On the Road with Impact

We've moved!

2007-05-30T16:00:00.000-05:00

Hi everyone!

We have moved the blog to a new location: http://blogs.impacttours.com/ontheroad/ so make sure you change your bookmarks. You can also subscribe to the RSS feed for this blog here!

Thanks and have a great day.

Jason Kucherawy
Blog Administrator
Impact Educational Tours

A Tale of Laser Crossfire

2007-05-29T23:51:00.000-05:00

Welcome world, to another episode of Impact Educational Tours! Today’s show…I mean tour, contains quite the suspense. I will be showing you what Miles and Catherine’s group was up to. After their meal at Tuckers Marketplace, they went on a visit to Parliament Hill’s Centre Block. The tour started with a short meeting with an MP from St. Catharines. His name was Rick Dykstra, and he gave the group a lot of information about Parliament. One of the things we learned was that the East and West Parliament Blocks were connected to the Centre Block through tunnels. Therefore, it would be easier to travel during the cold winters and it would be much safer as well. The students found all this info to be quite useful, especially if they wanted to become the future MPs.

When the meeting was over, they were given the good fortune of taking a closer look at the inside of Parliament. They were shown around with one of the Parliament’s tour guides. She told us the many wonders of this neo-Gothic structured building while guiding us towards the Library. We were ever so lucky to be able to take a photo in the famous Library because usually it’s a thumbs down. One of the students pointed out that the flooring on the higher levels of the library was made of glass. The guide explained that the glass floor’s purpose was because of lighting problems during the night. This building was spectacular and one of the kids said, “This building is amazing! There’s GLASS FLOORS!!” The group was discovering different aspects of Parliament and enjoying the new things that they’ve learned.

This was the moment they were waiting for, the time for LASER QUEST!!! For those at home that don’t know what I’m talking about, it was a game of laser tag. Laser Quest combines the classic games of tag and hide & seek with a high-tech twist…LASERS! The kids were so pumped up and were more than ready to show their friends how tough they were. As you will see in the video, I was in the middle of some crossfire action between the teachers and principal. Everyone was willing to give it their all to come out on top. A member of Laser Quest decided to give the kids a warm up drill to get them prepared for the game. The warm up was a mini-game called “Zap,” which really tested out your reflexes.

Soon the group was truly ready for the big leagues, the real game of laser tag. First, they were given a few rules to abide by in the preparation room. The member of Laser Quest got a few giggles from the kids because of his great sense of humour. The students, teachers and tour guides were all frantically trying to get their gear on to quickly plan out their strategy. The competition was fierce, the inside maze was a mix of laser fire, heart-pounding music, swirling fog and non-stop sound effects from the laser guns. It was 10% luck, 90% skill and 100% fun! There were a total of two games. In the first game, the principal, Dan Trainor, came out in first place. One of the teachers, John Riddell along with another teacher, played again in the second game to try and beat Dan’s awesome score. The second game first place goes to one of the other teachers, Stephanie aka Icer. She got a whopping 1,149 points. You can hear all the, “Whoohoos,” and “Yippees,” as the teachers and students get their, “Report Card.” In other words, they get a little card that tells them the score they received from the game. Miles was very pleased with his impressive 4th place finish. Everyone did a fantastic job at the game, but it was time to go back to the hotel to take a good rest.

Wow! You gotta see the Laser Quest Action in the video above!

Goodnight world!

2007-05-29T20:01:00.000-05:00

Bonjour!
My name is Kyle and I am the Impact Tours 'Ground Rep' in Quebec City. This is my first post from beautiful QC, and I was thinking, what better event to highlight on my maiden post then one of our group's adventures to the L'Erabliere Du Cap Sugar Shack!

