2011-“Venimus, Vidimus, Blogimus” + Videos Part III

"We Came, We Saw, We Blogged"

This seems an appropriate way to end this trip. Our goal was to document, in the boys own words and photos, were we went, what we saw, and what we conquered.  They accomplished a lot, learned a lot, and had a lot of fun doing it.  Hopefully, these experiences will live with them for a long time to come. 

The best proof comes from their smiles, so I want to share just a few of those we managed to see on the trip.  Enjoy, and talk to you again next year.

2011-Videos (Part II) Dunes and Shooting

Here are several clips from our Dunes Hike. The pictures just do not do justice to how difficult walking in the sliding sand really is, nor how much of it there was! The boys had fun regardless, as you will see:

Next, this video is a bit long, but the shooting the boys did to earn their merit badges was really something.  Our fantastic instructor, Mr. Jeff Knop, was enthusiastic, safety-conscious, and a really great instructor.  Further, he did not know our troop from a spent shell (ha ha), yet he gave us his entire day to teach the boys, get them excited about the sport, and to make sure they had a good, safe grounding in the handling of guns.  THANK YOU JEFF!  We also owe a thank you to the Island Lakes Rec Area and their Director, Duane Cowger.  Thank you both for a great day!

2011-Videos (Part I) at last!

Here are a couple of videos we shot on the trip for your enjoyment.  The first is on the ferry from Leland to S. Manitou Island.  The ride over was nice, with everyone trying out "bow riding" and getting splashed, then inside, then on the upper open air deck.

The way back was a little rougher as you can see in the last segment.  Watch the horizon dip and rise behind Mr. C's head.  Someone on the upper deck left their "lunch" on the boat, but that is a different story for Mr. G to tell, since he was directly below, but inside the window, from the poor fellow.

They had an interesting way of unloading all the packs off the boat.  Everyone with packs was asked to form a human chain from the cargo hold to the dock, and we handed every pack out, hand over hand.  When you saw yours go by, you were SUPPOSED to put it behind you, but most all of them ended up in a heap on the dock.

It was also funny to see our well-packed backpacks, followed by a loose sleeping bag or big metal camp stove, or big plastic bin!  I didn't take a picture of the one couple who had two loose sleeping bags, a medium cooler, a tent bag, a metal stove, two soccer chairs, and a shopping bag of food.  Somehow, they made it back the 2 miles to the same campsite area we were in, but I talked to them on the way out and they definitely had a couple less pieces of gear.  Wonder where that stuff ended up.....

The next video is rather dark, but crank up the audio and have a listen and a chuckle!

2011-Day8-Answers and Dad's & Lads

As the first trip followup, here are the answers to a few great mysteries of "spot the Scout" and the "Dad fashion show".    Hank also puts to rest a long-explored myth of the Great Lakes...



Also, here is one of my favorite parts, the Dad & Lads pics:

2011-Day8-Stay tuned in this week

There will be more pics and movies coming this week, so stay tuned in!

2011-Day7-Shooting, Part II

Today we all had to wake up at 7:30am because the merit badge counselor, Jeff K, would be there at 8:00. We reviewed the requirements for the shotgun merit badge while we looked at his guns (not weapons) and demonstrated safe handling. After a quick quiz we headed to the range to shoot clay pigeons. There were 6 guns in all including a 12 and 20 gauges of the pump action shotgun, the over-and-under hinged shotgun, and the semi-automatic shotgun. After most of the requirements were signed off, the last requirement was to shoot 24/50 clay pigeons. We took turns each shooting five shells at a time. Eventually most scouts passed this test, but the sharpshooter Will, earned Top Gun with his outstanding performance of 24/25 clay pigeons hit using his favorite gun the 20 Gauge Semi-automatic Beretta Shotgun. Once we were done with hitting the clay pigeons coming towards us, we shot a few going away to see what it was like shooting trap. We decided to take a break and ate lunch. Once we were finished with lunch we decided to play a game of trap, Kids vs. Adults. The kids went first earning a total of 44 points 13 coming from Top Gun of Trap Colin, and 12 from Brennan. Once we were finished the adults went totaling 32 points but, the last round was a mix of adults and kids where Jeff the instructor earned 19 points for the adults and beating the kids. We cleaned the guns, and headed to a restaurant that served delicious ice cream. We ate the ice cream and went back to camp. Some started on dinner while others went to the beach to wash up a bit (maybe so their parents would hug them when they came back.)  When we got back we ate dinner, The Big Burrito Pig-Out Night. After dinner, because it was Mr. S’s birthday we had bought him a cake, lit it, and we sang him Happy Birthday.  After we had settled down, we sat around the campfire to see some skits and hear some songs. Near the end, Hank gave out nicknames:

