GOALS 2009

On July 19, 2009 forty-four Santa Gertrudis enthusiast embarked on an unforgettable journey to Boston, MA to experience GOALS 2009. After a long day in Logan’s airport anxiously waiting to greet numerous incoming flights, all juniors and chaperones were finally safely deplaned and accounted for.

We began our first excursion into downtown Boston with dinner at the oldest running restaurant in the United States, the Union Oyster House. Here we were also treated to a brief but entertaining session of social etiquette. Following dinner we made our way north of Boston to get settled into our hotel and learn just who would be our newest roommates for this 5 day, 4 night adventure.

Bright and early Monday morning we gathered for our opening GOALS leadership session. And what a bright morning it turned out to be… we met the most amazing man, Mr. Rhett Laubach. Our leadership facilitator, “Retro,” as we soon fondly named him, was full of energy and his enthusiasm for life contagious. Following this session, pumped up and looking great in our matching GOALS t-shirts, we loaded up in our private motor coach and headed out to see Boston. First stop Faneuil Hall and Quincy Market. Known as the “Cradle of Liberty,” Faneuil Hall hosted many revolutionary meetings in its time. Neighboring Quincy Market, built in the early 1800’s, once housed Boston’s wholesale food distribution—but today it was our place for lunch.

Next we enjoyed a walking and driving tour of many sights within the famous “Freedom Trail.” We got a glimpse of the Bunker Hill Monument, honoring the famous battle that helped turn the tide of the American Revolution; when we stopped for our first group photo at the resting spot of the USS Constitution. With restoration efforts in progress, we instead posed against the beautiful Boston skyline. Continuing on our drive, we saw the Boston Commons, forty-four acres in the heart of the city that has never been built upon. This green space is America’s oldest public park and was once a common grazing yard for cattle.

Brakes on the Freedom Trail and fast forward to the highlight of the day. Yes, the biggest hit with our crowd came as we slid into the road leading to Fenway Park, home of the Boston Red Sox and the big Green Monster. We enjoyed a behind the scenes look at America’s most legendary ballpark and even sat in some of the best seats in the house! We truly have a large group of baseball fanatics within our junior association.

Back on the coach and continuing our Freedom Trail journey, nestled on the north side of Boston in between many buildings we found Paul Revere’s very tiny house. Close by we visited the Old North Church. It was here prior to his midnight ride that Revere ordered the sexton to hand lanterns in the belfry, “one if by land, two if by sea” to indicate the approach of the British troops. By now, a brief detour was in order to satisfy our sweet tooth, thus we headed over to Mike’s Pastries (world known Italian bakery) for a delicious cannoli.

As if we were not having enough fun, it was decided that no trip to Boston would be complete without a ride on the subway, aka “the T.” Thus all 44 of us ventured on down the street to descend into the unknown and began our journey over to dinner. This proved to be exciting and a little scary as we all were loudly encouraged over the roar of the trains to, “jump on board the next train to Harvard.” We all made it safely on and off “the T” and arrived at our destination without losing anyone! Dinner was a fun Mongolian style dining experience~ Fire and Ice in Cambridge. Much to our delight we happened upon a uniquely talented fellow that entertained our group with his musical hip hop rendition complete with amazing sound effects- all performed solo sans the instruments! Following dinner we strolled over to Harvard. Established in 1636, it is the oldest institute of learning in America and includes as alumni, seven presidents of the United States. Boy did we feel smart!

Now that we were all in an astute frame of mind, we returned back to our hotel for our second leadership session with “Retro”. One would have thought that we should all be exhausted at this point, but stepping into this session– the enthusiasm and excitement level was sky high and contagious! It is awesome to be a leader!

Tuesday morning was round three of our leadership seminars. Once again “Retro” mesmerized us all with his uncanny humor and ability to make us want to “work together” to accomplish common goals, all the while encouraging the understanding and appreciation for the uniqueness each individual brings to the table. Following our morning session, we ventured out into the rain for a quick lunch at Brother’s Deli and a game of Survivor. In this customized teambuilding endeavor where “fortunately” no team was voted off, we slipped and slided our way through an old fashion tug of war game, beverage relay, human lock race, human tic tac toe; plank walking and finally we crossed a toxic river. This teambuilding experience proved to be a true test of surviving skills as we played hard in the pouring rain and ever dropping temperatures! After it was all said and done, the champion team declared that it was a huge success!
Following an unplanned trip back to the hotel to dry off, we dashed back to Salem to pay homage to the people who lost their lives in the Witch Trials of 1692. We took in a live performance at the Witch’s Cottage ~ “Something Wicked This Way Comes”. Some of our more precocious juniors demonstrated some interesting examples of disciplines of the past as well as their extreme fear of the dark. We finished up this evening back at the hotel with our own NJSGA style pizza, pool and game party.

Wednesday began a little differently as we sailed off into the crisp, foggy, wild blue yonder… only it was a little grey. The weather was not cooperating so we were making some minor adjustments to ward off the deluge of rain. We set sail early on the 65-foot Schooner Lannon and for a leisurely cruise around the Gloucester harbor. On deck, our captain told fishing tales of long ago, indulged many a junior with the task of raising the sails, and set off the cannon to warn those around that we were coming. For those that chose to go below the deck, the captain had even more interesting stories- those stories are yours for the asking. Once safely back on dry land, we loaded up and enjoyed a back roads drive stopping once again along the Gloucester harbor in front of a waterfront plaque memorializing local fisherman, and then on to another picturesque stop along the great Atlantic Ocean. Here we watched in disbelief as kids in bathing suits were actually in the water swimming in the ocean as if the 60 degree weather did not faze them in the least! Our smart group stayed mostly out of the water, choosing instead to pose for some absolutely gorgeous photos.

Back on the motor coach we headed for the seaside town of Rockport where we enjoyed lunch on our own and free time for some souvenir shopping. Next it was on to our agri-business adventure hosted by Green Meadows Farm. This farm was originally owned by General George Patton and is still owned by his descendant, George Patton IV, today. Currently the farm is operated as a Community Supported Agriculture program – producing numerous crops as well as free range poultry, sheep and pasture pigs.

This outing proved to us all that we are very much in the know about agriculture. Although the concept was new to most of us, our juniors were able to instruct the teacher on many issues- trust me, you would have been proud! It was an interesting adventure.
From here we traveled to the fishing community of Essex where the Schooner Lannon that we were on earlier was built. While waiting to devour our very own Lobster, we enjoyed the area and even took turns holding and snapping photos of some very unfortunate lobsters. Soon it was dinner time. A short lesson on how to eat a lobster and we were at the table practicing our newly learned skill. After dinner a pick up game of baseball began to take place on the inlet. Once again our juniors proved very resourceful as they found an old piece of wood lying around and a stray plastic ball- the perfect tools needed to rally the team. Wrapping up our evening was one of our own, Mr. Trevor Thompson sharing some heartfelt and encouraging words with us all.

Once back at the hotel, we met for our final wrap up session and began the important process of giving thanks to the many, many people that had made this retreat possible. Try as we may, simple words can not convey the true appreciation that each participant has for the gift of this opportunity. The opportunity to make new friends, relish good times with old friends, and learn to work together effectively for the common good- are but a few of the gifts we all received.

Thursday morning is but a blur, the good times coming to a close as we all rushed to load our bags and make way for Logan International Airport. Airport goodbyes were quick and emotional as we all went our separate ways until we meet again.

Thanks to all our supporters for these wonderful memories.