THUNDER BAY – Today Jacklyn Spithoff, a seventeen year old camper enjoying her 12th year here at Camp Quality Northwestern Ontario, took time out of her evening to share her thoughts on Day Four. Keep reading for Jacklyn’s recap of the day!
BY JACKLYN SPITHOFF: Our third full day at camp started off with a bright and extra-early, slightly groan-worthy wake up at 7:00AM. We stumbled our way to a great breakfast of monkey bread, breakfast meat, fruit, and cereal. By 8:30AM, we all piled onto the buses and took off for a great day on the town. Our first stop- the side of the road to pick up a pair of shoes from a parent.
Next, we were on our way to have a blast at Gammondale Farms. When we arrived we were greeted by the Gammonds and the DeBrusk family, a long-time supporter of our camp. They split us off into groups and sent us all on our way to the great activities they had planned for us. These activities kept us busy until lunch! We visited the farm animals like Pablo and Luna the goats, Lightning and Tex the horses, Lily the sheep, Twitter the bunny, and a chicken coop where we could pick up and pet the chickens!
Upstairs, we had the opportunity to try out the tire swing in the hay loft-that was a hit with the kids. I tried it once, but it was a little too scary for me! There were some wagon rides and a train ride, some duck races, a scavenger hunt, and the most popular-the loom bracelets. The bracelets were easy to make and soon we were all looming up a storm. I made two bracelets all on my own and I was quite proud of that. When we all worked up an appetite, we enjoyed a great barbeque lunch of ribs and salads, finished off with some delicious watermelon and cake! We would like to extend a special thank you to the Gammonds for hosting us today and having so much fun stuff for us to do, and to Dawson and the DeBrusk family for their incredible donation to Camp Quality.
With full stomachs, we headed off on the long bus ride to the Canada Games Complex for some swim time and (much needed) showers. Some were brave and jumped off the towers, some like me hung back and enjoyed the water. But everyone enjoyed the showers- as hot and as long as we liked. We all smelled fabulous and so we headed off for our rain date for Merla Mae ice cream. What a yummy treat on a hot day!
Finally we headed back to camp. Bus #2 made a pit stop to pick up a very generous donation from KOA Campground. Thank you so much to the great folks at the KOA!
We had some free time until dinner, so I decided to take advantage of this time and take a nap. Nothing like toes-up time! Dinner was a fantastic meal of kebabs, veggies and rice with fruit-kebabs and cheesecake for dessert. Our kitchen staff are amazing to us: “food down, hands up, clap for the cooks!”
After dinner we rushed down to the tennis courts to await the Harley riders. Unfortunately, when they arrived, it was raining and the riders decided it could be unsafe to ride, and so our motorcycle rides were cancelled this year L. We took pictures with the bikes and accepted an amazing donation from the Thunder Bay Harley Owners Group. The campers each received a Harley Davidson t-shirt. Although the rides weren’t possible, we still appreciate the support of the Harley Davidson riders!
After we all returned to camp and put on some dry clothes, we all had some time to play games and eat snacks. Many of us gathered under the gazebo and played board games and charades or sat by the fire. We were treated to some great banana boats for our evening snack. A lot of us were exhausted and so by lights out nobody really complained about bedtime- but our cabin borrowed a board game to play together. I think I’ll go join them now. Today was yet another great day at Camp Quality and I look forward to spending another great fun-filled day with my CQ family tomorrow…but the part I look forward to the most is sleep in day tomorrow!
