May 22, 2011

Stearns Boy Scout Camp


Stearns Boy Scout Camp
Shortarmguy's Diary Update for May 22, 2011


On Wednesday night, we joined Troop 331 to do the Flag Ceremony at the Prior Lake Laker's High School lacrosse game.  I always think I look kind of funny when I do the scout salute, but luckily nobody in the audience threw anything at me.

We heard it was supposed to rain all weekend, so we thought it would be fun to join the troop for a couple nights of camping near St. Cloud, Minnesota. 
We had 16 adults and more than 30 boys along for the trip.  We were responsible for buying breakfast for the adults.  We thought we also were going to be solely responsible for cooking the breakfast.  Luckily for us, the other adults wanted the food to taste good, so they gave us lots of help.
The best part about camp is that the boys are completely responsible for cooking their own meals and cleaning up after themselves.  That's some behavior that we could really get used to at home!

We have some awesome chefs in our troop.  Avery's basketball coach, Mr. Malotkey, blew us away for supper with his dutch oven style chicken, rice, and two different desserts including the best peach cobbler I've ever eaten in my life.  If this is roughing it, then I'm a guy who likes it rough!


It rained most of the day, but we did have a couple of hours of sunshine late in the afternoon.  Mr. Zitzewitz helped guide us for a 2 mile orienteering hike where we had to use a map to find several points of interest.  I'm happy he has good navigation skills because if it would have been up to me, we'd still have several boys lost in the woods.

We were so proud of both our boys at camp!  They both completed their boards of reviews to advance to the next rank in scouting.  At this rate, we're hoping to be able to send them to military school very soon.

It rained about 75% of the time we were there, but it wasn't until late Saturday night that the thunderstorms started rolling in and scaring the life out of me.  Miss Sheri is very brave, though, and comforted me when I started freaking out.  Hey, I don't care if the other guys make fun of me.  I don't think it's a lot of fun when lighting and thunder start crashing down and I'm lying on a cot in the middle of the woods shielded by nothing more than a thin piece of nylon.  If she has to sing to get me to fall back to sleep then that's what needs to happen.

All that rain created a pretty muddy campsite.  We did everything we could to keep our shoes clean, but we pretty much failed that mission.


     
I did make a very exciting discovery when we were there.  While exploring the edge of our campgrounds, I was surprised when I stumbled across this incredibly shaped crop circle!  I couldn't believe my eyes!!  I have no idea what the aliens were doing in this exact location, but I'm going to send this photo to NASA for detailed analysis.  I'm sure those smart guys will figure it out.


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