Day 2-4
Yes, it’s time for more Epic Boys Week fun! When last we left you, I was hoping to finally finish the second episode of season 4 of Jack Ryan. And I did! Yay! But now it’s a work day, and the best I can do is get up enough energy to make Zach and I dinner. So not a lot of Epicness happening.
Just to remind you, Heather and Beth-Rose are down south at (in?) Disneyland. Beth-Rose is dancing there with a number of her dance cronies from Ladysmith. They get to dance in the Disneyland Parade, and perform a show on stage. Heather is accompanying her as Dance Mom Extraordinaire, while Cool Dance Dad stays home enjoying his Epic Boys Week with Zach.
So yeah, the workdays are somewhat less than Epic, unless you consider helping customers with their painting projects, or random hardware queries epic. That’s me, Epic Paint Guy!
Then I dash home on my lunch break, hoping our new dog Zia hasn’t done her business on the rug, take her out to pee and poop, shovel a quick lunch down my gullet, and race back to work for another couple of hours. Evening arrives, and I spend it picking raspberries, writing, doing some online marketing stuff, and watching a little tv until my eyes begin crossing. Epic? Not so much…
No matter, because my weekend is approaching, and I’ll still have a few days to myself. It’s gonna be Epic! I’m reasonably sure!
Later On Day 4
My work week is almost done, but Zach, the puppy and I are heading up to Englishman River Falls Provincial Park for some camping. I still have one more day of work, but it’s an easy 50 minute commute to work from the campground.
We’re set up and settled in to our campsite by 9 PM, and we sit around the propane fire pit (no campfires allowed!) and talk. A roasted smokie, a cold beer and an intimate chat around a fire is just about a perfect way to end the day. Even having to get up and go to work in the morning doesn’t put a damper on the evening. By 11 PM, we’re calling it a night and heading to bed.
More Epic Boys Week-Day 5
Sadly my day doesn’t start as planned. It starts about two hours earlier than planned…
Actually it started to go wrong even earlier, thanks to the group of adult morons in a campsite somewhere nearby. Obviously imbibing in some kind of mind-altering beverages, and possibly the Devil’s Lettuce (no, I’m not serious!), I awaken at 2:40 AM to maniacal laughter. Human sacrifice? Lottery winner? Tickle attack? No, drunken stupid people. Or, to use a term Zachary coined when he was 5, “Stupidiots”. Not a real word, but it should be!
Eventually I was able to get back to sleep, but I awoke several more times in the night. First I was too hot. Then I was chilled. Next (inevitably) I had to pee. Then (still inevitably) I had to pee again.
And at 6 AM, precisely one hour before my alarm was due to go off, I opened my eyes for the last time. Crap! So much for a good night’s sleep.
But it was my Friday, and a short day. And it went by quickly. So in no time at all, I was back in my campsite, a cold beer in my hand. I could now resume my Epic Boys Week.
I got around to barbecuing some chicken skewers for our supper a few hours later. We were in no rush. There was nowhere we needed to be.
An Evening of Erudite Discussion
Dinner done, we settled down around the fire and chatted. We talked about music. And we talked about psychology. Then we talked about entropy. Hey, why not?
And we laughed. It was one of the best evenings I’ve spent with Zachary in many days. And that says a lot, because I think we’ve had many great evenings together. Dinner times at our home are often my favourite times. Our children are intelligent, funny, and a joy to be around, and I love our dinnertime conversations.
But this evening around our propane campfire, with a clear night sky above, felt special. With university looming in less than two months, I know these moments will become few and far between. That just makes them so much more special. So much more EPIC!
11:30 and we’re off to bed. I’m beat, having had too many crappy sleeps. And I don’t recall many minutes passing before I’m off to dreamland…
More Epic Boys Week-Day 6
7 AM and I’m suddenly awake. It’s incredibly quiet in the campground. Even the birds seem to tone down their normal cacophony. I rise quietly and coax the puppy out for a morning pee. She wastes no time sniffing about the campsite and just gets her business done. It’s much too stressful for her. Poor puppy! I can’t wait for the day when normal daily routines don’t stress her out.
