. It was a weekend to remember. Our first completely off the grid and our first so filled with adventure and first-time experiences. A friend of mine from work, Terri, has a permanent site at Barrier Mountain that she wasn’t using for a few weeks. She offered it to me and no sooner had she mentioned white water rafting and horseback riding, I was on the phone with Dave making changes to our schedule. Terri told me that it takes her and her husband Axel 1.5 hrs to drive there from SW Calgary. I thought, no prob, we’ll be there in an hour. We left on Friday and three hrs later, we pulled into the campsite. Yes, three hours. Along windy, narrow, gravel roads, driving west, into the setting sun. Because of the glare and the dust th...