         Parker – Chuck (Woodchuck) reference to the Geico commercial and he liked to chuck wood during our hikes

         Senior Graff – Papa Smurf

         Mr. Kelly – No name because Hank was to lazy to think of one

         Brennan – Quick Draw McGraw because of his excellent shooting skills at the range

         Wiley – Bobby Lavanti who drives Nascar because he endorses the same lighter fluid that Wiley accidently drank when he thought it was Mountain Dew

It was a great night to end a great week.

By Brennan Kelly and Luke Rolfsen

Signing out,

                                Luke

2011-Day7-Awww, Shoot!

ESTIMATED ARRIVAL:  We should be arriving right at 3 PM today. Look for a blog entry later tonight that will cover yesterday's shooting, and throughout next week as I gather the final pictures and maybe even a video or two!

I will leave you with a few pictures of the boys at the range for now.

2011-Day6-Travel to Island Lakes

Here is a late post from yesterday. Today's events will also be posted late (tomorrow) due to the Big Burrito pig-out and the closing campfire. Now, back to yesterday...
Day 6 –

Hey, hey, your MC, Wiley, is back after a long, long vacation. We started off with a rocky morning. Everybody was grouchy, because we had to wake up early. We had some cereal with milk. (Notice the some). Then we packed our stuff, and put it all in the trailer. After that, we were off to Island Lake Recreational Park. During the three and a half hour drive, Parker saw the Bear Attack video for the first time, after begging and begging to see it. I got a famous quote from him. “It was alright but cheesy.” Mr S gave us some directions to stop for lunch. Unfortunately, we ended up at a private property. It was not wrong way Rolfsens’ fault for once. We ended up giving Mr. S the nickname “Chad Chad” after the Tom Tom. So we turned around and ate lunch at Lake George, public access. We had sandwiches and animal crackers.

Hello this is your first timer, Parker, here to talk to you about the exciting adventures after lunch. After lunch we rode in our specified cars for two hours. When we reached Island Lake Recreational Park and got camp set up, we just relaxed. We had plenty of room to toss frisbee and football due to the four-thousand acres in the park. We could also make as much noise as we wanted to because out of four-thousand acres nobody was staying in the park but us. It was cool when we found out that we were getting locked into the park. Will got really scared when he heard the wolves and coyotes. Of course I asked to sleep in The Bus. Will also tried to volunteer six people to help put up his rain fly. When we were all sitting around the fire, we met some unexpected visitors called raccoons. Since we had to be ready for the shooting instructor in the morning and the shooting the next day, so we went to bed.

2011-Day7-Trap shooting

After GREAT success earning merit badges, we moved on to true sport trap shooting!

2011-Day7-Bullseye!

The boys are doing really well, shooting safe and nailing those clay pigeons thanks to Mr. Knop!

2011-Day7-Shooting

We have started off the morning with Jeff Knop, NRA Certified Instructor and GSM Master Instructor. Not only did Jeff show up with a smile on his face, 6 guns, 12 donuts, and a LOT of ammo, he also brought a lot of energy and enthusiasm for the safe handling and sport of shooting.
Meanwhile, the dads are in the background learning and cooking breakfast so we are ready for the range work!

2011-Day6-Island Lake Rec Area

We have arrived! Island Lakes is near Brighton MI, and a 4000 acre park with several lakes and ponds, trails, a swimming hole, a shooting range, but, alas, no showers!! What is it with parks these days? They seem to want you to... I don't know, camp!

Our area is really crowded as you can tell by the first pic.. but wait, maybe not... actually we have the whole group area to ourselves!




So today's Quiz #1: Can you identify your son in the pic below?

Quiz #2: Can you identify the dad?

2011-Day5-Return from the Isle and other stories

After a night without air mattresses, we pulled down the food bag that had kept its contents out of reach from the raving chipmunks. We ate pop tarts, oatmeal, and a few pieces of bacon, and then finished packing up our backpacks for the hike back to the ferry. We were told by Ranger Colin (not to be confused with Colin C.) that the ferry arrived around 11:00 and left close to 4:00 depending on the weather, so we planned on taking a hike to the light house and a tour at 2:00.

