Bright Ideas - Camp and Sleepovers

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Tourist Weekend

A few years ago, my Pathfinder unit was all set for a weekend trip to Edmonton, unfortunately at the last minute, the Wednesday before the trip our travel plans were shut down, and we had no transportation!

So trying to think of something to do with the girls for the weekend became a priority. So began our annual tourist weekend.

We ended up staying in Calgary and enjoying some of the things that we take for granted living here. We went to

• the Firefighters Museum,
• had lunch at Chinook mall, and
• did a little shopping (this mall is not close to our neighborhood, so many girls had not been there or had only been once or twice)
• we went to the theatre and at that time it was an Imax, and saw a show (with coupons of course),
• we then went to co-op and picked up lunch supplies for the next day.
• We stayed at my house for the night; everyone picked a piece of floor and settled in for the night.
• We got up on Sunday had a hearty breakfast,
• packed lunches for the day and
• visited the zoo.

In past years,

• we have been to Spaceport,
• had lunch at the airport,
• visited Eau Clair market,
• Heritage Park,
• printed T shirts,
• went to Eau Clair Imax,
• had supper at the Old Spaghetti factory,
• had lunch at Deane house,
• visited Fort Calgary,
• played board games and
• went bowling.

This past spring our weekend was planned and we got snowed out!!! So back to rethinking the weekend. Saturday morning brought 12 pathfinders to my house to begin our day. The parents all called to see if it was still a go with all the snow that we got, and me being optimistic said oh ya, the snow will let up soon, well at 11:00 I admitted defeat and realized we were not going anywhere. So once again our plan were changed and giving all the girls a choice of either going or staying 11 girls thought that hanging at my house was a good idea, so we

• played in the snow,
• ate, ate, ate,
• watched movie after movie, and
• just had a hang out couple of days together,

so we had to re plan the day for later on in the spring, unfortunately we could not do some of the things that we had originally planned, but ended up having a beautiful day for the second try. We have

• made T-shirts, and
• tripped around town all dressed the same,
• visited so many sites I am having a hard time remembering what all we did and where all we went.

I have allowed the girls to bring extra money every week on top of their dues and save it so they have a bit of spending money for the Tourist Sleepover.

I usually have the girls dropped off at my house around 9:00 on the Saturday morning, and have pick up around 3:00 on Sunday.

Armed with maps and sunglasses our unit learns a little more about Calgary every year. Now the highlight of the girl’s year is the Tourist weekend. So something that has gone bad a couple of times has turned out great…now for this year???

Leslie Horton
Calgary Area

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