This past weekend had us Geocaching in Princeton and it was awesome. We have been waiting for this event for over a year and it finally came. I took the family up early and got the only shady spot in the entire campground which was at the local fairgrounds. We grabbed the spot beside the race track pit shack. I was very pleased to have some shade as we needed it all weekend with the sunny weather.
The first day was Thursday which got off to an interesting start as evening rolled around. We noticed some deer wandering around in the fairgrounds but didn't think much of it as they were at the far end of the grounds nowhere near any of us campers. Well when dusk came we did not notice that they had started to wander closer and closer until my dog Milly noticed one of them and the chase was on. Milly wanted to play and figured the deer running away was a sign of just that. To our horror the deer started to freak out running into the fence over and over again and then ran into a metal gate followed by a head on smash into the corner post of one of the other campers utility trailers. I believe the gate was what did this poor deer in as it hobbled away with what appeared to be a severely injured if not broken leg.
My first thought was to get Milly tied up and then go check out the damage to the trailer. I knew I wasn't going to get anywhere near the deer and if I tried it would only hurt it's self worse trying to get away from me so I let it be till morning. Luckily the trailer was not damaged save for a bit of mud smears from the deer. So A quick apology and the offer of a beer and us two men shook hands and parted way's. A gracious and understanding outdoorsman for sure.
The next morning I took my truck over to the far end of the fairgrounds to see if the deer was still around and it was. Sadly it was to far gone to be saved so I called the Provincial Conservation office to have someone sent out to put the animal down. By the time all that was said and done I wasn't in the mood for any Geocaching so we just hung out and relaxed at the Rootbeer saloon. Yes there was an actual Rootbeer saloon as well as many other cool things during the weekend. The kids got to do a Rootbeer brand tasting challenge, bowling for Rootbeer, outdoor movies nightly, a Geocoin show and shine, and so on.
Saturday was 4x4'ing day as I was scheduled to drive one of two offroad vehicles up one of BC's toughest trails. This was by far the highlight to my trip. The Jeep I was driving worked flawlessly and I really enjoyed each obstacle I came across. The other truck was fresh out of the shop from a bunch of modifications so we had some trouble getting it to perform for us. We had to stop and make some modifications a few times but to me that is all apart of the fun and memories of a 4x4'ing trip so I was fine with it all. We got delayed due to another offroaders broken down truck on the hardest section of the trail so we rolled into camp a couple hours late. There was a poker game scheduled and was being put on hold as we had the organizer with us on the trail lol. We got it underway and I managed a second place overall and won Dusty 12 new Geocoins which made the stress of a day alone with the kids all worth it.
Sunday had us up relatively early for a day of finding Geocaches. We picked our route and headed into the hills. The day went fairly well save for a few minivan trashing roads and some whining from the kids. Turns out they would rather have hung out back at the fairgrounds with all the other kids than go caching but hey we adults needed our fun too right. We ended the day with a wedding and awards night. Yep there was even a wedding. The event organizers used this event weekend to had a quick and informal wedding. It was actually pretty fun to attend.
If there was one downside I would have to pick it was the cool nights we were not quite as prepared for as we would have liked. My back was acting up as a result of this and made for three pretty sleepless nights. Finally by Sunday night I was so tired I guess the need for sleep caught up with me as I was told by everyone around me that I snored pretty good the whole night. I felt like I had a good sleep which was a good thing as it was time to head home and I did not want to risk driving while exhausted. We stopped by the river in Princeton to wait for Dustannes mother who decided to drive down from Okanagan Falls for a quick visit with the kids. It has been a couple years since we have seen her (long story) so this was good for the kids and Dustanne. On our way back we stopped in at the rest stop in Manning park to visit the ground squirrels and Marmots then made the final push for home. All in all a pretty awesome weekend.