When we arrived to the ferry station, we found out the planned 4:00 had now become 11:30 due to bad weather. Even though there were four foot waves tossing the boat back and forth, it wasn’t what I would have considered bad weather. Rocking back and forth for three hours isn’t exactly ideal, and having to stop at North Manitou Island didn’t help. Luckily for Mr. R and a few others, the Dramamine kicked in to help their sea sickness. Unfortunately, Mr. G had to experience someone else’s unfortunate event running down the side of his window. The ferry that ran from Leland to North Manitou wasn’t large enough to handle the waves so our ferry cramped their campers in and we began our long ride home.

Every time you looked up to see where you where, it felt like it never got closer. Finally, we reached Leland, unpacked our bags from the ferry and started on our way back to base camp. We ate lunch which included leftover bread, lunch meat, and some snacks that we brought back from our days at the island. We set camp back up and waited for some of the people who weren’t smart enough to bring two tents.

After we had all rested, we got into the cars and drove through the Peirce Stocking Scenic Drive. We saw some beautiful sights of Lake Michigan as well as the dunes we had previously walked. After that, we drove 17 miles to the closest shower at Platte River Campground. We bought tokens at the ranger station and took nice hot showers even though they were only three minutes long. (This was hard for some of us.) We drove back and began on dinner which was pulled pork sandwiches with beans and macaroni and cheese. We settled down by the campfire provided by Luke, watched some skits, and tricked Parker into thinking his sock was untied. Also Parker confused Jake with a joke about a two two twain (choo-choo train) which made Mr. Z a proud father. I still don’t think Jake understands it. Then we all went to bed.

By: Brennan Kelly and Geoffrey Fischer

Editor: the pics are actually some catch-ups from snorkeling, plus the scenic drive/overlook and the requisite sign pics.  Enjoy!

2011-Day4-South Manitou Island

Here are the pics for the island.  We just pulled into the nice, hot shower area, so I am publishing these and running so I don't miss my turn!

There are a few quick responses to questions, however:

Yes, Colin and Mr C slept under a makeshift lean-to on the island rather than pack thier tent.  No, I don't think it was just because Colin didn't want to take down the tent.  No, they did not get drug away by the mighty island micro-bears (chipmunks).  They did nearly fly away due to all the mosquitos that got them!

If it weren't for the hiking, we all would have gained 10 pounds by now.  Thanks, Mr G!

I THOUGHT Mrs S had been dating/married to me for 29 years, not Mr C, so I will assume it was just a typo?

and finally, yes, everyone is still speaking to me, even after the dune hike and island adventure.  They did all look at me and grin for some reason when we found out we had to leave the island early and that we would not be able to do our planned day 2 hike.  wait a minute,,,, maybe they aren't speaking to me.... hmmmm.

2011-Day3-The Pirates of the Manitou's: Elk Rapids Wrecks

Here is the late picture posting from yesterday, but first, this just in......

Our advertising and our fantastic readers have already earned us $51 with their ad clicks, and we have just broken last years total page hits.  Thank you ALL!  Now back to our regularly scheduled broadcast....

Let me just clarify right now that we did not see Johnny Depp, nor sadly, Keira Knightley, but we did see a shipwreck or two!

We travelled down to Traverse City, then up to the lovely little town of Elk Rapids, where there are a number of interesting things to snorkel around.  There are an incredible number of wrecks and junk off the shores of the Grand Traverse Bay, as shown on this map:  http://www.gtbup.org/#/preserve-map/4547872424

2011-Day5-Sure could us a shower...

The island was a great time! We broke camp and hiked to the ranger station to drop our full packs off before our morning hike, only to be told the winds were high, so we had to take the 11:30 ferry back!
So we are now ridin out the waves while Mr H plays the "Edmund Fitzgerald" on his iPhone. The dads are such comedians!

2011-Day4-On the isle

Hello random people of the internet. Will S. and Jake Z. here bringing you an update from around the campfire. Today after a long ferry ride to get to the island we hiked in two miles and set up camp. Afterward, we took a six mile hike to see the wrecked ship,the dunes at the island(Yes, more sand) and the cedar forest. We came back and had a scrumptious dinner consisting of sausage and ramen noodles. Now we are back at the campsite where we are watching skits around the campfire and summoning the chipmunks by singing songs from Alvin and the Chipmunks. This campsite is overrun by them. Goodnight campers, goodnight chipmunks, and goodnight sand.

