About
Canada!
"A Mystery Ramble is a trip planned for the young people with all destinations unknown to the youthful travelers. Cloaked in secrecy, planning began behind closed doors in January. A careful attempt was made to have a balance between spiritual, educational, cultural, and recreational activities for the eight- day adventure." - Marti Mumford
The Trip
Read the original article in the newspaper, or click on the word document if you find the print to small. Many thanks to Marti Mumford for the article and the write up, and it was invaluable in piecing together the trip after all these years.
View the trip on Google Maps
Newspaper
Word Document
Thoughts and Memories
- It truly was a different place and time when a church youth group trip could get a write up in the local newspaper.
- Watkins Glenn was such an incredible location that I would drag my wife there 15 years later to see it again.
- We stopped for lunch at fast food almost every day and nobody thought twice about it. Hardee's had just came out with their mushroom and Swiss burger, and I had one every day for a week.
- I remember standing on the shore of the camp at dusk and seeing this strange cloud in the distance that looked like it was getting closer by the minute. When the mosquitos hit I realized it was not a cloud. There should never be enough mosquitos in a group to mistake them for a cloud.
- I remember that right before we crossed into Canada, Marti gave us a speech about making sure that we "didn't look like tourists" so we would't get taken advantage of, and at the same second Tommy was outside the bus taking a picture of a passing train.
- It was the first time I got to talk to Jamie for any length of time. Through a quirk of fate neither George, Brent, or my Brother Mark was able to go, leaving Jamie as the only Senior on the trip. On more than a couple of occasions he had to lead the "youngins".
- Amy being a great sport when I said "I need more action in this picture, point at something!"
- The laser light show at Watkins Glenn closed in 2003
Images
The astute of you will notice that the pictures of Watkins Glen and Niagara Falls are a little to good to be from the trip and you are correct. Back in 2000 one of the first trips Louise and I took was to New York for a wedding and I remembered enjoying both of these places so much we made a week long road trip out of it. What is scary is that I had pictures from the same spot on both trips without even realizing it. I figure the rocks and water have not changed all that much in 15 so I included the nicer pictures. And then I said what the heck and searched the web for anything else I could find.
1: Parking Lot of GSUMC
2: Louis Foxwell Memorial Community for the Deaf
3-4: Blair Music Center at Lebanon Valley College in PA
5-7: Watkins Glenn State Park
9-16: Camp Quin-Mo-Lac, Ontario, Canada
17-24: Niagara Falls Canada
25: The Kennywood Amusement Park, the Jack Rabbit
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