Tonight the students began with a wagon ride through the woods, and saw with their very own eyes, where Canada's most famous liquid MAPLE SYRUP comes from!... Afterwards, they headed inside the building where they actually process the maple sap into maple sugar, to get a little lesson. Following lots of talk of maple sugar and sugary foods, they made their way inside to the cabane to wolf down their traditional Quebecois meal, which included... Yes, you guessed it! Loads of maple syrup!

Quickly following their introduction to an 'old time' Quebecois meal, they were whisked off to the dance floor to join "Tour guide Rob" in some good ol' fashioned folk dancing! Rob needed no help getting the students to hit the dance floor, as some of them jumped up even before their desert arrived! To finish off their fantastic night, they returned outside to cool down from all the dancing and yes, once again, had more sugar, when a taffy pull was waiting for them outside! All in all, it was a fantastic night that these students will likely remember for a long time!

à la prochaine!
Kyle

The Hunt For Knowledge

2007-05-28T20:54:00.000-05:00

Bonsoir world! Ahhhh, nothing like a little French to get you prepared for a fun-filled scavenger hunt. It was certainly a busy day because three groups were playing a sort of scavenger hunt inside The Museum of Civilization. The group that Guillaume was leading spoke both French and English, so it was a good chance for me (Vincent) to practice my French skills. It was also nice because it gives me a better connection with the group. Right away, the students were more than happy to have their photos taken. I told one of the students that his parents will be excited to see his face on one of the photos. With that, he replied, “Yeah! My parents will be really happy to see my photo!” Getting their picture taken wasn’t the only opportunity to do something special, they also had the chance to check out the amazing view of the Ottawa River. The kids were overjoyed to be able to have such a grand time at The Museum.

Amanda’s group was looking at the creative way that The Museum was built. Amanda explained that the floor was built to look like the water. Then, the students took a careful look at how it sparkles just like a river. Amanda continued that the ceiling was shaped like a canoe. Again, the kids examined what their tour guide told them. They were pretty surprised that The Museum wasn’t as simple as they thought. Eventually, they began their super cool Scavenger Hunt. Inside the History Hall, they found some answers that they wanted to know, and some answers they didn’t really want see. One of the students was a little frightened by one of the eerie doors that emitted a red glow. However, she had a terrific time playing the game and merrily found her way out of The Hall. Everyone had an exceptional time at The History Hall in The Museum of Civilization.

The third group was listening to an interesting story about a Native Myth, The Raven. The story-teller was none other than, the tour guide, Sarah Calford. It explained about how the world was filled with darkness until Raven brought light into the world. After hearing the tale, the students were glad that the Earth we live in has light. However, they wanted to know more about the story. The kids were curious and raised their hands to get their questions, answered. One of the questions involved the statue, Spirit of Haida Gwaii. This statue symbolized a deep meaning about society, and definitely caught the attention of the students. Another interesting thing to gaze at was the Native houses. Some of them were built strong, while an odd one seemed to not be able to withstand much. However, there was a good reason. It was built to fall apart because the tribe needed to easily move their house according to where the game (food) would move. The kids truly enjoyed the stories and their hunt for more knowledge continued.

Wanna know more about touring? Take a look at the video above.

Au revoir tout le monde!

A Scientific Look At Fun

2007-05-25T14:47:00.000-05:00

Greetings world! The students always have fun, and today was no exception. A lot of them were hyped up to see me (Vincent), The Blogger, in action. As a matter of fact, I was the topic of the week. The kids had fun playing a little, “Where’s Waldo?” For those who don’t know what it was, there were books called, “Where’s Waldo?” In those books, a character named Waldo is camouflaged in several pages and the object is to locate him. During this tour, I became the fun Waldo character of whom the students became very delighted to see.

The highlight of today’s tour was The Canada Science and Technology Museum without a question. The group was so excited about this Museum that they didn’t even want to waste a single second standing. They swiftly marched into the exceedingly stylish exhibit. There was a vast display of stars that you would normally see in the sky. This place was very magical for the kids and they decided to take some photos as a keepsake of their travels in Ottawa. You can sense that the group was having an awesome time checking out all the cool gadgets in the wide-variety of displays.

