Teen Treks

Today most started the day at 6:30, but the cool people awoke at 5:40. We all consumed expertly made eggs by our famous chef Jebediah (Josh). Then we all embarked on our travel for the day. We first journeyed to the coffee and tea shop, then we made our way to the ferry to leave Obama’s Vacation Island (Obama Not Included), Martha’s Vineyard. Then we continued our trek to the campground. On the way we went to a rope swing into a lake where we met our first bro of the day, Joe. He taught us the art of the rope swing. We climbed the literal and metaphorical rope ladder to the top til we faced a challenge , the (half) backflip, though most of us ended up with the legendary back-flop. Our fearless champion Simon (Caleb) was the only one of us to successfully complete the fabled challenge. We then continued our trip and after our lunch in the parking lot of the Stop and Shop we started the rest of our 30 mile journey. We had been biking for a couple miles when we encountered our next challenge, Lis’ flat tire. Finally we made it to the campsite and then we began cooking up the greatest grilled cheese and enchiladas known to man. Then we ended the night with SpikeBall and some Disney movie singing. 

⁃ Trekker and Master Scribe Chaitan

We started off our day with some creative oatmeal made of stroopwaffles and banana. We then packed up our hostel and hit the road. We stopped in the OG Haarlem just in time for a farmers market where we snagged some treats like cannolis and cold water. We also enjoyed the “De Grote of St. Bavokerk te Haarlem”, a gigantic church with a live organ performance. On our way to the campground we saw and toured a rebuilt traditional Dutch windmill. Turns out our guide was a devoted cyclist with a goal of accumulating enough miles to reach the moon. Once we got to the campground, we set up or tents and began cooking our spaghetti and meatballs. After dinner we wrapped up our night with a walk along a local beach and climbed on old bunkers. 

For no lack of persistence and tenacity of the group, we unfortunately failed in our quest to find POTUS 44 Barack Obama. This was especially disheartening considering our counselor Simon had promised we’d see him in Martha’s Vineyard; although, I suppose we should by now be accustomed to his deceit. Despite all of this, our more relaxed day, to the surprise of everyone, turned out to be quite relaxing and enjoyable. We all awoke at around 6 or maybe 3 or maybe 1 to the relaxing feeling of cold Massachusetts rain pouring through our supple and unprotected tent windows. We were further comforted by the warm embrace of Massachusetts driver energy.  Today the infamous rhetorical question often posed by parents “if all your friends jumped off a bridge, would you?” was put to the test when, presented the choice of the title of “two thousand and eight”or the ever dreaded “two thousand and late,” I chose my ego and the cold envelope of the Atlantic Ocean. The undoubtable highlight of today however was the fabled return of the king, he who bested and scammed our champion Counselor Simon. Although he was occupied with more pressing matters, he needn’t acknowledge us for his presence alone was enough to light up our days. The day ended with games of Spikeball and H.O.R.S.E. and laughter around our metaphorical fire. We sincerely hope that the next trekkers will be able to carry on our legacy and do what we could never. 

• written by trekker kenzo

Day 7 of the Lake Ontario Trek:
  We started off our day with a peaceful ride through downtown Toronto to get to the ROM (Royal Ontario Museum). The ROM had more exhibits than we could even imagine. From Raccoons to Ancient Egypt to the COVID 19 pandemic, we covered a lot of ground. 
  While in the museum, Duncan and I (Alana) decided to search for Adam and Olivia (our teen treks leaders) and scare them. We found Olivia first almost by complete accident. We followed her around for 20 minutes before sneaking up behind her and scaring her at the perfect moment! Olivia preceded to challenge us to find Adam. After searching almost the whole museum, we were losing hope, and that’s when we found him! We followed him all the way to Olivia and scared both of them!
  While leaving the museum, we saw a really cool brass group! They had some less common instruments (2 Mellophones, a 3 valve sousaphone, and a double trigger trombone) After listening to a few songs, we made our way back to the hotel room for lunch. 
   We steamed frozen bao (pork buns) Igor lunch. Afterwards, us trekkers headed to the Eaton Centre (mall.) We wandered around the mall before meeting up with Adam’s friend Ezra for dinner.
   Ezra took us to a really cool Chinese noodle place where we got to kind of cook our own soup. After dinner, we started to make our way back to the hotel, stopping in front of Toronto city hall to watch yet another concert! After watching the concert, we headed back to the hotel. 
   Duncan convinced us to go up to the 11th floor of the hotel which was unfortunately locked. We decided to climb the stairs up , but it was locked again! We heard noises of a party from the other side of the door. We knocked but then decided to just listen to the party (i have no idea why), eventually a woman opened the door and basically informed us that it was a wedding, so we are now the official teen treks wedding crashers. 
We winded down the day with a Jewish Shabbat celebration and some nice pudding to end off our crazy day on a calm and peaceful note.
 ⁃ Super cool trekker Alanasaurus Rexo 

