In the summer of 2006 my Pathfinder Unit went to Toronto . Four Girls were accompanied by three leaders.

We had been doing many fundraisers building up to the trip. We did barbecues and car washes; we served and did many other things. It was a lot of work but in the end it was worth it.

We left for Vancouver on Tuesday August 15th and flew out that night to Toronto . It was hard sleeping on the plane because we were all excited. When we landed in Toronto it was around eight o'clock in the morning because of the three hour time difference. So without any sleep we started our day. We first went to the dorm rooms we were staying in (Neil Wyck) to drop our stuff off before we started out.

The first attraction we went to see was Casa Loma, which is a HUGE castle with many floors and tons of rooms. This was where our first Chief Commissioner lived. We went to every room and went to the highest tower. It was a lot of walking but really cool to see. That was mostly it for the day but about three blocks from where we were staying was the Eaton Centre. One of the biggest malls ever! And most of it was underground. Just across from the Eaton Centre they were having the International AIDS Convention. They had fashion shows, magicians, music and were selling shirts, pins, hats and many other things. Over 24000 people from all over the world arrived to participate in the convention, including Bill Gates, the Prime Minister and Bill Clinton!

The Second day we went on a harbour cruise on Lake Ontario on a little red boat called the 'Show Boat.' After the cruise we went shopping, and met our new tour guide. She took us around to all the cultural towns like Greek town, Cabbagetown and Little Korea. We rode on the subway for the first time. On Thursday the 17th (day 3) we did the "Hop on Hop Off" bus tour of Toronto . Our tour guide took us to the St. Lawrence market and then to Korea town, where we all tried a new type of Korean food. We then walked through Annex and to Yorkville (where all the rich and famous people hang out.) After that we went to Much Music! We got to stand outside with a huge crowd of people and watch them film a show called Much On Demand.

August 18 - Day 5
Today was a long day. We got up at 5am this morning to get ready to leave at 6:45 for Niagara Falls . We rode a subway train to the train station where we boarded the train to go to Niagara Falls. The train was definitely awesome. It was very nice and very comfortable so I slept most of the way there, as did most of us. When we finally arrived we were ready to get on with the fun planned day. We grabbed two taxi cabs and rode up to where the falls were. As soon as we took one look around we knew we were going to have an amazing day. The falls were very beautiful. We walked around taking pictures for a while before we got in line to walk behind the falls. Man, was that cool . . . even being just so close beside it was sweet - even though we got extremely wet! After we had finished taking the walk behind the falls we decided it was time to take a ride on the Maid of the Mist! That was exciting and, well, very, very wet! When that was finished we walked along the boardwalk and took a ride on the Aero Car to New York . The last place we visited was the Butterfly Conservatory, which was great. There were so many different butterflies and we actually got pictures with a few of them sitting on our shoulders. After some shopping and silly photos it was time to take the train back to Toronto . You would have thought we would have slept all the way back but, nope, not us. We were way too wound up and practically died laughing we were having so much fun. We were so wound up on the train that as soon as we were back at the Neil Wyck dorm it looked like we had all just died.

August 19 - Day 6
This morning we got to sleep in since we had such a long day yesterday. We ate a great breakfast of french toast and then, since we had nothing really planned, we decided it would be a shopping day. Before we went shopping we went to the Hockey Hall of Fame. It was cool walking around looking at all this hockey stuff, especially when we found some Smoke Eater things. We took pictures with the Stanley Cup, which was really, really cool and visited the gift shop where I bought some things plus got a sweet picture with a huge bobble head of a Calgary Flames player. As soon as we were hockeyed out we headed through Eaton Centre Mall to find some of our favourite shops. Let's just say the day was filled with shopping . . . that is until we were practically broke. Finally it was supper time and we got to go to Red Lobster, which was pretty good. When we got home that night we didn't do too much - mostly sat and talked before we all fell asleep.

August 20 - Day 7
Woke up at 7:30am this morning. Breakfast was eggs again. At 9:30 we left the dorms to meet our tour guide and then rode the subway and the street car to the CNE/Ontario Place . It was so awesome at the CNE! We went on all the rides first, which was definitely the best part. One of our Guiders had some good laughs about us, too. After we were done and had eaten lunch, we went into some of the different buildings. First was an animal one where we saw many horses, cows and other farm animals. Then we walked all over Ontario Place . There wasn't much there and it was too cold to go in the water park so instead of doing anything there we just ate dinner and decided it was time to leave. We jumped on the streetcar and headed home to the dorm where I fell asleep as soon as I lay down.

August 21 - Day 8
Woke up again around 7:30am and breakfast was the same. We had to get ready fast because we left the dorm at 9:15am for the CN Tower. We took the subway (which I still hadn't got murdered on - one of my fears in Toronto ) and a streetcar to a stop near the tower. Finally getting really up close to it kind of made us think we were crazy for wanting to go up there but forcing down out fears we started up to the first observation deck. The elevator only took like 60 seconds to get all the way there, which was pretty cool. It was cool being up there, too, you could see like everything. Then of course we had to stand on the glass floor but guess who couldn't do it . . . . IT WAS ME! I couldn't believe I was so nervous about it, but after awhile I conquered my fear and stood on that darn floor. We also went and stood in the 360 degree rotating restaurant, which made me feel a little dizzy. After we were done looking around on the first observation deck we decided it was time to go up to the ski pod which is 147 stories up. That was definitely amazing. We could see everything from up there and were able to pick out all the places we had gone to over the week. When we were done we headed back down to the ground. We went to the CBC building and walked around inside. We talked to teenagers in line for the Canadian Idol that was taping that night. They were making some pretty cool signs for the contestants. Was kinda sad we couldn't stay with them but we had many things planned. We took the subway back to Eaton Centre and then headed over to MuchMusic for the second time during the week. We watched Much on Demand again but this time was cooler because we got to meet Teddy Geiger and get our pictures taken with him and my favourite VJ Matte Babel. As soon as we got our much needed autographs and pictures at the end of the show we headed over to the Rogers Centre. I swear, at this moment I was the most excited I had been all week . . . I was going to watch a Toronto Blue Jays game in their home stadium! The game was awesome and so much fun, even though the Jays lost 12 - 10. We had a good laugh, too, at some of the other fans around us. The game was just great. I also got the baseball I bought signed by Jay's player Davis Romaro. We took the streetcar back to the dorm where we packed up.

August 22 - Day 9
The next day we left and took the plane back to Vancouver, which wasn't as scary as going there. I was very upset about leaving, but at the same time, I was glad to go home. My experience in Toronto was especially great because it was with my Pathfinder unit. I can't wait until I can do it again!