The students wanted to go to the gift shop inside the museum to take a peak at some more scientific fun. Amongst the strange and bizarre items in the store, there was a particularly unusual set of Space Food. Frankly, the tour guide, Teddi, was flabbergasted at the fact that they would have Freeze-Dried Ice Cream Sandwiches. The sales clerk had comments along the lines of interesting taste for the Freeze-Dried Ice Cream. Of course to the clerk, this type of treat a.k.a. Astronaut Ice Cream is ubiquitous in science museum gift shops and really amusing for the students to see. A few of the kids were using their brain power and decided to take on “The Rush Hour Challenge.” No, this isn’t the movie with Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker. It doesn’t have anything related to that movie at all, but it WAS related to something similar to an I.Q. Quiz. While some of them had fun trying out new things, the rest wanted a piece of the trip to take home. In fact, one of the students bought an eye-catching toy from the shop. The student showed it to Mrs. H., and she said, “That is so cute!” As most of the kids were a bit tired from all the excitement, they left the Museum to prepare to go home.

You can see the fun at The Canada Science and Technology Museum in the above video.

Have a great weekend world!

Lights, Camera, Animation!

2007-05-24T19:47:00.000-05:00

Howdy world! The tour guide, Antonella, and her group, began today’s tour at the Arts Court Building. This building features a place called Club SAW. SAW Video is an artist-run-centre committed to support ground breaking artistic production, and programming of independent video and media art. The students walked into Club SAW, and a few were a bit startled by an intricate piece of artwork. It glared at you with many eyes and part of it was built with Styrofoam cups. The artwork was called American Dream. When the group made it downstairs, they bumped into some more artwork. This time the artwork was made out of small-thin sticks. However, these sticks formed an entire patio set, which was pretty amazing to see. It clearly made the students want to know more about this animation workshop. The workshop revealed the sophistication behind animating that you won’t see else where. The speaker was Andre Coutu, The Technical Director for Ottawa’s International Animation Festival. He explained that in one of the Claymation films, it used a special tool called the “Motion Control Rig” to make Claymation easier to film. Some of the students were interested in this nifty way of filming animation. A lot of the short films that Andre played for us were quite entertaining. The group enjoyed the mix of 3D, sketch, cartoon, and Claymation. Andre gave the students and teachers a good learning experience.

The tour group that Justin and Kristin lead, went into an artistic voyage of their own. The students walked into the National Gallery of Canada, where all pieces of art were original. The Gallery’s guide, Thomas, directed them to part of a lobby where he told them to look up at the ceiling. The kids were mesmerized, and one of the students said, “So cool!”

Thomas guided them to a painting called Mercury and Argus. This 1836 work of art had a strong narrative content to it, which made the kids really put their thinking caps on. One of them even contemplated if the light in the painting meant the end of life. The students were certainly deep thinkers. They had fun trying to decipher what the artist, J.M.W. Turner, was trying to say. The fun didn’t stop there, they were able to see many other interesting pieces of art. They also enjoyed learning that doctors wear light green for a specific reason. This was a worthwhile visit to The Gallery.

After the visit to The National Gallery, they were lucky to be able to go outside and catch a few rays. It was nice and sunny out there, so why not take a little walk behind The Gallery. At the back, there was a nice-scenic view of downtown Ottawa. The tour guides let them play a mini-game where they try to point out the places they’ve visited during the tour. During the game, one student pointed in one-direction, while the other pointed in the opposite way. They all laughed and had tons of fun.

Wanna check out the action? Click above to see the events during today's tour.

See you around world!

