C is for Camping

This past weekend Thalia's troop went camping.

It wasn't as rugged as it sounds, in spite of the cold temperatures. They camped in a lodge that had baseboard heating, electrical outlets, a stove and refrigerator, and (best of all) indoor plumbing. So even though it involved sleeping bags on thin mattresses, going on a hike in the cold, and star gazing at night in the cold, it was a fairly plushy set up. I arrived Saturday morning (the camping trip really started Friday afternoon, but I had other obligations), and quickly realized that it was really a giant 3-day/2-night slumber party. The difference from most sleepovers, though, was that the adults also had to sleep on the floor in thin mattresses and share one bathroom with all the girls. Also, everything had to be cleaned spic and span for inspection before we left, including the outdoor latrine, the outdoor firepit and outdoor kitchen area, etc., even though we didn't use them; I'd rather stay home and take the next week to recover and clean up. But, hey, it was certainly an adventure.

The troop worked on their Interest Patch for games



(they loved this game, but it took forever)

and photography



I have no idea who took this picture of Thalia -- they were obviously messing with the settings on the camera. By the end of the weekend that battery on the camera was totally shot, by the way, but Thalia had scads of pictures of widely varying quality, as well as movie clips of some of the girls dressing up as Leia and Ahsoka and battling with light sabers (they had taken the broom handles apart to make the sabers).

Since the scouts were pretty well self-contained, working on their stuff, cooking the meals, cleaning up, etc., the adults were just sort of hanging out. I worked on a sock:


I did this heel 3 times before I got it the way I wanted it. The other adults now have a totally warped view of sock-knitting, since I knit a while, then ripped everything back out and started again continuously. But I didn't have access to google all weekend, heaven forbid, so I had to come up with a heel on my own -- I had to think instead of google, and that's not something I'm used to doing. For the record, I ended up making a 10 row gusset, then a short row heel down to 50% of the underside stitches; I think I wrote all of this down somewhere so I can knit the other sock to match, but here it is again just in case I can't find my notes.

The troop moms are asked to go to at least one camping trip per year, so now I've fulfilled my obligation -- on a no-bug, indoor toilet trip! I'm feeling pretty smug about that, let me tell you.