By: Jesse Lasko (AC)

This years AJ II trip was packed full of adventures and memories, ones that nobody who was on the trip will ever forget. Every year, Camp Regis-Apple Jack sends out it’s oldest campers on a week long trip as a sort of conclusion to their summer. This year, the AJ II trip was bound for Toronto, Canada. George Bredig and Sally Rosengerg lead the way to what seemed to be yet another great trip. On Wednesday, August 10th, sixty eight campers, counselors, and staff headed off for a long, 8 hour bus ride to Toronto. The trip started off on the right foot, with out vehicles (2 yellow buses, a car, and a truck carrying our stuff) reaching Heron Lane at 12:30 PM! However, luck was not on our side the entire first day, because right after we crossed the Canadian border, our little yellow bus broke down. This turned out to be a major event, because it threw us off our schedule for the rest of the day. The staff desperately tried to seek another vehicle, bus, van, anything. It got so late that first night that we wound up sleeping in a McDonald’s picnic area, somewhere off the highway, still without a second vehicle. The second day began with more waiting, trying to get another vehicle so we could push onward towards our destination. All of the campers seemed to keep a positive attitude that morning, which made the waiting easier for all. Frisbees, Walkman, playing cards, and Matt Pijselman’s Gameboy kept us all occupied and content. We finally got a van by mid-morning, which we needed and pressed on. Everyone was so wasted from the day, we set up camp, ate dinner, and went to bed.

The third day we woke up refreshed and ready for activity. Everyone was very anxious to do something exciting after 2 days of traveling. We selected to go to Niagara Falls that day, which was about a three hour drive. Once again, we loaded up the vehicles and headed off towards the falls. When we got there, we all got a scenic trip on the world famous boat ride: The Maid of the Mist. After the boat ride, we had time to taken beautiful photographs of the falls and socialize.

The falls were great but our evening wasn’t over quite yet, as from there, we traveled to a mini-golf place near by. We all played mini-golf and our evening was concluded by ice cream at Dairy Queen. Our 3rd day was certainly enjoyable for all. On the fourth day, we were once again detained at our campsite, but it wasn’t by anything controllable. It was mother nature. That morning it rained on and off for seven hours. We had originally planned to go to Canada’s Wonderland for the day, but the rain left that questionable. Our poor administrators, George and Sally had to make continual phone calls all morning, trying to see what we could do. Luck finally went our way (temporarily) and by mid-day, it had somewhat cleared. A determined George decided we should go to Canada’s Wonderland no mater what. Not knowing whether it would rain or clear, the 68 of us got into the vehicles and headed off to Canada’s biggest amusement park. Although it never really cleared up, and though it even rained a couple times when we were there, everybody had a blast. For many, it was the highlight of the trip. At Canada’s Wonderland there aren’t just one or two big, scary rollercoasters, but there are 6 or 7! We stayed in the park for over 4 hours, and past dinner time. When we finally had to leave, some were disappointed, but we all knew that the new day would bring more adventures.

The fifth and final day we were in Toronto, is a day that campers always look forward to. That night, we spent the evening in a restaurant, and out night at a hotel. During the day however, an old pain came back to haunt us; the situation with the bus. We had to return our van and we needed the bus for the next day’s journey back to camp. The tireless George and Sally spent most of the day working on arranging how to get one vehicle returned, and how to pick up our fixed bus. For one more day, the campers had to wait at our campsite for the problems and arrangements to be solved. Everyone was, for the most part, on good behavior this day as well. The waiting never seemed to dampen most of the campers moods. We still had the frisbee and playing cards to keep us occupied.

Everyone seemed to work up an appetite that day, and the level of excitement grew dramatically when Sally announced we’d be eating at The Olive Garden, and we’d be staying in a Holiday Inn.

That night, everyone dressed up (with a few exceptions), and we all enjoyed a fabulous Italian dinner in the heart of Toronto. After everyone had stuffed themselves to their hearts content, we went to the Holiday Inn where everyone was looking forward to sleeping comfortably on their beds. Not that the campsite was bad, because it wasn’t. A clean hotel is always a highlight for the campers, as you can imagine.

The sixth day was our day to leave, and head back to camp. We did, however, get to use some of the hotel facilities before we left. This included a heated swimming pool, and a sauna. After we all took one more shower, to wash away the chlorine, we loaded onto the vehicles for one last time.

Our trip back, to everyone’s delight, was much less rough. We did all of the driving in about 8 hours and we didn’t have any mechanical difficulties. We drove on well past midnight, as our drivers seemed to think only of reaching camp and not their own tiredness. At 2:30 AM on Tuesday, August 16th, we pulled into a silent Camp Regis Applejack, where only 6 days earlier the same 68 campers, counselors and staff began the trip.