Activity Write-Ups

On July 17th-20th, Kristy, Kat, Julia, Pat, and Matt traveled with some of the senior boy scouts to Loon Lake to help build the Troop 27 Summer Camp. With Mr. Frydenlund as Camp Director and motivated youth, the dirt-digging, de-limbing, structure-lashing, waterfront-clearing, gear-transporting, and canoeing moved smoothly. By Saturday morning, all the tasks were completed with time to spare. After three days of quick, easy meals, we were relieved to see the arrival of the kitchen crew, who provided us with balanced, tasty meals for the remainder of the trip. On departure day, the Venturers were bid farewell with clear skies and pleasant winds.

By Kat

On the 10th we drove down to the beautiful Wright’s lake. Quickly scarfing down lunch, we went down to the lake and spent hours swimming and hanging out on rocks. After setting up camp, we enjoyed a delicious meal of beef stroganoff and sung around the campfire. The next morning, Julia’s family joined us and we spent the day on the water, practicing our canoeing skills. That afternoon, we set out down the channels again, this time disembarking at a bridge and bushwhacking our way to see waterfalls. While we didn’t find the hot waterfalls, we did see several small waterfalls that were perfect to cool down in after the long hike. On Friday, we enjoyed the perfect batch of monkey bread and a final game of kube before making our way home.

By Christy

Cave exploring at Craters of the Moon National Park, whitewater kayaking on the Yellowstone River, Yellowstone sightseeing, Chuck wagon dinner and show, hiking in the Grand Tetons, whitewater rafting, Jackson Rodeo, Alpine Slide, horseback riding, hiking in Lamoille Canyon, the “Yosemite of Nevada.”

Itinerary (PDF)
Narrative

Family camp was a great trip. On the trip the Venture Crew helped the boy scouts with flag decoration for Memorial day. We were provided a terrific lunch. Later we went to Spring Lake where we camped in a beautiful location. During that time period the Venture Crew swam and canoed. Due to the fact that we received complicated weather we had a wonderful adventure. To fill us up before these adventures we had two completely different breakfasts. One day we had baggy eggs and the other we had chocolate pancakes with bacon. Overall, breakfast was terrific. Also for lunch we had sandwiches were we could add what ever we wanted. In conclusion,Venture Crew had a blast.

By Cece

As traditional for Troop/Crew 27 we woke up in the early hours of Saturday morning to begin family camp by honoring our veterans by planting flags on their graves. We started this tradition by meeting at the Skyline cemetery for donuts and hot chocolate. Once the members of the troop and crew were awake enough to begin their service we all gathered at the WWII memorial to play taps in honor of the veterans who have served for our country. Over the next few hours we planted flags at the graves of the veterans who have served for us. Once every veteran was honored, we finished off in the parking lot to devour some well deserved hot dogs and chips as we prepared for the fun at family camp.

By Kevin

During the last weekend of April we headed off to Little Basin State Park for a skills building outing wasting no time on Friday evening, we started straight into Part 1 of a leadership training course. On Saturday, we woke up bright and early to start practicing Prusik knots and climbing, first aid, and continued leadership, then walked around a local fair before heading back to eat burritos for dinner.

Sunday was filled with orienteering where we picked up a friendly lizard, after one of our favorite meals – monkey bread made in a Dutch Oven. We had sandwiches and cookies for a usual Venture lunch, then packed up into the cars to head home after a fun, productive weekend.

By Christy

Venture Crew 27 youth members ran an exciting activity at the Boy Scouts of America Redwood District Camporee site.

I went as a visitor of the Venture Crew, but it was amazing.  I learned a lot: how Venture Crew cleans their dishes, some ways I did not think of for crossing rivers, they have awesome stilts, and Venture Crew has really good food like Belgium waffles and Oreos. It’s also fun to make a comical skit about the station you run because anyone who was part of it or witnessed it really gets the point, and everyone gets a good laugh. Even though we were working we got to go on the ropes course and go canoeing. It was a very fun experience for me as a visitor and I look forward to becoming a Venturer when I turn 14.

By Holly

We met at the rink at 8:45. There were 4 crews present, total. When we walked through the door we were greeted with hot cocoa, fruit and brownies, old friends and new acquaintances and in the air was the excitement for the sport that we would all soon be participating in. Once we were all out on the rink we divided up into two teams. One, with red “brooms” and the other with blue. Then the games began and chaos immediately ensued. There were Ventures running for the ball like dogs chasing a firetruck, nearly everybody fell down at least once and by the end we were all exhausted. The Ventures who were new to broomball were surprised that it was as fun as the older Ventures said it would be and the older Ventures knew they were right. We all went home having reconnected with old and familiar faces and as well as having made some new friends. What better way to spend a Saturday night?

