By: Chrissy Wilson

Sometimes the greatest adventures in life are the ones that are a) unplanned and b) come with bumpy roads – and let me tell you, I just had the GREATEST adventure, bumpy roads and all! 

Summer time tends to be a really busy time in the dog daycare/boarding industry – and I’m not complaining – I literally have the best job in the world! I get to play with puppies and interact with dog people (in my opinion that’s the very best kind of person) every day! But, since it’s been so busy I’ve been logging a lot of hours lately – to the point where I basically don’t even look at the schedule anymore – I just show up everyday! So, I was pleasantly surprised when on Sunday, my boss/friend – said – hey we both have Monday and Tuesday off, let’s go to the lake! I wasn’t planning for these days off, which meant I didn’t have a million other things planned that I just HAD to do so I thought – to hell with it! Let’s go on an adventure, and without thinking – I exclaimed – YEAH let’s make it an overnight camp, why not?!?!! Of course my boss/friend Kerrie, who is the QUEEN of adventure jumped on the idea and somehow, what was originally supposed to just be a day at the lake ended up with Me, Kerrie, my cousin Chantel, my 3 kids, 2 cats, 2 dogs and a parrot off on an overnight BUSH camping experience… yes, that’s right – bush camping – you know, the kind with no toilet, no shower just a bush a beach and a lake? 

We packed my little tiny Ford Taurus with my crew, which consisted of myself, my cousin, my 11 year old, 10 year old, 3 year old, my parrot, my sphinx cat and my dog (who happens to be “medically compromised” but he doesn’t know that so it doesn’t stop him from anything) – all of our camping gear, 6 sleeping bags, a kennel, a bird perch, a 16-9 foot tent, a cooler full of food, firewood, 3 suitcases and a hockey bag full of camping gear! – Don’t ask how I fit it all in my tiny little car – but determination and some pretty damn good tetris skills – we were on our way for our 24 hour camping adventure! The only thing that didn’t fit in my car was Gremlin’s bailey chair – he has megaesophagus so he needs to eat in a high chair – Kerrie packed it in hers along with her cat and dog. 

We got out to the lake at around suppertime and unpacked everything and everyone without a hitch. We made some food, swam a little and had a grand old time until the first bump in the road… (remember I told you all good adventures have bumps) – A not-so-nice lady came along and told us that we were on private property – which turned out to be untrue as 30 feet from the shore is crown land – so we thanked her for the info and waited till she left and continued about our day, happily playing in the water… until my kids started to throw sticks in the water and Gremlin, who really really likes sticks – barked – which (enter bump number 2) inevitably scared Kerrie’s oriental short haired cat Mandy 25 feet up a tree. This is the part that I can laugh about now but I’ll tell you, it was like watching all 9 of her lives flashing before my eyes while she was up there. First we tried coaxing her down, to no avail. She was stuck and she was scared, so of course she kept going higher up. Next we tried sending up my son (who was a monkey in a previous life and can usually climb just about anything). Poor little guy tried so hard to get up there but there just really weren’t any branches to hang on to. We even threw a rope up there to try and help but nope… that cat was not coming down and we were not getting up – but of course I figured I’d try anyways… (It didn’t work – and I have the massive bruises from falling out of the tree to prove it) All the while my cousin was keeping an eye on the other kids while Kerrie and I made a futile try to get the cat down and Roman, my parrot was saying over and over again “here kitty kitty, meow”. – Again, funny now, not so funny then. Eventually a really nice guy came by with his boat on his trailer and a giant net, stood on top the boat with the net fully extended and coaxed her down – crisis averted but I swear that cat only has 8 lives left now. 

Things went pretty smoothly after that for the most part – and it was so much fun! We picked berries, swam, laughed, talked – Roman hung out in the tree and sang the song of his people – Novalie (my sphinx) and Mandy (Kerrie’s cat) snuggled in to our laps and Aela my three year old kept talking about going into the pool (the lake) 

Just as we were making our s’mores and getting ready to tell ghost stories, Kerrie’s phone started to light up with warnings of severe thunder storms headed our way – so we finished making our treats and not a moment too soon hopped into my giant tent.. which by the way was pitched on a log in a grassy area right beside the lake… not the most comfortable of situations but – bush camping, right? And then came the thunder, the lightning the rain, and YES… the hail – which inevitably caused the tent to leak – but it was really warm outside still so we were good to go – thanks to my expert packing we had enough blankets and sweaters to keep warm and relatively dry… Turns out though… ghost stories were not needed… we had a real life “ghost” of sorts haunting our tent. Some sort of creature kept digging right beside our tent and pulling out the grass – and I’m not gonna lie I was pretty freaked out at first… Especially when I hit the wall of the tent in an attempt to scare it off and the freaking thing hit back! Eventually whatever it was (we figure an otter) left us be and we all fell asleep around 1am. 

