We left the city first thing Wednesday 25th July and drove the 225 km (the car wasn’t as flash as the last one but still a bit of alright) to Camp Huronda, a camp that is run by the Canadian Diabetes Association for children with type 1 diabetes. We have five camp staff there are having a wonderful time! It’s always so lovely to hear that staff is doing well and enjoying their summer and I found it very interesting, as I have never visited a diabetes camp before. It’s not that they differ very much from other camps, just that the food that is served is controlled according to the needs of the campers and of course there are facilities for the campers needs.
Following this we went to Taylor Statten Camp, about 75km away in Algonquin National Park. The road to this place is just breathtakingly beautiful, winding roads and shimmering lakes with endless forests and a tranquility that is just so calming but also powerful. Hard to describe! Camilla and I stopped off to have lunch on a rock that looked out over one of the many lakes there (there are more than 1500 lakes in Algonquin Park). As if that wasn’t amazing enough, the sandwiches Camilla had made can only be described in one way. Unreal. Good work there!
Following Taylor Statten, Camilla and I hit the road on our way to Camp Tamakwa. The clouds had begun to gather and it was just beginning to rain lightly when the boat came to take us over to Camp Tamakwa. It is so awesome that you can only access it by boat! We were given a tour of this gorgeous camp, which is where Indian Summer was filmed. We spent the night at Camp Tamakwa and were privileged to witness the opening of the Color Wars at midnight! Following a very cozy nights sleep with the rain hammering away on the roof, we had breakfast and were able to catch up with the staff thereafter. Strange as it may seem I was delighted to be having an overcast day with a little rain after having had no respite for a few weeks from the heat in Toronto!
Our next stop was Camp Olympia, a sports camp about an hour away. We met with the Camp Director who gave us a tour of the camp and its impressive facilities. I found it pretty interesting that the camp was once owned by the Norwegian Air Force and the dining hall was built during WWII. What history! The staff here are having a great time and it’s always so lovely having met them at the beginning of their summer to see how they have adapted to camp life. That is one thing I always say about camp – it isn’t necessarily just a job, it is a way of life. Next on the list was Camp Timberlane, a beautiful camp that is laid out along a waterfront composed of beaches and docks. Gorgeous! NYQUEST has loads of international camp staff here – 19 in total! We were able to catch up with a fair, few which was nice – and they seemed simply delighted to be there! It’s always lovely to see international staff having a wonderful time, but for them to be extraordinarily happy to be where they are makes me delighted!
Our stop at Camp Timberlane was brief and before long we were headed toward Camp Northland (beautiful old camp) and then onto Camp White Pine. I was interested to see White Pine as this is where Family Camp is held over Labor Day weekend. This is an incredibly picturesque camp and we were given a cabin to stay in all to ourselves! The cabins just smell so good – that fresh pine cone smell. We spent the night here and after breakfast, we were able to catch up with some of the staff at their activity areas. Our last camp stop was Camp Adelaide, a Girl Guide Camp just outside of Halliburton where we have two staff, both of whom are from Scotland. There were no campers there the day we visited, so it was incredibly quiet as we were given a tour. After that, onward home and back to the city. It was a brilliant trip, tiring but fantastic! Next week, Montreal!