Well, the Scouts are the heart of Scouting, but camping is all sorts of fun, and fun is the what lights up their hearts and keeps 'em coming back for more. Once again, we had the good fortune to reserve Fort Akela, which is closest to both the parking lot and the Gaga pit.
Gaga photo gallery
The dusty, apocolyptic Mad Max Thunderdome feel of the pit gave it added allure. The photo of a dust-covered Jacob Hutton is testament to how competitive the games had gotten. Adults like Michael Colletti were bandaging up nicked up hands that came a little too close to the rock-like ground. (We were and are still in a lengthy drought, luckily they let us have a fire.)
Most years the unique ridged roofs of the pavilions make Roof Ball the most popular game, but nowadays it's just one of many things going on around camp. Yes, the lineup of contestants was across the whole field at one time and the kids refused to stop even after dark (they had a light up ball). Kids and adults were laying it all on the line in order to avoid another letter. Spell S-C-O-U-T and you're out. Even Tom Irizzary was seen diving into the rocks, oh so close to the wall, but no major injuries this year.
All around camp gallery
The scenes from around camp were priceless. The Fort enables really memorable Nerf gun battles and once again projectiles were littered everywhere. We always say we're going to have some sort of organized capture the flag style game but we never really have to. They just go wild and have unstructured natural fun. That's in stark contrast to say pumpkin carving or making rockets where the kids seem to need a ridiculous amount of help from their parents. Please pick a simpler design for once Colin!
Rocket men
Special thanks to Patrick Hutton for manning paper rocket launcher all day, Jack and I for serving as rangemasters at the BB gun and archery stations, as well as Pastor Tim and his father for serving as Master Chef and sous Chef. Their menu was well beyond expectations for this event and he's set a very high bar. Roast freaking pork!
Ready aim, fire.
Overall this is my favorite event of the Scout season and everyone who helps out or brings in a new element just makes it better. We got to watch Penn State win a key game against Wisconsin, the Johansens watched the Yanks since the Phils were out. Meanwhile kids watched movies against a far wall. That's a bit too glamping but at least Karol Osipowicz taught older kids to make fire with flint instead of matches. We somehow chopped logs without an ax. Ryan Onopa wouldn't be denied. And kids generally just enjoyed the bunkhouses themselves. Next year won't be the same, because we have the USS Cradle of Liberty site which is the farthest away and only tent camping, but the event is still worth looking forward to all year. And tents are more authentic connection to nature. Get your gear together. See you then!
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