We started our grade 8 and 9 class trip Toronto and for Greg and I it started at 9:00 am when our plane left Deer Lake. Altogether there were 5 planes with the last one finally coming in at 2:30. Once the students arrived in Red Lake via the plane we all had to wait in the world’s second smallest airport. Our plane arrived at 10:30. The six students, along with another chaperone, were pretty excited to be somewhere new. That feeling lasted for six minutes, as the reality hit home that they would be stuck for another 4 hours. It wasn’t all bad as the airport has a small t..v., which included the Men’s French Open championship game and then was conveniently switched by some random man to the Jay’s game. Have to love when it works out like that. At some point later, another plane arrived dropping of more passengers. Tristan, one of our grade nines came walking to the airport with only the clothes on his back. He decided he did not need to bring clothes or a bag because he was just going to buy everything he needed. We’re thinking about tomorrow’s pair of boxers.
While we were waiting for the last plane to arrive with the final 9 passengers, our Bus pulled up. It was a school bus that had 48 seats. Our group has 45 people with bags. We didn’t think it was going to fit, but everyone was able to nestle in somewhere. We finally left a little after 2:30 pm for a drive to Thunder Bay. With no bathroom on the bus, we made a few too many stops, causing us to fall a little behind schedule. Apparently it is supposed to be a 6 hour drive, but we didn’t pull into our hotel until midnight. The kids were pretty wired, and who wouldn’t blame them after being squished together for over 9 hours. Many groups quickly ordered pizza, while others walked to either the Shopper’s Drug Mart or Metro. Claire’s group decided for the former, while mine went for the latter. It was pretty cool to be back in a grocery store. Growing up I always loved going with my mom on Saturday mornings and helping pick that week’s menu (the $0.49 chocolate bar had nothing to do with it). Anyways, when my grouped walked in they went directly for the……….prepaid card tower. You read that right. Not the candy or junk food aisle, but the station where they could buy prepaid phone cards and itunes cards. Some were already missing home.
Along the way we saw/experienced some pretty cool things. Quickly off to the side of the road we passed a moose grazing. My reaction was, “Oh wow, a moose!” The students’ reaction was, “What! It’s just a moose.” Later, we passed by a farm that had cattle grazing. The students’ reaction was, “Oh wow, a cow!” Our reaction was, “What! It’s just a cow.” In all we passed by 8 moose and another one dead on the side of the road. At first, and in the daylight, they were pretty cool to see, but as the sun started going down, we were all feeling a little more nervous when someone yelled “Moose!” I couldn’t imagine anyone surviving an accident with one of those.
Last night we ended up in Sudbury. We drove on the bus from 7am -8pm. It was a long ride but the students were excellent. They slept a lot, watched movies and played cards.
Yesterday was our anniversary, and although spending our anniversary with 43 other people isn't the ideal, it was alright. Everyone said "Happy Anniversary" and they even pitched in to get us so gifts. A few boys bought us a pie, we also received two really nice pillows. It was very sweet of everyone and altogether a good day.
Today we are finally reaching our Toronto destination.
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