Excitement Is In The Air

2007-05-23T18:37:00.001-05:00

Hey world! The tour actually began in the city of Kingston, "where history and innovation thrive." One of the teachers, Miss Cerra, said that the kids were extra brave when it comes to things like “A Haunted Walk of Kingston.” They were as brave as the 19th century soldiers at Fort Henry. As a matter of fact, Fort Henry was one of their first visits during yesterday’s tour. It was a very cool place to visit and it captured the interest of the students’ inquiring minds. After the tour of Fort Henry, they took on a 50-minute exploration aboard the Confederation Tour Trolly. This was where they could get a good understanding and superb view of Kingston.

Today, they finally hit Ottawa and paid a visit to the Museum of Civilization. You can actually feel the excitement in the air as the students stepped into the museum. First off, they were given the opportunity to hear a story about the Native past. The tour guide, Ruth, fired some questions about the totems for the students to really think about. The kids shot back with some smart answers as they were a smart group. Don’t worry, it wasn’t really a battlefield out there - everyone was well behaved. They DID have lots of fun learning about Canadian History with their guide Ruth. In fact, they even had time to do a little investigation on their own.

Later, they went to the Canada History Hall where they delved deeper into the past. The Hall had a “A Journey Through Time” theme. This journey gave the students another opportunity to understand the many diverse traditions in Canadian culture. In addition, Ruth handed out some activity sheets so that the students could focus their learning. The kids had a marvellous time trying to figure out the answers for the activity. They searched high and low, but some of them were stumped. One of the students laughingly said, “This is hard!”, but they all had a great time at the museum.

A new vid for a new day, take a look at the video above.

That’s all for now world!

Sunny Days With A Bright Adventure Ahead

2007-05-22T21:37:00.001-05:00

Today’s forecast for the world of Impact Tours……lots of fun and a bright adventure ahead. If the sunshine can’t cheer you up, what can? It certainly boosted the students’ spirits. As one of the students was saying how nice it was outside, the others were looking around the unfamiliar Parliament Buildings. Some of the kids enjoyed taking photos of the beautiful Parliament grounds with their friends. They were wide-awake and ready to check out the humongous Parliament Hill Centre Block.

After their visit inside the Centre Block, they came back out already whipping out their cameras for more snapshot action. While everyone was busy, the tour guide, Catherine, explained to me the few surprises she encountered while going on tour. One of the surprises was that the students had such an extraordinary fascination towards the huge spider right outside The National Gallery of Canada. This grand sculpture was something the kids were dying to see because they’ve heard so much about it. The spider sculpture is called "Maman".

When they were ready, they took a brisk walk towards the Supreme Court. This was where they would be given an insight into the Supreme Court of Canada’s important role.

When they finished their meal at Tucker’s Marketplace, it was finally time to go bowling. This was a place they’ve been anxious to visit. It wasn’t just a place to visit in fact it was a place to “Rock & Bowl!” This fun filled family place was called Walkley Bowling Centre. There were cosmic lights along with some trendy music to make this evening an unforgettable one for the students. Also, the students had very creative skills and instead of writing their real names on the score board, they decided to come up with names from Flintstones or Reindeers or Star Wars. Many names came up including: Luke SkyWalker, Darth Vader, Dasher, Dancer and Vixen. These were great times to see them smile, dance and bowl. In the bowling centre, the school's principal, Brian Lavell said the kids were having the time of their lives. As we were talking, all you could see were the students singing to the lyrics of “Walking On Sunshine.” It was obviously a day completely full of sunshine.

I hope you guys will have fun watching the above video.

Enjoy the sunny days world!

Excitement At The War Museum and Fun In Rideau

2007-05-18T18:07:00.001-05:00

The Group that Miles was taking care of finally checked out of their accommodations. Then, it was off to The Canadian War Museum. They were right on schedule, and the teachers were impressed with the tour’s time management. The gang entered the doors of true Canadian patriotism and met with a museum guide who gave us some info about how war changed the roles of both men and women in society. The students patiently listened to the creative style of the story-teller. At the end of the tale, the teachers had some fun of their own. They tried to lift those heavy tools and historic weaponry. The tour marched into a series of displays that reflect the history and many aspects of war. One of the many wicked things that the students had a chance to glance at, were the enormous war vehicles. As you can see, the students wanted some photos of a tank to take home.

