On Friday, September 27th me and my classmates of the Sheridan College Tourism & Travel program went to Brant County for a rafting adventure! Upon arrival we were greeted with life jackets, paddles, and bottles of water so that we could begin the rafting portion of our trip! The Grand River itself is so beautiful, with a backdrop of lush forest that was just beginning to change colour from the fall season. All of the raft leaders with the Grand River Rafting Company were so passionate about what they do, and were so excited to get us in the rafts!
Here is a picture of me in front of the Grand River:
After getting in our raft and beginning to paddle down the river, I was amazed at all of the beauty I was surrounded by. It was hard to believe that this was all practically in my own backyard! We made a couple of stops along the way, the first stop that we made was at a natural spring. One of the raft leaders got out and was filling up water bottles with water coming right off of the hill, and it tasted so pure. The second stop that we made was at an abandoned mine shaft, personally I did not get out to climb the hill because it looked slippery, and sort of dangerous to be honest- but I could see it from the raft and it looked really cool! After looking at the mine, we did a “team building” excersize which was a blindfolded race from one end of the river to the other. My raft was slightly dysfunctional and we came in last place, but it was still a lot of fun.
After about two hours of rafting, we arrived at the Five Oaks property where we had a wonderful lunch prepared by some of our classmates, and had a really interesting performance by some Iroquois people. The Iroquois told us about their culture, their background, and showed us some really cool dancing. For many of their dances they got us up and involved which I thought was really awesome!
As you can see, they wore very colourful, vibrant outfits. I really liked all of the beading on their clothing and footwear.
After the performance we headed up to the bus to head out to the town of Paris, ON. Here we got a small tour of the local shops/cafe’s and got to treat ourselves to some chocolate, ice cream, or coffee if we desired. I went into one of the shops that made ice cream and chocolate in their basement, and got birthday cake ice cream. It was something new for me, and it was delicious!
Overall I had a great time with my classmates and I would definitely recommend this trip for other classes, families, or even couples!
Jennifer's Exotic Spa Experiences 