2011-Day3-Narrative

Ahoy land lubbers this is Hank writing about our adventures on the high seas of Lake Michigan

After a night of sawing logs, we woke up to the sound of rain. After eating a big meal made by Luke, Hunter and Colin, we set out for the day. At the Holiday Inn we set sail on the nauti-cat, but don’t worry it’s clean. As we were on board the ladies man (Will) was hitting on the other sailors. But like all the men in his family he failed miserably. After all that we did on the sea, we decided to stop to eat lunch and when we were eating Mr. C stuck over to the store and got some cherries. Some human targets were selected at random (Me) to be pelted by cherry seeds. When we were at the park next to our lunch site, we were playing around (or inducing vomit) on the merry-go-round. Next, we are going to snorkel at some shipwrecks. Fun, fun!!!

Hey, hey, hey, it’s your Homie MC here, Wiley. After our little adventure at the merry-go- round, we decided to pack up, and set sail to our snorkeling destination. We came to a lake. But first, we had to hike up a hill. Nobody liked that (especially after the dunes). After the little hike, we came to a spot, dropped our stuff, and headed out for the water. Brennan headed out first with his snorkel. Soon after, everyone was in the water. Someone (me) had some trouble trying to figure out how to snorkel properly, so Brennan helped me figure some stuff out. Soon after, we were snorkeling with the rest of the crew. Will, Parker, and I were tagging each other, when the adults and the others started to toss the football, while Mr. S and Brennan went to find the spot where a ship wreaked. It was adults versus scouts. The scouts had no chance what so ever. All of a sudden, Colin (our star football player), left to see something in the water. Some of us went to see what it was. It was a big catfish. Emphasis on big. Colin and I pulled it to shore. It was very slimy and heavy. But eventually, we pulled it to shore. We stayed there a little longer when Mr. S and Brennan came back. They said it was too far so we packed up and went to a different spot a mile away. We snorkeled to a wrecked ship around 300 yards away. It was completely destroyed. There was three parts to the ship. After that Big Blue and Little Blue went to a gas station to get fueled up. When we were ready to go, Will found a leech on his foot. Mr. R identified and confirmed that it was a leech. He asked Will if he wanted to pull it off. Will was hesitating, so Mr. R pulled it off anyway. We put a bandage on and were on our way to the campsite. When we got to the campsite, we had a prayer service, and ate. We had spaghetti with meat sauce and salad. We packed our bags for the next day. Now we are going to meet a different scout troop. IT’S GOING TO BE FUN!!

2011-Day3-Lunchtime

After we left the high-stress boating trip, what else would Scouts do but EAT!
Mr C ran across the street and got some fresh black and late sweet cherries to have with our lunch (we are in the cherry capital at this point, so we really had no choice).
Well, one thing led to another, and next thing you know a vicious cherry pit spitting contest broke out. What can I say, we try to give our scouts a well rounded education...
Now, off to snorkeling!

2011-Day3-Yep, really roughing it....

2011-Day3-Roughing it again!

A brief rain shower greeted us this morning when we awoke, but it passed by quickly.
After a quick breakfast and camp cleanup, we headed into Traverse City to do a few hours on a catamaran!

We have a full day ahead, as we will be snorkeling afterward, then meeting a local troop for campfire tonight.

Keep an eye on yesterdays blog, I am posting so many pics, my computer is plugged into the bus and will continue uploading while we sail - 48 in all, I think!
Moms, everyone is having a great time, healthy, and definitely well fed thanks to Mr G!

2011-Day2-Hikin the Dunes

Hello all! Colin and Hunter here, delivering to you info on day two of our sleeping bear dunes trip.

In the morning, Mr. Kelly, Dr. C, Brennan, and Mr. Graff Sr. went to a Sunday mass in town, while the rest of us had a five minute prayer service before we chowed down on biscuits and gravy, sausage and watermelon. Then we drove to the dunes and prepared ourselves for the then mile trip that could very well be one of the most tiring things I’ve ever done. We started the hike out with a huge hill, followed be many other smaller hills, leading into a large basin with sand, going up to a very large peak with sand, and leading into a forest down a huge hill of- you guessed it- more sand! Eventually we made it out of the sand and walked down the road to the Maritime Museum.  But before we went there, we stopped and had a bite to eat. For lunch today we had hot dogs and leftover chicken with watermelon, carrots, and celery. Then we packed ahead for dinner, which was sandwiches, chips, and granola bars. After that we headed on over to the museum. There we saw how the U.S. life saving services saved ships sinking into the lake. Parker and Wiley helped demonstrate that.