It was finally good to sit down and relax. That was probably just one of various things on the kids’ hungry minds. There was a pizza party following the excitement at The Canadian War Museum. Boy, they honestly loved their pizza. This was their last meal in Ottawa, but who knows? Maybe they’ll want to come back again next summer.

Something smells funny…that’s how one of the students described the RCMP Stables with a chuckle. Another student’s eyes lit-up as he was eager to explain how terrific it was to see the horses. It was something they were not used to seeing, and it gave them a thrill. The kids also mentioned some interesting anecdotes involving Eli. It seemed that our tour guide's adventures gave the students a few funny tidbits to take home.

At the next stop, they went to the Rideau Hall. This is where every Governor General has worked and lived since Confederation in 1867. The kids enjoyed the tour of the grounds, and gained valuable knowledge. The students learned that they love going to sites like this, and that they enjoy touring. Traveling is certainly their thing, and education is their friend.

Their final destination in Ottawa was the Rideau Centre. This is a three-level shopping centre with a great history. The students were given a chance to explore Rideau’s astounding 180 stores! They were filled with zest, as they searched out the coolest clothes and other amazing items as seen in the photos. Some of them even showed me the neat little things they bought for their parents. Awww…how sweet. While on the topic of sweet, they’re actually going to Hershey’s Chocolate Factory. Before they go, I asked for their comments on how sweet it is. In their answers, they demonstrated that they were absolutely revved up to tour there.

Check out the video, which includes a neat little guessing game.

See you next week, world!

Artistic Exploration and A Glimpse of the PM

2007-05-17T21:50:00.001-05:00

Alright world here we ARE!!! Today, one group decided to look at 1,000 words. An essay you ask? Nope, they were actually looking at art in The National Gallery of Canada. After all, a picture IS worth a 1,000 words. The adventure began with a little game the tour guide, Miles, prepared for the group right outside the Gallery (it will be featured in a section of the video below). All the kids had a blast, and not even a “Giant Spider” (a sculpture called "Maman"), could scare their cheerfulness away. Take a look at the happy student and teachers at the front of The National Gallery in the featured photo.

After they assembled into mini-groups, they entered the transparent Gallery. Unfortunately, most of its sections did not permit the use of cameras. However, I got a real treat for you because the Gallery’s Guide gave me a thumps up when I wanted to take a photo of one of the fine works of art. In the above photo, it was nice to find some students and a painting that was not camera shy. This particular piece was an example of "more than meets the eye". The gallery tour guide asked a show of hands for the students that didn’t see the parrot that was slightly camouflaged. It was a bit of a shock that nearly all the students put up their hand. The kids looked at each other with a surprised expression, but to our gallery guide, it was no surprise at all. As he grinned, he showed the group an assortment of art displays. Each work had a distinctive style, which intrigued the young minds of the group. Soon enough it was time to move on to other exciting places.

The second group had visited, "The Heart of Ottawa," the By Ward Market. The students were eager to investigate the variety of trinkets and other souvenirs there. One of the students was having a spectacular time. He said that he had really liked the Library inside Parliament a lot because of its special design. He wasn’t the only one having a good time - some of the kids had a chance to ride a rickshaw as shown in the above picture.

It was soon time for their chance to meet a local Member of Parliament. As the group had extra time, they were given a fun activity to do on the Parliament grounds. The students and tour guides were so busy with their task, they weren’t aware of the three black cars that arrived at the side of Parliament. Suddenly, a student calls out, “Three Black Cars,” “Prime Minister,” “Stephen Harper!” The kids were breathless. It was a chance of a lifetime to actually get this close to the Prime Minister of Canada. We were all so lucky to have been at the right spot at the right time. In fact, you can see in the photo a good shot of him with his thumps up. You should have seen our tour guide, Eli, ever so animated with his arms way up in the air, jumping up and down and so full of enthusiasm! This was a moment that none of the students would forget. Some of the students laughed at Eli’s performance, as he was a little over-excited.

