finally...

We have been waiting for this weekend with anticipation since October...the official start to camping season! Our 2018 season ended early because we decided to sell Phoebe our 19' Airstream. We loved her but she was too small for how we were using her. The Airstream goddesses were working in our favour and everything turned out perfectly. We purchased a 2007 25' Airstream Safari Special Edition from friends of our family in Saskatoon. Finally after waiting seven months, we got to try her out!

We went in to the long weekend with two goals:
1. set up the site and clean the trailer inside and out
2. name the trailer

Stick with me, turns out the two goals are related. 

Once we had the trailer positioned on the site we started the hook ups - batteries, propane, electricity and water. The next task was to de-winterize it and get the fridge powered up. We love the bigger fridge in this trailer. 

James got zapped hooking up the batteries but he was only momentarily stunned. However, his Fitbit stopped working for a spell. We thought we had completely de-winterized the lines so we turned on the hot water heater. Slight problem here - there were still chemicals in the hot water tank and that led to a bit of a fire. We turned it off, drained the tank, and started the process again. Fortunately we didn't have to call the Seba Beach Fire Dept. 

Note the black grill. That's where the flames were hitting.

While James worked on the site and the outside of the trailer, I cleaned every corner of the inside. The Airstream is in great shape but it sat in a field for a few years so there was a lot of dust, dead bugs and cob webs. 

Seba Beach was bustling on Saturday. The Farmer's Market was packed and Derby's (the General Store) was crammed with people stocking up. It was really windy so there wasn't much activity on the lake. The Village tore down the old community hall and we believe the plan is to build a new one. We'll have to wait and see. 

Site of the old hall/pavilion

We enjoyed fires over the weekend and visiting with our friend Val. One night we tried a strawberry basil margarita and a blackberry Moscow mule with elderflower. Click on the names for the reviews and recipes. The next night Val brought a bottle of wine with accoutrements for wine pairings. We are so fancy at the camp site. 

Wine with chocolate and orange pairings

Of course we also had s'mores! 

And some Girl Guide cookies because a smart Brownie was going from site to site selling out of her wagon.

The Tails really enjoyed the new trailer and spent much less time in the car than they usually do.

It was a bit chilly in the trailer in the mornings and Phin found (and enjoyed) the heat vent. Note the hair on his side being blown back. ​The furnace works great!

We all loved the front sofa which we made in to the bed for watching TV. The TV is a novelty for us - Phoebe didn't have one. We brought out Game of Thrones season 1 DVDs and loved watching it again. Except, I woke up one night convinced someone could easily come in to the trailer and murder me. I locked the door the next night and slept better.

When we left home on Friday we decided we needed to finalize the name for the trailer this weekend. We have been tossing around three different names but could never decide. They are all great names we just weren't sure which was "the one".

After cleaning the trailer for a few hours we took a break and I said to James...I've cleaned so many cob webs, Charlotte must have been living in here. James mulled it around in his noodle and said - I think that's it. Charlotte. The name has royal connotations and it is the feminine form of Charles which means free man...thus in our opinion Charlotte means free. 

It was not one of our three finalist names but after staying in the trailer for three nights, we think it's...TERRIFIC