But her morning micturition complete, it’s back into the safety of the trailer. And it’s back into bed for me. Happily, I fall back to sleep without too much fuss. And I sleep soundly until 9:30.
I climb out of my bed feeling remarkably refreshed. That was the best sleep I’ve had in weeks. I would even venture to say it was an EPIC sleep! Epic Boys Week just keeps getting better!
Camp Coffee Is The Best Coffee
One of the little joys I experience when camping is brewing my coffee. Way back in my backpacking days, I brewed my coffee by pouring hot water through a sock filled with coffee grounds. (No, it wasn’t a sock I wore!) For camping coffee, it was pretty good. But I’m a little more refined these days.
A few years back I purchased a Stanley French Press coffee maker. It’s really just a thermos that has a plunger filter thingy attachment. So I can brew excellent coffee without using an old sweat sock!
So this morning I sat in my camp chair with my perfectly brewed coffee and enjoyed the morning sun. And even though it was almost 10 o’clock, the campground was still quiet.
I put on a little music and did nothing but sipped my cuppa and listened to a little David Gray. Heaven. Epic!
Breakfast consisted of bacon. That’s it. If you listen closely, you can hear my arteries harden. And a second cup of coffee. Zach and I sat and chatted, and then it was time to drive him back home. Since he works the next day, he needs to be back in town. And rather than cut my day at the campground in half, I took him back in the morning. So I was able to get back with enough time to have the better part of the day and the whole evening relaxing. So now the Epic Boys Week is the Epic Dad’s Day. And it really was.
Back at the campground, I had a quick bite to eat, then packed some water and a beer and headed to the river.
The Englishman River Falls
The Englishman River is fed by snowmelt from the nearby peaks. It pours out of the mountains and through a steep valley before plunging over the narrow Englishman River Falls. Just before the river reaches the falls, it spreads out across the coarse rocks. This is the spot to be on a warm summer’s day. Here the river runs shallow and cold.
And just my luck, I had the river to myself. Perfect!
Navigating the large boulders, I made my way out to the middle of the river, just above the falls. I had to get my feet a little wet, but it was worth it. I found a dry log to sit on, and took in my surroundings.
The only sound is the water pouring over the lip of the falls. The sun is shining, my feet are in the cold water, and my beer is almost as cold.
I’m quite content to sit here and soak my feet in the sun and sip my beer. And so I do, for the next hour or so. I am alone with my thoughts, and that’s really all the company I need.
The Perfect Day
A leisurely hike back through the woods without passing another soul. Can this day be any more perfect?
Once back, I made a dinner of marinated chicken thighs and Pico de Gallo. Then, dishes washed, I sit in my chair and write.
I have just experienced what I consider the perfect day. Most of it was just me and the nature around me. Interestingly, this feels very similar to my search for the perfect beach, way back when. That three days of sitting in my chair with my feet in the water, watching the little sand crabs skitter by, was pure joy. Very much like today. Pure Joy. Absolutely Epic!
Day 7 Of More Epic Boys Week
Today is the last day of Epic Boys Week. The girls fly home from Disneyland this evening.
It’s been a terrific week, but I’m looking forward to seeing Heather and Beth-Rose. Despite my Epic Week, I’ve really missed them!
And while my week has been a great little getaway from the routine of family life in the Frazzledad household, there’s no substitute for sharing that family time. We make some incredible memories together, and I would not trade that for all the Epic Boys Weeks.
I mean, don’t get me wrong, I’m still always going to be up for the next Epic Boys Week. I just hope it happens before Zachary graduates university…
Maybe it’ll be a string of Epic Boys Days? That could work.
[…] I just don’t know what I’m going to write about. Take my last post, about my epic week. I had actually started out writing about my favourite tax saving strategies for older dads with no […]