At 8am we woke up and the first thing Aela, Robin and Rayden wanted to do was swim – so hell, why not! They all went for a good swim and after a few hiccups trying to start the seadoo we got it going and let me tell you – best experience ever! I’ve never been on one before and now I’m convinced that I need one! We even took the dogs seadooing! Gremlin got to cross an item off his barketlist and all of my kids (3 year old included) got a turn driving it! After a few hours of fun on the water we stopped to make some lunch (sandwiches since we were trying to preserve firewood) – which turned out to be a really good thing because a really nice officer came down to let us know that overnight camping was not allowed and neither were fires where we were at and someone (the lady I mentioned above) called in a complaint… but honestly you could tell that the officer thought it was a waste of his time and when we told him we were just staying for the day – not a lie, we were leaving that day – he said ok have fun, and no drinking out here and went on his way! 

Supper time came the real commotion and ended with me showing my fairly fierce momma bear side when what we could only assume was what sounded like a pack of dogs fighting and tearing each other apart came running down towards our area – we immediately put the cats into the tent and grabbed hold of the dogs – who were being amazingly good and quiet despite the crazy ruckus… And down the hill comes barreling a pack of 4 dogs – 3 retrievers and a lab – barking their faces off barreling first into the water and then, having caught wind of us – straight over top of my 3 year old (whom they bruised while trampling her) towards Gremlin. It was a complete pack mentality and they were absolutely aiming for my poor boy – who stood there calmly with the reassurance of Kerrie. I chased them away and used a few choice words on the dogs owner – who, amazingly, muttered a weak apology and just kept throwing sticks for the dogs – winding them up further and further. It was unreal to see – the 2 larger dogs in the pack at one point actually mid swim attacked the smallest dog holding it under water and bititing it all the while the owner just kept throwing the sticks. Kerrie told me to video it so that we could make the call to animal services because a, that woman had zero control over those dogs and b, she was letting them beat the hell out of the little one – not to mention she had 2 small children in the water who the dogs also trampled and ended up holding one under the water. It was the most stressful part of the trip because, being a dog person, and being there with a dog person – who can successfully run a pack of 100+ dogs without a single fight and without a single bark it was beyond frustrating. The dogs attempted to come back to our area once more and quite firmly I chased them off. When I started to film the lady she quickly packed up and left with her dogs and un-seat belted kids and when I tried to get her licesne plate number she actually backed all the way out of the area and up the hill…yet we’re the ones that cops had to pay the visit to… reliving it still makes my blood boil actually. 

Once things calmed down from the dog incident we played for awhile longer and then it was time to pack up and go. Kerrie went her way and around 6:30pm I started on the trip home but decided to stop in the little lake town for an ice cream treat for the kids. We brought Grem and the cat for a little walk in the town to pick up the ice cream and I was pretty excited when Gremlin got “recognized” by one of his fans – I feel like that was another barketlist checkmark – it was pretty cool cause the lady said I’d recognize his little grin from anywhere <3 We got back to the vehicle after our ice cream tired, and sunburnt but quite satisfied with our little adventure… and then the car wouldn’t start… really you can’t make this stuff up! My car. WOULD.NOT.START. So… we call my husband to come and rescue us and wait for the hour and a half that it takes for him to get there down by the lake. It was a fun wait though because a few people stopped to ask questions about the parrot and take pictures with the animals, I’m pretty sure there were a few that thought we are crazy too, but meh – it was fun. 

My husband finally arrived and started to try and diagnose the problem with the car… and then after determining that we would need a tow truck… he accidentally closed the hood of the locked car onto my keys… with all of my animals in the car still. I was getting ready to break a window when he came by with the crow bar to pry open the hood and get them out. We all piled up in his truck, left our belongings behind and finally got home at 12:30 exhausted and if I’m being honest a little stressed about the car situation – ok a lot – I cried myself to sleep because my favourite pillow got left in the car… I REALLY love that pillow. But tomorrow was a new day with no mistakes in it, the tow truck came, moved the car to a location that it wouldn’t get impounded and after work my husband went out and replaced the starter – and now its running again – RELIEF! 

While some may think that this 24 hour adventure sounds extraordinarily stressful it was a blast. It felt like a “real” break and I got to show my kids what a real adventure looks like. 

Life is full of bumpy roads – it’s full of ups and downs – because it’s an adventure! Having a medically compromised dog who has lived to more than 5 times his life expectancy so far and is still going strong has really taught me that. It has taught me that despite every single bump in the road that freedom ride on the seadoo with his little snaggle tooth showing and his ears flopping in the wind and him begging for more makes it worth every single bump. Life is far too short to dwell on things like “megaesophagus, neuromuscular disorders, seizure disorders, heart conditions and allergies” those are just the bumps that make our life a bonafide adventure! 

So make life an adventure – take risks – don’t let the bumps get to you and Always, always try to be a good person – unless you can be like a dog, because there is no better person than a dog.