haleybury

Our long discussed camping trip to Cobalt / Haleybury turned into a hotel stay in Haleybury, because the idea of camping with Kaspar that far from home had turned me into an obsessively worried mother. I’m usually not that way, really! Steve was set on us going. So, he was also set on making me want to go. And the only way to do that was to have a hotelroom for us in Haleybury! What could I say? We packed the car and headed out shortly after 7 pm on a Friday evening. Traveling with a one year old is all about planning your time, and for Kaspar, the best time to travel was at 7 pm. Well, maybe not just for him, but more for us… because at 7 pm he’s ready for sleep and that means we don’t have to keep him occupied and happy for the six hour drive. He really did sleep most of the way, but as soon as we arrived at 1:30 am he was wide awake. He was ready to check out the new pad! First he decided to drum with all the might he could muster up in his little fists on the air conditioning unit. That did not go over very well! Dad pulled him away instantly and tossed him onto the bed. After all, people were fast asleep in the rooms next to us. Next, the telephone was pulled off the shelf and before I knew it we were on speakerphone. That had to be unplugged pretty much immediately, because there is no way of keeping Kaspar away from telephones. He loves them! He adores them! Just like trucks and bikes and carts and anything else that has wheels on it and moves. And if the item makes a sound, then even the better.

Haleybury proved to be an interesting little town with not much to offer. Out of the three local restaurants only one was open and it did not look like a place where anyone with a little kid would like to eat, even though the dingy window sported a ‘we’re family friendly’ sign. The town had almost no businesses open, but there was a Sears catalogue order store that displayed an array of age old Sears clothing and some kitchen utensils as window displays. Fascinating! But the weirdest thing was the beach on lake Temiskaming, which was chlorinated. Yes! A chlorinated beach that is in the lake. Talk about weird!!! I could not believe my own eyes, I actually looked it up on the web to make sure that someone was not pulling a joke on me. Kaspar and Steve did try out this anomaly and went for a nice long swim on Sunday morning, but I could not bring myself to do it. It’s just not right. LAKES SHOULD NOT BE CHLORINATED! That my personal take on it.

The weekend ended up being pretty slow and mellow. On Saturday night, while Steve was playing a show at the festival, Kaspar and I hung out at the hotel, watched bad tv shows and ate wild blueberries in bed. He loves blueberries and enjoys being in new surroundings, so, he had a great time! I enjoyed myself, too. It had been a while since I had had a chance to chanel surf. Dangerous Liaisons (the one with John Malkovich looking young and sexy) was on and when Kaspar finally passed out I managed to do a little catching up on unanswered emails, too.

After having an awesome lunch provided free of charge by the festival organizers (They had the most amazing catering service – a local man with some awesome home made steak sauces was delivering the best tasting steak on a bun sandwiches, really good ribs and totally amazing breakfast deals!)and having a nice walk in the woods, we started to head home. The trip back was a lot harder, because Kaspar slept only for an hour and the rest of the trip we did everything in our power to keep him occupied. We even went for a grocery shop in a small town along the way, just to break up the monotony of sitting in a car seat for six hours. The last leg of the trip from the highway down Jane street he finally gave up on all patience and cried all the way home. We got back at about 9pm and Kaspar was fast asleep in his own bed about a half hour later. I think it will be a long time before I agree to go on another 6 or 7 hour road trip with Kaspar.