Adventures in Canada (Part I)

When we last left our troop, they were on their way northward...

Predictably, nothing eventful happened in Montana. Great Falls was mostly a stopover on they way to Canada, though we did all trek to a laundromat, as we will do several times throughout the summer. Suds overflowed, socks were lost, and the staff of the laundromat was overwhelmed.

The next day I was back in the Penske truck, sitting shotgun on the way to Calgary, Alberta. At the border I spotted a crew of motorcyclists dressed to impress in their Canadian tuxedos.

Canadian tuxedos!

For those of you not in the know, a Canadian tuxedo is when a individual wears a suit of denim (think: jeans on top, jeans on bottom). Basically it was an appropriate welcome to the country, and highly laughable. My co-captain in the truck and I jammed out in the customs parking lot while the two British campers on our trip were being interrogated by border security.

Passing Alberta scenery

Overall I'd have to say I'm not a huge fan of Calgary. This is mostly because when we got into town there was massive amounts of traffic (kind of like New Jersey), there was leftover snow on the ground, and it was downpouring. We stayed in the dorms at the University of Calgary; one of the campers asked me if it reminded me of college, and I was suddenly transported back in time to the disappointment of being placed in Balch Hall, the only all-girls' dorm at Cornell (which, as we know by now, turned out to be totally fine). The best part about the dorms was that we stayed in Rundle Hall, which sounds a little too much like Grundle for the average person's comfort. Our main event in Calgary was the Calgary Stampede, which is a GIANT carnival.

Me and Becca at the livestock tent at the Calgary Stampede.

I started to count the number of Canadian tuxedos, but quickly lost track, and was distracted by the prospect of delicious fried carnival food. What was surprising was how multicultural the city was, and I have never seen so many Asian cowboys in my life. The counselors went to the chuck wagon races (every single camper ditched out), and there was some friendly wagers going around, with bets being placed solely based on shirt color or sponsor name.

The next two nights we spent at Banff national park. We were warned that the mosquitoes would be extremely dense per square inch of air space, and we were certainly not disappointed in that department. There was also a warning for our camping lot that a bear was in the area, which meant no toiletrees for two days. Some campers still snuck their make-up off the bus; chalk it up to teenage insecurity. We did tons of sightseeing in the area, including visiting the Athabasca Glacier,

Counselors at the Athabasca Glacier

a gondola ride up to the summit of one of the mountains in Banff,

View from the summit of the mountain in Banff

canoing on Lake Louise,

Just like boating at TLC...kinda

and chilling in natural hot springs. A major highlight was in the town of Banff, where all the counselors went to a bar/restaurant, where you had to be over eighteen to enter. We sat on the upstairs porch and watched all our kiddies walk by, oblivious to our fun time above. I had a delicious Canadian beer that is appropriately brewed with glacier water.

Taste the Canadian Rockies.

I think that the highlight for the kids was the campfire at Banff, since it was that night when many of the pairing offs and hooking up went on. As diligent counselors with no lives of our own, we kept abreast of who was with whom, and subsequently chastised and teased the parties involved.

At this moment I'm back in the Penske with another counselor. He has just described the roads here as rivaling the "Mazada zoom zoom shit" from the commercials. We are making our way to Whistler, British Columbia. Tonight we have a scavenger hunt through the Whistler Village. Last night the counselors drafted our respective teams, so I will keep you all updated of who wins. The only snare so far is that one of the campers overheard us doing our draft picks, so my first round choice knows who he is, and the last boy picked overall knows as well. So much for playing favorites.

Over and out, for now...

Is it Five O'Clock Somewhere?

Hi from a coach bus somewhere between Jackson Hole, Wyoming and Great Falls, Montana! So I guess I'll jump right in...

I started out this trip at La Guardia airport, where we had to cheesily greet kids and their parents. Most of the kids know a few others on the trip from camp or school or whatever, yet overall the group is surprisingly not too cliquey, which any of us who went to high school knows can be rough. At the airport I made the mistake of running up to two girls and greeted them all excitedly, only to have them walk by me, since they were not part of our group at all--certainly one of my more awkward moments. Two of the girls on the trip were excited to spot Nik from America's Next Top Model in the bathroom, so a group of us waited outside to see if it was her--not inconspicuous at all! In fact, I'm quickly learning that it is impossible to remain annonymous with a group this large. Lots of folks out here are curious about us, and many think that we are part of a church youth group, which is pretty far from the truth, since about 95% of the kids are Jewish.

On the plane from Minneapolis, Minnesota to Rapid City, South Dakota I perused the Sky Mall magazine, and now have my heart set on the Automatic Mini Doughnut Maker, which really seems like an adult EZ-Bake Oven.

"Serve Up Piping-Hot Mini Doughnuts in Less Than a Minute"

Pretty amazing the crap they manage to sound appealing.

