A Good Time Was Had By All

The last time we attended a council wide camping event, we camped in a field next to a busy rural highway at a racetrack. It was hot, there weren't enough porta potties and NO running water. The heat brought on a nasty migraine and sent a leader to the hospital.

That was my first scout camping trip, after a nearly 20 year hiatus from camping. The fact that I went back six months later should tell my kids how much I was willing to do for them to enjoy their scouting experience. Thankfully, that one was much better.

This time, the council utilized three of the Boy Scout campsites for what would normally be called Cub World. There were six activities during the day, then a costume contest, carnival games and a 'spook trail' at night.

As the site is huge, and we didn't know how far we'd have to hike into our location, the leaders made the decision to provide meals for everyone. I am here to say how much I LOVED this. No cooking gear, no cleaning (well, only for a meal) and the cooler only had to get stocked with drinks, fruit and yogurt.

The last post gave a little idea of the fun the kids have. The afternoon session sent Chef off with the other boys and Game Teen stayed behind in the screen house, where he napped right in his chair, to the surprise of others around us. (The kid can sleep anywhere!)

After a nice dinner, we hiked over to the council ring for a costume contest. During the afternoon, we were brainstorming for costume ideas, as each pack was allowed to enter one boy from each rank into the contest. We needed to improvise for one and we used my idea of duct taping plates together, then stuck forks in it for a porcupine, but it got rechristened the FORKupine! All four entries won a prize.

I had a lot of fun with the carnival. The boys had to buddy up, and I got one of the wolf scouts. He and I had a great conversation walking the mile from one activity to the other, as he's got very sophisticated culinary tastes. The games were not too easy, not too hard-and every participant got a prize.

A hike back to our site, a little down time and then the kids were sacked out. Then came my favorite activity, sitting and laughing with the other parents. I will really miss this part of camping with scouts when we just do family camping in a few months.

This morning, it was rather nice to just have to pack up the sleeping bags, two air mattresses a cooler and a tent. Especially since a camp staffer came back to our site and had us load up our gear, which they brought out to the parking lot.

When I've got a lot of walking to do, I typically use a wheeled walker. That was out of the question with the dirt, sand and gravel trails of the camp. Instead, I was sure to bring the cane with me that Jane keeps suggesting I use.

It really helped BUT now I'm feeling the same thing I did back over the summer in the ball of my foot. Three times now and I have confirmed what I suspected, that the left leg will not tolerate that kind of uneven terrain for any length of time.

That said, I'll figure something out if this type of camping happens again, because all three of us enjoyed the overnight. The only thing that could have made it better is if Ed had the opportunity to come along.

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