Camping in Prince Edward County {Sandbanks Provincial Park, Picton & Bloomfield}

Earlier this summer, I mentioned that we were going camping. You’d think that after the epic honeymoon road trip we’d want to stick around home the rest of the summer, but…we couldn’t wait to get back on the road just a month after we were home. After last year’s great trip out to Elora Gorge how could we resist another weekend trip to a new place in our province.

We decided to make the trek out to beautiful Sandbanks Provincial Park, on Lake Ontario in Prince Edward County.

I’d been to the beach here before, but had never stayed to go camping. It’s a very popular park and usually fills up pretty quickly for the summer, so we were pretty excited to get a site last minute.

Once we picked up our permits, Whiskey was happy to drive us around the park to our campsite.

While Garrett set up the tent, I got to work making dinner – toasted burritos. I’ll be sharing the recipe, along with all our other camp food (including a grocery list!) tomorrow.

After dinner, we took the dogs for a hike through the campsite, then through the woods to a dark country road…and finally to the shores of Lake Ontario.

We caught the tail end of a beautiful sunset before the mosquitoes started terrorizing us. We literally ran from the beach back up to the road.

Back at the campsite, we cuddled up around the fire.

The next site over was a dad camping with his daughter and we got to listen to him play guitar while she sang along softly. It was the perfect background music for a relaxing night by the fire.

The next morning, we woke up early (all that sunlight in the tent) and got started on a yummy breakfast – sausage hashbrown egg scramble.

 While I cooked, Cola had a nap in the sun.

 I think he’s pretty happy about his new life.

After breakfast, we headed into the cute small town of Picton. It had been years since I came here with my parents one winter. I’d forgotten how beautiful it was.

We walked along the downtown stretch, until I spotted this kitchen shop, I made a beeline for it.

 Zest was full of so many great linens, beautiful cookware and fun kitchen gadgets.

I loved the brick and beam decor and the owners Jenny & Kyle were so helpful.

What a sweet store greeter! Every shop needs a mascot and theirs is Carter.

We happened to be there when Jana Bookholt was doing a trunk show for Swaine Street Woodworking. Jana’s work has been featured in House and Home, Design Lines and Style at Home magazines.

Jana makes these beautiful handcrafted wooden serving boards and was on hand to personally monogram them for customers. These would make a great wedding, shower or birthday gift.

We grabbed a little snack from this refreshments table set up in the store. The strawberry infused water was so good that we picked up an infuser for ourselves. We’ve been making infused water all summer and it’s so delicious. I also grabbed a silcone perfectly square ice cube tray that I’ve been trying to find for ages.

We continued to walk along the downtown shops.

I grabbed a couple of rustic berry baskets from this antique shop. You may have spotted one in the Easy Garlic Dill Refrigerator Pickles post!

If we’d had more time, I would have loved to pop in for a show at this old theatre too.

Back on the road, we drove past Birdhouse City – a field with over 100 birdhouses, most of them reproductions of historic buildings.

We drove through the rest of town and spotted a row of brightly covered houses. They sort of reminded me of the Rainbow Row in Charleston!

We grabbed some takeout and took it down to the beach back at the provincial park for a little picnic lunch. They have a great dog beach there, so the pooches were able to join us.

 Cola seemed to like his first time at the beach – especially all the driftwood sticks.

After Cola fell off the dock at my parents’ place, we realized he needed some “swimming lessons”. I decided to take the dog’s for a little swim at the beach to get him more comfortable with the water but it was way too cold. They lasted about 5 minutes before they started to pull me back out of the water.

We dried off and headed back to the campsite for an afternoon nap in the tent (too much sun!) and then headed out for a late afternoon hike through the trail systems in the park.

We made it back out to the beach we’d been on the night before and walked along it for awhile (without any mosquitoes this time).

 Whiskey was happy to stay out of the water.

Back at camp, we made burritos and salads for dinner followed by s’mores for dessert.

I couldn’t find graham crackers, so we improvised with chocolate chip cookies. Yum!

The next morning, we ate a quick breakfast, packed up the camping gear and headed out to visit Bloomfield – another great town on in Prince Edward County.

When we got there, it turned out that the whole town was out of power, so Garrett couldn’t pick up a morning coffee. We just hung out around town and eventually walked by a church that was offering people free breakfast who didn’t have power – I just love when a community comes together like that. Five minutes later the power was back and his coffee was brewing.

With the power back on, it was time to visit some of the cute shops. My favorite was Kokito, a cute boutique celebrating Canadian design and lakeside living.

 I couldn’t agree with you more.

Inside I found all kinds of fun treasures, including some of my favourite Honey Pie Hives and Herbals beeswax candles (made in Prince Edward County!)

We also made a quick stop into this South American inspired store and bought a woven cotton tablecloth (spotted in this Instagram pic).

Prince Edward County is known for their amazing produce, so we stocked up on our way back to the highway. Lots of fresh fruits and veggies, as well as some maple cheddar from Black River Cheese that was amazing with sliced apples.

On the way home, we stopped into Port Perry. I hadn’t been there since I came with my family around Christmastime last year.

They have a lovely waterfront area, with fishing piers, playgrounds and walking paths.

After a long day of traveling around, a late lunch by the water was in order. We picked up a large pepperoni and cheese pizza to enjoy on the grass (with leftovers for easy Monday lunches too)

 Whiskey waited ever so patiently for a nibble of crust.

We made our way back home (with two very tired pooches in tow) just in time to unpack, make a quick dinner and get ready for the work week. I think it’s safe to say we packed as much fun into the weekend as we could.