Wow, this was a long and HOT week! We had so much fun doing merit badges, extra activities, The Wiggalo, and spending time with a troop we’ve done things with before! But before we get to all that, we must begin at the beginning.
When we got there, we were able to see our campsite, which was at the end of one of the roads. We were able to drop off a bit of our stuff, then take a bit of a tour around camp before we came to the swimming test site. Strangely enough, it absolutely poured while we were getting instructions, then just. Stopped. Huh. Spoiler alert, that random rain would happen again, along with some hard wind later in the week.
Anyways, we all did well in the tests, then we were able to get back to camp, get ready for flags, dinner, and the evening. Flags happened in one of the funner ways I’ve seen, where we all report in, and the staff do something funny, but completely serious. Also the head of staff had the most orange head of hair I’ve ever seen. The rest of us got into it more and more throughout the week. We got to dinner, where there was a lot of room at the tables, but also… A Salad Bar!! Dinner is where the fun begins. The Staff sang camp songs as we all went through he line, and then the dinner chants began with we are table one, Tidal Wave (woosh), and the Wiggalo. Through the week, we sang the Wiggalo a LOT during the week, enough that it’s been an earworm ever since we got home.
In the evening, we had a big opening campfire, where the staff had an amazing skit, with songs and memorable characters. We were able to have a fun campfire with friends from other troops, and singing silly songs.
During the coming week, we would end up doing many cool merit badges, including climbing, environmental science, welding, first aid, game design, chess, auto maintenance, geology, and a first year program. Funny thing, there wasn’t an explicit lunch period, but we were supposed to keep one of the periods while they were serving lunch open so we could eat lunch.
Apart from our classes, there were activities that we could do in the mornings or evenings, things like the polar bear swim, which wasn’t really all that cold, because it was so sweltering all week, crate stacking – which we got 2nd and 3rd place in, karaoke, swimming, an all denominational church service, and at one point, a camp wide competition on who can get around camp and to the most activities. These camp wide games included frisbee, gaga ball, knots, archery, etc… We had a lot of fun, despite a few adventures with dehydration in multiple scouts.
Another fun thing that happened was our own personal spirit days in the week, with Military Monday, where we wear whatever military-y things we have, Taco Tuesday, where we wear a shirt that represents out favorite taco topping, Princess Wednesday, where we all dress up with nods to Disney princesses, Where’s Waldo Thursday, where we all wear red and white stripes, and many of the scouts favorite day of the week, Glitter Friday, where we all wear glitter and put glitter on anyone who wants it. there was glitter everywhere, like a glitter bomb had gone off with all of us in the vicinity.
Anyways, with the glitter, the classes, and everything else, even the heat and random rain, this week was packed full of excitement, and we all enjoyed it.