After that we hiked on over to an entrance to the lake about five minutes down the road. There we swam and attempted to get our socks and boots on without getting them wet and sandy. Then the hard part began. Most of us started the next part of the hike with boots on by the lake. Then we got farther and the lake got closer to land and a branch was on the shore that we had to go around, and the sand sloped down to the water at a 100o angle! So we all stopped and either went bare footed or in sandals/water shoes. We walked a lot further great with no worries about water. We saw a small ship wreck and a huge flock of birds which Brennan scared away! We took a small rest on the last part, then that was all will see of Lake Michigan on this trip for that day. We hiked up, down, up, down, farther up, slightly down, far up, flat, up, down, up, and then down. We made it with a 100% no injury or lost person. We had fun.

When we went down the last dune we were listening to the music from the concert and ate dinner which was a lunch meat sandwich, chips, candy bar, cheese stick, and a bit more. Then we went to get a dip in Lake Glen because we were a group of sandmen! But then we felt 10 times better. By: Colin C. and Gingy K.

2011-Day2-Home Stretch

Well, it has been a really long hike, but we are finally on the home stretch. We thought we would never get to this last ridge where we could see Lake Glen!

2011-Day2-Breakfast

Another morning of roughing it...

2011-Day1-Driving

Here is a wrap up of today's pics as we sit around the campfire, swatting mosquitos and preparing for the evening invasion of Raccoons we have been warned about. We are on the edge of the dunes, with a great breeze coming down the hill.

Thanks for tuning in today, and g'night Scouts!

2011-Day1-Campsite Arrival

We have arrived! The canopy and tents are set up, Mr G is hard at work cooking chicken, home fries, watermelon, and juice. We will fill you in with more pics later tonight.

2011-Day1-Lunchtime

Suprisingly, we made it all the way to Michigan and Cabelas without a single stop.  Way to go Jake, that is the furtherst I have ever seen you riide wihtout a break!

The boys got 45 minutes to romp around and try to buy every package of Jerky they could find, then we had lunch in the parking lot.  The last buddy team that got back to the Bus had to clean up, so Brennan and Colin got the honor of serving us.  Our first meal of the trip was a wonderful mix of cold cuts, chips, fruit and juice, then it was time to hit the road.

Mr S. jumped cars to continue his fasinatinc snorkeling award lessons, but everyone stayed in their assigned vehicle.  Big Blue seemes to be watching the Bear Attack video, while the Bus has a mean game of "Rich man, Poor man" going.  In Mr. C's car, you can only hear the runing of pages in the books, and the classic rock playing.  Unfortunatley, we are all stuck in traffic just north of the Zilwaukee bridge.

Next stop, the campground!

2011-Day1-Off We Go!

Once again, the scouts are off to a great start – just not at the planned 7:30 AM SHARP we were shooting for!  Mrs. H was the most popular arrival, as she showed up with donuts and coffee.  Mr. G gets the late arrival award, but at least he was legitimately pulling the trailer and icing down the coolers.  Mr. C showed up with our freshly made and laundered t-shirts.  Gingy showed up with a huge box of cookies.  

Pastor was on hand for our prayer and blessing, and then we formed a human line of scouts carrying the food boxes and gear into the trailer.  If you have ever seen ants carting off an entire picnic to their hive, you would know what that might look like – only ours was admittedly less organized.

Unfortunately, both people who were to bring propane tanks forgot them, so Mr. C split off from the caravan only 1 mile into the journey to rectify that and catch up with us on the highway.

2011-Day0-Preparations & Agenda

Welcome back to the Troop 820 Summer Trip Blog!

We have a full agenda for this trip - hiking, camping, sailing, snorkeling, ferry ride to/from the island, shooting, and fun! Below is our daily schedule, and we hope that you can follow our progress every day through our words and pictures.

Visit our site, send us your comments (we receive them right away via Mr. S's phone) and check out our advertisers (no purchase necessary) to help us pay for the trip! Of course, feel free to forward the blog link on to any of your friends or family that might be interested in Scouts.

Off we go!


Here is this years Summer Trip tee, thanks once again to the fantasic efforts and donation of time and talent from Mr. Chuck Rekow at http://www.chuckrekow.com/

THANK YOU and another year well done!