Disclosure – this post contains sponsored content – we have partnered with brands for this year’s #5DadsGoWild camping trip and I mention some of those brands in this blog post. As always, editorial control of everything on this blog remains with me and is my honest opinion.
If you can believe it, this is now the third year of the annual #5DadsGoWild camping trip. And this year we have made a few changes to our trip.
First off, the theme of this year’s #5DadsGoWild is camping in a socially distanced manner. We will NOT be camping in a group campsite this year. We will be camping together – but not together. If that makes any sense.
Basically, we each have our own campsite and will be doing our own cooking on our individual camp stoves. That’s the big change.
Another change to this year’s trip is that we are not camping at Manning Park this year. This is not because we don’t want to, it is only because we could not get a booking for Manning Park on the dates that worked for all of us.
Typically we have gone camping closer to the end of September. For a variety of reasons (one being that I nearly froze to death – hyperbole, I know) this year we decided to go closer to the end of August – in fact today we are on our way to the Skagit Provincial Park!
Another memory I have from last year is waking up with a very sore back after sleeping on an air mattress that deflated overnight. To avoid that horror again, this year I purchased a camp cot.
It feels quite luxurious – so far. I got the extra long cot and it just barely fits inside the tent!
As we have done in the past, we have partnered with a number of brands to help make our camping trip more enjoyable. First off, the Blue Moose Cafe is again providing us all with “Dad Fuel” – a bag of coffee ground for each of our individual French Presses.
You know how everyone is talking about businesses and individuals “pivoting” because of COVID-19? Well, in order to stay in business, that’s kind of what businesses had to do. And the Blue Moose was no different.
In the past when travelling through Hope a stop at the Blue Moose was what basically everyone did (read that as loooong line-ups at the Blue Moose).
Well, in a world where social distancing is required, the Blue Moose did a big-time pivot. They quickly developed an app so that you can order and pay for your food and drinks online.
Once your order is ready the app sends you a text message telling you to come on in. You enter the front door, take a left and pick-up your food.
BAM, you are out of the shop and headed back to the park across the street where you can safely socially distance.
Pretty cool stuff for a small town coffee shop. Which by the way, turned 20 years old this year. Happy Birthday Blue Moose!!
And another brand we partnered with this year is one that I am VERY excited to try – the Thermacell Mosquito Repellent – a device that has a simple to use push-button interface.
For locals, the Thermacell can be purchased at Canadian Tire and it repels mosquitos in a 15 foot zone.
**Still need to get a picture of the Thermacell in action**
All this without any on-skin chemicals, sprays or lotions – meaning it is DEET-free and scent-free. I am VERY excited to try this thing out. Especially seeing as we have timed our trip for pretty much the peak of mosquito season.
Although I am excited to be trying out a mosquito repellent device and drinking coffee, another brand partner for this year is one that feels like we have been waiting forever to open, Mountainview Brewing.
Mountainview Brewing is a new brewery that is soon to open in Hope BC. They have converted a machine shop into a state-of-art craft brew/restaurant! The transition is truly incredible.
Mountainview Brewing have brewed up some beer specially for our camping trip (that’s how special we are!).
Since the picture above was taken Mountainview Brewing has had their front lot paved AND added a beauty of a sign on the front of their building – it looks great. Check out their Instagram feed to see more of their story.
I will add more about how our trip works out in the follow-up blog posts. For now, I need to go see if I can find my tent!!
Talk to you soon.