Camp Parsons 2008

On July 13th we arrived at Camp Parsons for a full week at camp. We got there and were assigned our campsite (Townsend) where we got unpacked. We all picked tents and got buddies. Once we finished all of the stuff with med forms and campsite things, we picked our merit badges and what time we wanted to take them. Afterwards, we got into uniform and went off to dinner.

The next day a few guys got up at 5:30am for the waterskiing merit badge. At 9am the other merit badges started and went until lunch. During free-time and Troop time some of the guys got extra merit badge classes, like soil and water conservation or mammal study, and a couple of other ones too like art and fingerprinting. Swimming was great because the water was cool on the dusty, hot days and warm on the cloudy days. The craft lodge was great because you could use anything that was in there and that was a lot, but the best thing was the wood burner.

On Thursday night, we had a friendship fire with another Troop where we went to their camp, put on skits, sang songs, told stories, and ate s'mores and cobbler. Troop time was great at the archery and rifle ranges. Some of our guys got special shooting awards. The pier dive where we jumped 20 or more feet from the pier to the water was crazy and cold, but we didn't notice it because we were on pure adrenaline. During one of our Troop times we went to the fun and challenging obstacle and ropes course.

The food was great the whole time, but the food was especially good on Monday because we made all of our own meals. For breakfast, we had oatmeal, for lunch we had hotdogs and for dinner we made dutch-oven stew. Canoe swamp was awesome because we dumped people out of their canoes into the water and soaked everyone. At each meal in the mess hall there were songs and announcements and sometimes special activities.

On Friday afternoon, there was the Hullabaloo. The Hullabaloo was were every Troop broke into Patrols and competed in different events like burning through a rope, playing tug of war, doing first aid, or playing frisbee. After that, there was a huge relay race where each Troop that competed had a different person running, speed walking, canoeing, and swimming. After that there was a two mile Octopus Cup race in canoes that we took third in. On Sunday the last day, we woke up early and started packing up. We had breakfast in camp and left after the 8:30am award ceremony where we got our blue-cards. Camp Parsons was definitely the highlight of the summer. - AMG

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