They are beautiful and radiant. They are victorious. Their eyes are full of life. Their hearts overflow with hope and tenacity. They are about to go through an uncommon experience. Such are the nine youths who will navigate the River Mistassini with the Tip of the Toes Foundation during the coming days.
Our first adventurer is Adam. Just in from Calgary, Sunday night, he spent the night at the Youth Hostel of Montreal with Héléna and J-François, respectively Director of Operations and Operations Assistant of the Foundation. The next day, it’s Jennifer and Cory from Nova-Scotia, and Taryn from Ontario. They join Catherine L., Catherine G., Vanessa and Marie-Claude at Westmount Park, on Monday morning. Our last adventurer, Sarah, from the Saguenay, goes directly to Mistassini River. After some goodbyes, the bus leaves for the l-o-n-g trip to the North of the Lac-St-Jean area.
The 8 hour voyage is marked with many appropriate stops (…) but mostly by exchanges, laughter and ham sandwiches. There was also a petty theft: JF and Héléna maliciously confiscate watches, MP3 Players, Game Boys, and other electronic devices for the duration of the expedition. If the majority gamely comply with the request, there are some who try to dissimulate their electronic toys in their luggage…
Nothing like a REAL and delicious tourtière du Lac to mark our arrival! The Domaine’s friendly hosts, Alain and Céline - AKA as Great Lynx and Swallow – are waiting for us with open arms. The tents will be for later. In the meantime, we will stay in attractive and comfortable log cabins. Rooms are assigned and friendships are already developing.
The campfire and the evening are slowly coming to an end as Adam introduced the group to his favourite card game, Crazy 8. While this is going on, Mario and I fight off the mosquitoes as we try to coax Katherine (with a K), our generator, into starting… At this writing, the generator leads 1 to 0.
Photographs of Mistassini 2008 and other photos of the On the Tip of the Toes Foundation are available at the following URL:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pointedespieds