It was finally time to meet the MP, but we had to go through a security check. Security was tight but that’s actually a good thing. In the safety of the Parliament walls, we were directed through a labyrinth of doors and stairs. The group finally stopped at an elegant room. Right when you enter the room a giant mirror is facing you. In the middle of the room was a long table, suitable for government business meetings.

In a matter of minutes, the group's MP, Mr. Navdeep Bains, entered the room. He talked about his career and topics relating to his job. During his speech, he gave us a little guessing game. The students tried to guess his age. After a few wrong guesses, he told us that he was just 28. Everyone stared in amazement and the teachers said, “No way!” He was actually the youngest MP. Although he was young, he had great wisdom to share with us. The teachers, guides and students learned a lot and had fun on this incredible day.

Above is a video where some of the teachers and tour guides talk about the tour.

See ya later world!

Laughs and Learning Despite Gloomy Weather

2007-05-16T20:48:00.000-05:00

Hello World! Above were photos of the first group having an A+ time in the Canadian Museum of Civilization and outside Parliament where our tour guide thought he was a tower. Yikes! What an amazing day of activities. The sky may have been gloomy, but these kids were full of joy. Why? Because they were touring with Impact Educational Tours.

The kids were shown the great history of Canada in the Museum of Civilization. The story came alive when our Tour Guide told the tale with such passion. The students even had a chance to act out some of the fun stories and legends from the past. It became even more interesting when there was a reference to a comic book supervillain. The students were completely silent because they wanted to know more about these super facts.

Later today, they visited Parliament Hill. The tour guide did a fantastic job of re-enacting the history of how the Library was saved. At the same time, the students had fun participating in that skit. Who said education couldn’t be fun? The group had lots of laughs as they traveled, learned and experienced something beyond any classroom.

The pictures above were from the second group. They feature the tour guide trying to shrink down a little because he is a bit tall, and some kids learning something just as unique as the first group. First of all, they had a boat cruise. As our tour guides joyfully explained the boat cruise was a bit chilly, but it was soooo much fun. It was definitely a great experience, and created some excitement about the tour.

After the boat cruise, they soon arrived at an astonishing museum. It was dazzling both inside and outside, it was built into a beautiful and specific shape. Inside, the second pair of tour guides was showing off their extraordinary ways of revealing the tale. The kids loved it so much that they huddled closer to carefully listen to the story. Following the story, they had time to go exploring in the vast, native structures. The students enjoyed it a lot, but it was finally time to venture into the Canada History Hall. As soon as they entered the doors to a different time, all you could hear from the kids were, “Gasp,” and “Wow.” They had entered into a world of fun and education as they walked through re-created scenes from Canadian history. As they were busy with their exploration, one of the teachers told me that he had previous experience with Impact, and made nice comments about the friendly staff. It was a wonderful day for students, teachers and tour guides.

Above is the video I put together from today's exciting events.

Have a nice day world!

V.C. the Blogger/Photographer

2007-05-12T10:02:00.000-05:00

Good morning world! Here's a little intro about myself, enjoy ;)

WELCOME!

2007-05-04T13:54:00.000-05:00

Jason (Toronto Office)

I'd like to introduce you, our readers, to this exciting new way to keep up with what's happening with our tours in Canada this year. We have a dedicated rep in Ottawa who will be helping our destination staff keep up with all of the tour groups there. It's going to be an exciting season, and we look forward to sharing our travels with you!

From time to time you'll be hearing from our other staff in Montreal, Quebec City, and perhaps further afield as they report on the amazing experiences our groups are having as they travel, learn, and experience on an Impact tour!