So the first six nights of the trip are camping nights, which means that we had to teach forty-five kids how to pitch tents...not an easy task by any means, though by now the kids are pros at it. I did suffer a nasty burn when helping out with the food preparation, which formed a gnarly "bula" (yeah I snuck another pathology reference in there).

Giant blister. Yum!

I would really say that the worst part of camping is the food, which is most certainly a result of our crazy and incompetent cook, who, after a week, has still not figured out the labeling system I OCDly organized the truck with. The truck to which I'm referring is a giant Penske that carries all of our camping equipment and food. It is actually a source of respite for the counselors, because when driving between stops, two of us drive the truck while the rest ride the bus with the kids. I was the truck passenger most of the way between Rapid City, South Dakota and Cody, Wyoming. And then I had to drive:

Me driving the Penske truck!

Somehow I ended up driving through the most windy, scary, downhill part of the trip. Not easy for a girl who has been driving a little Volvo for the past six years. The passing scenery was absolutely GORGEOUS, and being in the truck made it feel like I was really on a roadtrip, which, in a way, was the point of this summer.

Passing scenery in Wyoming

Major sites we've seen so far are Mount Rushmore (which really made me think of the movie North By Northwest),

Counselors (minus our cook) at Mount Rushmore. From left: Abbey, Lauren, me, Marc, Becca, and Justin

Old Faithful (at this site some boys started walking away from the group. So, stressed out and the only counselor around, I yelled to them, "Where the hell are you guys going?!" A woman with a stroller then whips around and sneers at me, "This is a family place." I guess I am far far away from home), white water rafting, the Badlands, Jackson Hole,

The girl counselors in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

and Grand Teton national park.

The girl counselors at Grand Teton National Park.

Actually at the Grand Tetons one of the girls was not feeling well, so she and I stayed back and hung out by the lake at the base of the mountains while the rest of the group hiked up to where there was still snow on the ground. When we were hanging out there, there were a a few Israeli families right next to us. Just as I was thinking how far away from home they were, one walks up to me and asked me when I graduated Cornell (I was wearing a tshirt)...turns out the parents were all graduate students there! Seriously, what a small freakin world.

Israeli kids playing in the lake in Grand Teton National Park.

Oh and we went mini golfing at a place called Putz-n-Glow--I'm guessing that whoever named this did not know what a Putz was.

This trip so far has really made me think about how different people in this country are. Like how when we were at the rodeo in Cody, and the rodeo clown made a homophobic "joke" using a stereotypical lisp. I was shoked that he would say such a thing to a such a large audience, and actually expect it to be funny. Still, this is happening at a place where they have the Kiddie Cattle Run, where they invite all the kids in the audience to come down and chase after a cow with a flag on it. The first kid to get the flag gets a free ice cream at the Dairy Queen. Woo hoo!

Kiddie Cattle Run

As nerdy as this is, it makes me think of the upcoming election, and how such different kinds of people can be expected to come to any kind of agreement on any number of controversial issues. And that's it for being pensive.

Oh and the title for the post is a reference to our trip theme song. Our bus driver, "Pop" Bill has selected two country songs that he plays over and over (and over) throughout the trip: "Five O'Clock Somewhere" by Jimmy Buffett and some song about Hoochie Coochies on the Chattahoochie. Well that's all for now. Time to watch YET ANOTHER obnoxious Will Ferrell movie...

Welcome

Hey everyone! In an attempt to stay connected to the East Coast, as well as determine if I retain any ability to piece together a coherent--albeit run-on--thought (Mr. Kendall would not be proud), I decided to compile my travels this summer in this new-fangled medium. Having perused my fair share of boring blogs (usually read in an attempt to see what the world is like these days outside of the 'hood/Newark, NJ), my hope is that someone--besides my mom--reads this thing and finds it interesting. Given this is my last long summer break, I decided to see for myself what is beyond the confines of dental school; and that's how I have found myself traveling the U.S./Canada on my very first North American tour. Since my wanderlust is coupled with unabashed nerdiness and limited travel funds, I have found myself on this road trip with 38 16-year-old kids on a 40-day Teen Tour (or as someone--who deserves credit but fails my memory--aptly described as "Jew Camp on Wheels").

So check back often, if for no other reason than it is depressing for me to look at the number of views/comments on a blog and see the number resting on "2". This trip will provide some awkward/hilarious moments, great photos, and "the best summer of my life" (the trip brochure assures me of that last one). So here it goes...the fun kicks off July 3rd!

P.S.: Hi MLH!
P.P.S.: You may have noticed that this first entry is posted quite a while before the trip commences. This is because I impulsively decided to begin this blog in a fit of frustration while studying for my pathology final...one can only muse over the physiologic differences yet infuriatingly similar terminology among the concepts of granulomatous inflammation, pyogenic granulomas, and granulation tissue for so many hours in a row! Yes, that was a mini-shout out to the dental school kids--who, come to think of it, probably aren't at their computers this summer...