Pack 1714

Spending the day on an aircraft carrier is always a great experience. Spending the weekend on an aircraft carrier is epic. During the day, tours were set up so the scouts were able to explore USS Yorktown’s multiples levels as wells as a few levels on USS Laffey, a U.S. destroyer. They saw many different types of planes that were flown in World War II as well as military planes from the late 20th century. Some scouts were able to visit Fort Sumter, and learned about the history of the fort and part of the Civil War. There was also a Vietnam Experience where the scouts can walk through a replicated U.S. camp in Vietnam. So there was plenty of military history they could learn and explore.

What did the scouts do at night? They gathered in the theatre on the first night to watch “Greyhound”. This help to experience part of World War II when the naval vessel was using sonar to find the German U-boats. The second night, they listened to a speaker who told stories about USS Yorktown in battle, the life of the crew on board, and highlighted some of the pilots who were able to land on a moving vessel in the middle of the Pacific Ocean. When it was bedtime, the scouts gathered in the sleeping quarters and slept in the multiple tier bunk beds. Were the beds comfortable? Just ask one of our scouts.

Spooky-Ree was a big hit this year with a fun Halloween theme where the Scouts got to where their costumes Saturday night for a monster mash dance party! The weather cooperated for a picture-perfect Fall campout at Bert Adams and everyone maxed out their steps for the weekend.

The theme this year for the Bert Adams Spring Family Camp was “Under the Big Top”. There was a small group that camped out for the weekend and they enjoyed circus theme activities. In the morning, the scout were mystified by the mime swallowing flames. They did challenge the balloon artist with requesting different animals while some settled for a sword or light saber. In the afternoon, the scouts visit the petting zoo and enjoy petting the different animals. One or two of the animals tried to escape but did not get very far. Of course the scouts visited the animals on multiple occasions and were giving them names to their favorite ones.

For this year, the fort was open with more fun activities to enjoy while being in the shade. There were miniature skeet ball, suction cup darts and picking a luck duck from a kiddie pool. Some of these game involve small prizes such as candy. Of course the scouts did enjoy shooting the guns and arrows on the range. Also, each scout received a card to enjoy tasty treats: popcorn, flavor icy and cotton candy. Since the weather was on the warm side, an icy was a relief. The scouts that went, they enjoyed every minute of it.

Who went caving? Pack 1714 went to Cumberland Caverns, and many of them were muddy from the experience.  We took the wild tour of the of the cave first.  Before the adventure, there was a test to see who can squeeze through tight spaces by going through the squeeze box.  All scouts squeezed through with ease while the adults made sure they would be able to handle the possible tight spaces of the tour.  On the tour, we climbed up and down ladders, crawled through low areas, and walked through muddy areas.  We were able to test how darkness of the cave by turning off our lights.  We were not able to see anything but a glow-in-the-dark shirt.  At the end of our wild tour, most of the scouts and adults were muddy.  So you can say, we truly went caving on that tour.

We went on a second tour to view the beautiful features that many caves offer.  We viewed stalactite and stalagmites, discover cave bacon, saw massive columns, and found crayfish in crystal clear water. After our tour, we ate dinner, changed clothes and head to bed.  Where did we sleep?  We slept in the cave.  Some of the adults discover how loud some of us snore while we sleep.  At one point, there seemed to be a snoring contest.  Who was the loudest? No one will ever know.  Overall it was an experience that everyone on the trip will remember.