CIT Trip to Prince Edward Island

As you already know, July 25th was Visitors’ Day at Camp Kadimah. Even though it was rainy, it was wonderful day at camp! Like in all other years prior, the camp-wide talent show was held that very night. At the end of the program, a twenty piece band came rushing onto the stage, playing the Camp Kadimah Maccabia (4 day colour war) song, thus signifying that the next four days would be Maccabia! What did this incredible news mean for the CIT’s? Well…it meant that we would be going on the annual CIT trip, which this year took place in Prince Edward Island! I will begin this piece by saying quite boldly, that this was the most amazing CIT trip ever to have been gone on in the history of Camp Kadimah!

So after the news was broken, the CIT’s packed up their gear and called it an early night. We woke up at 5:30AM, and ate breakfast at camp. We then boarded our bus, and drove all the way to Shubenacadie, Nova Scotia, to raft the great tidal bore, which is the biggest tidal bore in North America! The ride was wildly fun, and the view throughout was breathtakingly beautiful. After the waves calmed down, we rafted into the mud-sliding area, where we rolled around in slippery mud, and went down natural mud slides straight into the water. Soaked and dirty, we rode our rafts back to the start, showered, and had a delicious barbeque on a veranda that overlooked the scenery. We then got back onto the bus, and drove all the way to Summerside, Prince Edward Island. We ate dinner at Pizza Delight, which everybody agreed was delicious. After dinner we went straight to Crystal Beach Camp Grounds, we set up our tents, enjoyed a bonfire, and retired for the evening.

The next morning began at 6:00AM. We took down our tents, and headed to Tim Horton’s for breakfast. This was particularly awesome because half of our group is Israeli, and had not experienced the coffee that unifies our beautiful country. After breakfast, we played paintball. We all enjoyed looking like Power Rangers and playing with the paintball guns! After paintball, we ate lunch at a restaurant called “Chez Yvonne’s”, and once again, we were all more than pleased. Our next stop was the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not museum. There, we looked at various strange artifacts and tricks that people can do. Some things were incredibly fascinating. After the museum, we drove to the Cow’s Ice Cream Factory. Cow’s Ice Cream is a small Canadian ice cream chain that has its roots in PEI, and was rated Canada’s best ice cream by Reader’s Digest. During the factory tour, we wore special ice cream hats, and learned about the history of the company, and how they make their world-famous ice cream, t-shirts, and now cheese. We were given delicious samples of “Wowie Cowie” ice cream (their most popular ice cream flavour), PEI chips (chocolate covered potato chips—amazing), and extra old cheddar cheese. After the tour we ate delicious ice cream, and enjoyed the sunshine. It was the perfect day for ice cream.

Our next stop was at the pier. We went PARASAILING! It was absolutely amazing. Either one or two people can go at a time, and each person is harnessed to the parachute, which is attached to the boat. The boat drives, and all of a sudden, you find yourself 400-500 feet above the water, looking down at the sunlight hitting the sparkling water, and the entire pier. It was absolutely gorgeous. Dinner was at “The Sandbox”, and as usual, we were happy with the food and with the service. That night we stayed a gorgeous family-run hotel called “Inn at the Pier”, watched the sunset, and relaxed after a long day of activities.


The next morning we slept in until about 9AM, and had breakfast at the hotel. We then stopped at Atlantic Superstore to stock up on groceries for the day. We arrived at Brackley Beach Camp Grounds, to find one of the most beautiful green, large campsites that we had ever seen. Simply stunning. There, we cooked tuna melts for lunch, and then headed to the beach for the day. Something special about Brackley Beach is that there is red sand, which we felt was pretty unique. There, we soaked up the sun, swam, built sandcastles. We went back to the camp ground, and started to cook dinner, which was Asian rice noodle stir fry. It was so tasty. Other eventful things that happened there were semi-frequent visits from a fox, which we were told would not harm us as long as we didn’t feed it (SO, OF COURSE WE DIDN’T!!!....and everything was okay). Again we had a bonfire.

The next morning we took down the tents, ate breakfast at a cute diner called “Millstream Restaurant”, and headed to the big city, Charlottetown. We spent the morning walking around the downtown core, and visiting shops. Our afternoon was a tour of Charlottetown Bay on a boat called the “Fairview”. It was interesting, informative, and scenic, as is everything in PEI. After the tour we checked in to University of PEI dorm rooms, and headed to the Palter family’s home for dinner with them and with other members of the Jewish community in PEI. They were such wonderful hosts, and we enjoyed meeting and mingling with them and their friends. We felt very welcome, and are so grateful for their wonderful hospitality. After dinner we saw the famous “Anne of Green Gables” at the Confederation Centre of the Arts. It was such a nice evening, and the play was so funny. Finally, we arrived back at University of PEI, and called it a night.

The next morning, we woke up, and took the ferry back to land, and then drove all the way to Peggy’s Cove, Nova Scotia. We ate a delicious lunch there, and looked around the site at the astonishing rock formations and at the lighthouse. Everything was so beautiful. Finally, we bored the bus for the last time, and headed back to camp.

After five phenomenal days together in PEI, we all agree that we are closer than ever, and that everything about this trip was out of this world fantastic. I can say with confidence that a trip like this from Camp Kadimah was totally unprecedented, and that it will go down in Kadimah history as the best CIT trip to date!

Regards,

Karen Ben-Israel
CIT Director