Crimson Lake Provincial Park

I've just returned home from the two most wonderful weeks at Crimson Lake Provincial Park - such a surprising place.  We spent sunny days building sandcastles and painting on the beach.  We hiked and biked for miles along beautifully groomed trails.  We visited wetlands, sand dunes, forests and went on our first geocaching trip.  We learned about the flora and fauna of the area - I now know that Alberta has an edible provincial mushroom called the rough stemmed red top, that an owl's head turns 270 degrees in either direction, that bats can eat 1200 mosquitos an hour and catch them with their tails, and that a beaver's teeth is red with iron.  We visited the Rocky Mountain House National Historic Site which was the home of both the North West Company and Hudson's Bay Company as well as David Thompson, who mapped most of western Canada, and still died penniles.  We were visited by a dozen deer, six prairie hens, a few rabbits, scores of ground squirrels, and a black bear - twice!  Must be some spiritual significance there. Next time we'll definitely kayak as the lake is quite still and very shallow.  We read every day and each evening we walked along the lakeshore before roasting marshmallows for s'mores.  I enjoyed the fourth in the Game of Thrones series, cannot wait to get book five, A Dance with Dragons, in my greedy little hands and am currently enjoying The Red Book by Sara Beak.  A lovely, lovely holiday.