At the Camporee

Last weekend there was a Scouting Camporee at a local regional park. Heidi signed Mason and me up to attend. We were the only ones from his troop that attended. My work ran later than I wanted so we did not leave the house until 6:45 and did not get there until around 7:30. We set up camp and then I had to drive back to the parking lot more than a mile away. By the time I walked back to the camp it was after 8:45. I got back to the tent and Mason was already getting into his sleeping bag.

The next morning Mason cooked some breakfast burritos for us and then it was off to see what there was to do.



The first thing Mason wanted to do was fishing. We were told that he would be able to earn the fishing merit badge while at the Camporee. That turned out to be false, which was a disappointment, but he still enjoyed it even though he did not catch anything. As they say, its called fishing, not catching.

From there he wanted to go canoeing, so we went and did that. He sat in back so that he could steer and give direction.



By this time we had to head back to our tent so we could change into our bathing suits and go the water park. We stopped on the way to play Lacrosse for a while then changed and went water sliding.

The county has a couple of water slides that are probably a couple of hundred yards long. We went down both of those and then headed over to the pool. Because the water was not heated, neither one of us wanted to stay and swim. It was not all that hot out to begin with.

On the way back to our tent we passed the tomahawk throwing area, so Mason took a turn at that and stuck the tomahawk on his second attempt. Unfortunately, because we were on our way back from the pool, I did not have my phone with me so I don't have any pictures.

Mason wanted to play human foos ball so that was the next stop. I think the adults leaders that were standing around watching were enjoying the game more than the scouts that were playing. The scouts really went full out. No one was really keeping score, but Mason's team won.

From there we headed to the archery range. After waiting for what seemed like a really long time, I took a short nap on a nearby picnic table, Mason finally got a hold of a compound bow and took some shots. They only let him shoot three arrows and then he was done. It was kind of a let down. He was just getting the feel for the bow and arrow and then it was over. His last shot actually hit the target and then it was over. He was kind of disappointed with that which I can understand.

Back at camp we cooked up some hot dogs, had lunch then packed up the camp. On our walk back to the parking lot we passed the rock climbing wall and I asked Mason if he wanted to give it a go and he did, so we stopped and he climbed. He chose the hard side and did just fine with it, though he said the last couple of feet were really hard.



It was a great camp out and we both had a great time. Now that he is twelve (today) he will have a lot more opportunities for great camping experiences. I am glad that he really enjoys scouting.