Rovers’s Roost–December 26, 2013

Yesterday I was MC at the social hour at Rovers' Roost. I like to do this every year. I wanted to share it here.

I am Toni Laird, SKP #104071 and we are on Lot 33. We are Canadian from the Vancouver area. We have been here for Christmas 4 times. If we can't be with our true family, we can be here with our SKP family.

My runner is my wonderful husband Doug with whom I have spend the last 29 years.

Today is our Boxing Day. What is Boxing Day?Boxing Day is only celebrated in Great Britain, parts of Australia and Canada. Originally Boxing Day, being the day after Christmas, was the day the servants had off and the lord of the manor gave them boxes of goodies to take to their families. Churches also put out boxes for those who could to donate alms to the poor. These days, Boxing Day, is spent visiting or receiving guests, and generally recovering and eating left-overs from Christmas. And Yes, it is a official holiday.

 During the summer, Doug and I work in a Provincial Park in Merritt British Columbia. Monck Provincial Park is located on beautiful Nicola Lake. Monck Park is about 3 hours from Vancouver and about equal distance from the border crossing at Osoyoos. Nicola Lake is 15 miles long and about 2 miles wide. Great fishing, boating and wind surfing. Great swimming too but because the lake is 650 feet deep in parts, the water is always COLD.

Monck Provincial Park has 120 sites, and no hookups. I work in our gatehouse which has a store. Doug works outside doing everything from maintenance to security.  On Saturdays I am the Park Host and arrange family fun. We do a Sports Day, Amazing Race and a Pet/Bike parade. We also show movies after dark in our Amphitheatre.

There is a lot of wildlife in the park. We have several families of Osprey. There is a group of deer that are quite tame. Occasionally the one of Great Horned owls will snatch a camper's cat. The are hundreds of squirrels and chipmunks, snakes and occasionally a bear. There are 26 kinds of fish in the lake and often fishermen can catch their limit in a single day.

The temperature in the summertime ranges from lows of about 60 and highs about 90 – 100*. It rarely rains. Merritt is considered semi-desert. Monck Park is about 3 hours from Vancouver and about equal distance from the border crossing at Osoyoos.

 We have a lot of fun with the campers but sometimes we really have to scratch our heads. We have heard it all. Reasons to have a refund on camping – Our children aren't sleeping, we are going home – can we have our money back. My wife and I thought we'd like camping, we don't can we are going home, can we have our money back. And our favourite of all – It's raining.....

I have put a slide show of pictures of the park on my computer on the table and I have brought along some brochures about the park and the area. Monck Park is in the Thompson section of the Go Camping book. I have folded the page down for you. There are also a few collector pins too if you like. Doug and I would love for you to come up and visit us there sometime. We will make you most welcome.

 There were quite a few people that had questions and they took brochures. There are at least two couples that are going to visit us in the summer.