Today we started off the day by going to the Rijksmuseum and saw a variety of art ranging from wooden carvings from the 1100s to Van Gogh and Rembrandt. The weather was much nicer and the raining subsided from the day before. We then got some quick lunch in the hostel and headed out to the Hortus Botanicus (the botanical garden of Amsterdam). We saw one of a kind plants and trees that were hundreds of years old. After seeing the gardens we went grocery shopping and cooked up some quesadillas for dinner. After dinner we went on a nighttime bike ride exploring the city. While exploring, we found a man in an open city square creating gigantic bubbles for onlookers. It’s been some long days, so after the bike ride we got back to hostel and crashed in our beds

Blog day 5

Today the trekkers packed up and moved out of the second camp and moved onto the third. The trip started out with a hearty breakfast consisting of oat meal and to a select few, leftover sloppy joes at around 7:20. At 8, the team then set out out for the Wharf, which was around 22 miles away. We met a few challenges along the way, including a flat tire, falling syrup, and potholes that rivaled those of New York City. Ultimately, we made it to the wharf with time to spare and enjoyed bagels with cream cheese and various candies. We arrived at Martha’s Vineyard and proceeded to explore the quaint town of Oaksbluff. After a little wandering around, we went to the beach and jumped off the 20 foot high dock multiple times with amazing acrobatics including flips and cannonballs among other jumps. After drying off the water, the boys attempted to play spikeball when two children came and enacted the greatest facade of the century, resulting in ten dollars being lost by one of the parties involved. After a exhilarating match, the trekkers then proceeded to bike five more miles into the wind. Finally we arrived at the campsite and made a delicious dinner of mac and cheese, salad, and glizzys (hotdogs) with many condiments and buns. At 8:30, the group then went to watch Sing 2 in the soccer field of the campsite, a tremendous cinematic masterpiece that had everyone at the edge of their seats. Finally, the trekkers finished the movie and moved on to doing our circle talk.

– Trekker Jacob 

Day 6

Today started off sleepy. I remember being woken up by the other trekkers playing music videos on YouTube. They then dragged me out of bed and into the hall. After that it was pretty chill. We went to get groceries at Loblaws, and went to the Centre Island Ferry. On Centre Island we had lunch, went swimming and played spike ball. Then we went biking around Toronto. We ended up in the Distillery District, and went through a farmers market in a skate park. Getting dinner at a restaurant obsessed with the Beetles is fun, and the poutine was good too. We got awesome sun glasses, and ‘Sakura lattes.’ Then we went by city hall, and ended the day by taking pictures in front of the sign saying Toronto.

-Trekker Henry

We started off the day with a somber morning visit to the Anne Frank House as we were reminded of the tragedies that occurred. As the sky gloomed above us, we tried to keep the mood light with unofficial cheese tastings, stroopwaffles, and a 3 hour city walking tour with a comedian. We learned about the history of the city, why the houses along the canal were leaning, and what the local cuisine was (pancakes and potato mash (the Dutch love fried food)). After a step count of 20,000, carrying home some eclectic Amsterdam vintage clothing, we headed home to cook curry and rice. We ended the day playing cards and drinking chocolate milk.

Day four!

We started the day with chocolate chip pancakes, yum! Then followed by a quick pack up and a 5 mile ride out of the campground. We went to a town nearby to browse and explore. We almost got a ‘bicycles’ flag, but we unfortunately were a day late. The flag was already gone. We went to a stop & shop for lunch which was ice cream, chips and wraps, in that order. We took a shortcut back to the campsites. We all enjoyed a nice cold and refreshing swim and played in the water. We had pizzas and sloppy Joe’s for dinner. Some singing with the speaker from Lis and giant beetle drama. Doughnuts for dessert, overall a good day.

– written by trekker Kate 

We started at Bronte Providential Park and had a great breakfast of almond milk and cereal. The group biked all the way to Toronto and ate lunch at a nice pavilion.  When we got to the hotel and checked in, we put all of our gear in the room and headed out to the pool. Once we were dried off and changed it was time to go about and get dinner. We got pizza from a nice pizza place owned by some Italians that we talked to for a little while. We got laundry done, walked around Toronto and got some tea. We got back to the hotel and we were done for the day.

-Trekker Duncan