The Sweat Lodge

Yay for summer holidays! It is SO incredibly wonderful to be in relaxation mode now, even though I will miss my little kiddles. On my last day of school, Darcen and I headed out to Jasper for a five day camping holiday. The weather was gorgeous...it was about 30C each day and we did some great hikes, soaked up the hot springs, and swam in the icy lakes.

We were so happy to have Jon and Tara join us for part of the trip and it was great to be able to celebrate Tara's birthday with her! Happy birthday T-bone! (That is my affectionate name for her).

But I must share the highlight of weekend. Darcen and Jon had the BRILLIANT idea of creating a "sweat lodge." They talked Tara and I into it, saying that it would be a bonding, enlightening, and spiritual experience. Well, I don't know about the enlightening or spiritual...but it was definitely fun and bonding!

The adventure begins! The boys have scouted out the appropriate area for the sweat lodge and Darcen is pounding in the centre stick to hold it up.

With the stick in place and tarp over the stick, the boys are pondering their next move.

Heating up the rocks.

Tara and I strolled on over to the creek to fill up our water bottles to pour over the hot rocks.

The sweat lodge complete! Isn't it wonderful? We dug a little pit for the rocks and laid towels in the tent. Now we're reading for business! Darcen used out cooking pan to scoop over the rocks and dump them into the sweat lodge. After we all squished ourselves into the tent, we poured the water over the glowing rocks. Let me tell you, there is a reason I did not post any photos of how we looked after this "enlightening" experience. :) We were dripping and not looking so attractive. But seriously, I highly recommend this activity...I don't remember the last time I was laughing so hard. It was great!

We learned that a huge roaring fire is able to heat the rocks amazingly. These rocks were so hot they were glowing orange!

Well, I'm off to bed. I hope all of you are having a relaxing and fun summer!