By Anne

Each year in Panem we put our youth to the test
March 16th was the day to show who was best
The lucky ones are able to make their districts proud
And come home to heaps of riches profound
Now listen as I tell you how the trials went down

We mustered quite early, at 8am sharp
Watched a propaganda video that went straight through the heart
Full of fighting and treasure and bloodlust galore
It was now the chosen ones turn to give an encore

They were given the tools to complete their great deeds
In order to satisfy their candy greed
At 9am sharp we piled into the cars
Drove along twisty roads until some of us saw stars

They contended in the things that tributes should know
Basic knots, firebuilding, and signaling with smoke
Building quick shelters and using pocketknives
Some even know how to save lives

Moving against the clock isn’t a hard thing to master
But tributes quickly learned that they needed to move faster
With only 45 minutes between each challenge
A lesson was learned in good time management

The race for the Cornucopia began with a holler
Tributes tore down the field and grabbed their loot with bravado
When their time ran out and treats still left on the field
The Ventures got sugar to snack on with zeal

At the end of the day when all’s said and done
The players all ranked and the battles all won
We hope that you are wiser from the challenges you met
It is in your coming years that those skills will serve you best

Treasure Hunt is more than just a race to the top
It’s really not about which competitor will flop
Or who gets the most candy or who reaps the most gold
I can assure you that’s not what you’ll remember when you’re old

When you’re stuck on a mountain with nowhere easy to turn
Or shivering in the woods wishing for a fire to burn
Or alone with a friend whose heart has stopped
You will find that these skills have not been learned for naught

Here’s a shout out to the ones who make things possible
Even at times when the plans don’t seem probable
To the crew of artists, good planners, and imagination galore
Who ensure that these adventures aren’t close to a bore
We hope this year’s hunt was something to savor
And as always, may the odds be ever in your favor

By Kat

On February 16th-17th, a few intrepid souls (Kat, Christy, Cece, Pat, Mr. Frydenlund, and Matt) wanted to embark on an epic journey to twenty thousand leagues under the sea, but failing that, visited the Monterey Peninsula and canoeing on Elkhorn Slough. On gorgeous, sunny Saturday, they went to visit the beach. Exploring the tide pools yielded strange animals. Sea anemones swayed gently in the pools, scuttling crabs ran for cover, and otters frolicked in the pounding sea spray as two impertinent Canadian geese watched from the clifftops.

They next visited Point Pinos Lighthouse. The beautiful lighthouse, now a museum as well as a working lighthouse, overlooked the ocean. Kind docents explained the history of the lighthouse and demonstrated how the light at the top of the tower signaled to ships to keep them from wrecking on the reefs.

Having gotten their fill of lighthouses, they continued driving, this time to Point Lobos. Hiking through Point Lobos, they found yet more interesting specimens of the natural world to gawk over. From a tiny, spiky purple sea urchin to the gigantic bones of a whale, the lovely Point Lobos gave them all sorts of interesting plant and animal life to learn about.

Next was dinner, a delicious meal of chili, cornbread, fruit, and angel food cake. Unfortunately for the cake, being baked in a dutch oven didn’t do much for its texture. Instead, everyone dined on angel food custard, a dish they would all heartily recommend for future outings.

The next morning, the breakfast crew bounced eagerly out by the picnic table until they were granted access to the food stores. Monkey bread, supplemented by fruit and whipped cream was a major success.

At Elkhorn Slough the waters were smooth, broken by the otter that almost immediately greeted them upon arriving. Pelicans and seagulls sailed overhead, while all around them curious seals poked up their noses. Otters continued to pop up with surprising regularity, and three jellyfish graced them with their presence. They canoed a total of nine miles before finally loading up to leave. They finally headed home, stopping at gas station and fulfilling Cece’s most heartfelt wish. An excellent trip, everyone enjoyed themselves immensely.

By Christy

(To the tune of Winter Wonderland)

Sleigh bells ring, are you listening,
In the lane, snow is glistening
A beautiful sight,
We’re happy tonight.
Camping in a winter wonderland.

In the meadow we spat tobacco,
And pretend to be Klondike men,
We had lots of fun being snowmen
Until the other kiddies took first place

When it snows, ain’t it thrilling,
Though your nose gets a chilling
We’ll frolic and play, the Klondike way,
Camping in a winter wonderland.

By Christy

This last year’s Frisbeeganza was a big event for us! The participation for the event has been down over the last couple of years, but this year we had a large group come in from a Mormon crew in the area, a few from another crew and some from the Troop. We had some real competition in which a few of our usually very lax crew members came to life and competed hard until the very end. Everyone left having worn themselves out and with some new friends.

We left Frisbeeganza after lunch and helped the council at their yearly Christmas tree lot fundraiser. This year we even had a few younger folks helping out at the lot and making the work go much faster than it otherwise would have. We set the lot up in record time and had a lot of fun putting bases on trees and setting the trees up all over the lot. It was a great year and we sold several trees even during the relatively short period we were there.

By Sam