Turkey Feast: November 2017

The troop traveled down to Washington, D.C. for five days during April vacation for a learning adventure that will be remembered for a lifetime. Thirteen scouts and five adult leaders awoke very early on Tuesday morning to board a 6:25am train out of Westwood. Eight hours of naps, smartphones and weak WiFi later, we were in Washington! 

On Tuesday we visited the following sites:

• National Postal Museum

• National Archives where we got to see The Declaration of Independence, The Constitution and The Bill of Rights

We were also able to walk Constitution Avenue and see the Capitol building and the Washington Monument from a distance.

Wednesday was our big museum and memorial day. After a great breakfast at the hotel we went to the excellent National Museum of Natural History where we saw the Hope diamond, exhibits on evolution, nature photography and gems. We could have easily spent more hours there. We then put in some more walking miles to visit the:

• Jefferson Memorial

• FDR Memorial

• Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial

• Korean War Veteran's Memorial

• Lincoln Memorial

• Vietnam War Veteran's Memorial

After walking past the White House (and seeing a motorcade zip by us heading toward the White House), we finished the day with a swim in the hotel pool and pizza and ice cream party.

Thursday was our most formal day with scouts turning out in full Class A uniform. Another early start had us arriving at Arlington National Cemetery over the Potomac River in Virginia mid-morning. While most of the troop toured the cemetery, two of our scouts brought the wreath up to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and found out the details of when and where for the ceremony. At the appointed time, four of our senior scouts (Cam, Ethan, Matt and Nick) were trained by a member of the guard on the wreath-laying ceremony. At exactly 12:15, our honor guard of 4 scouts made us proud by performing the wreath laying ceremony to the sound of "Taps" being played by a military bugler while the rest of the troop and over a hundred visitors watched in the heat of the day.

After the wreath-laying we shed our Class A uniforms and headed over to the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Scouts were able to see historic planes, rockets and spacecraft. We were also able to fly in a virtual dog fight that had scouts paired up as a pilot or gunner flying literally upside-down in a simulator. We were able to get off our feet (and nap for some) for a few minutes and enjoy an IMAX film called "Journey to Space 3D". To cap off our long day, we took a Metro ride and a walk in the rain for an 8:00 dinner at "Buca di Beppo" near Dupont Circle. Plenty of great Italian food served family-style. A quick Metro ride and a few minutes of walking back the the hotel ended our great day shortly after 11pm.

Friday was another early start in Class A uniforms to make a 9:00am appointment with staffers at Congressman Moulton's office. After dumping all liquids and shedding our backpacks we descended into the basement of the Longworth House of Representatives and through the underground tunnels into the Capitol building. We received a fantastic tour of the Capitol including being able to sit in the balcony of the House Chamber. After lunch at the Capitol, the scouts decided to add a bonus site to our tour so we walked over to the Supreme Court building. This rounded out our visit to all 3 branches of our Federal Government. 

However, we weren't done with our day on Friday. After telling the scouts about the "surprise" event, we boarded a train to Camden Yards in Baltimore and watched the Red Sox play the Orioles on a perfect spring evening. Although we weren't happy with the final score, the game was great to watch. A limo van and an SUV met us outside the park and dropped us back at our hotel around midnight.

Saturday morning we could finally sleep in. After breakfast and packing up our gear, the troop walked to the Holocaust Museum for a noon admission. It's hard to put into words what the exhibit there depicted, but it was very educational, moving and horrifying. I would definitely like to go back and spend more time there in the future. 

A quick walk past the growing March for Science got us back to Union Station for the long ride back home. We didn't get back to Memorial until after midnight, ending 5 long, fun and inspiring days.

Over 45 miles of walking, natural education covering millions of years and United States history covering hundreds of years filled our days. Sprinkled in were teachable moments about map reading, genocide, time management, homelessness, teamwork, integrity, mental illness and citizenship. As always, the scouts impressed us all with their resilience, curiosity, intelligence and maturity.

A special thanks to Mr. and Mrs. Ford, Mrs. Hudson and Mr. Woodilla for providing amazing adult leadership on this trip. Also, a huge thank you to Mrs. Maguire for months of work organizing the itinerary and keeping us under budget. Thanks to O'Malley's Floral Expressions of Burlington for the beautiful wreath and to the parents that drove the group to and from the train station.

Crossover: May 2017

Iron Chef Competition: March 2017

Troop 103 continued its annual tradition of having a Iron Chef Competition as a late winter camping trip. We stayed at Camp Lone Tree in Kingston, NH, which is the same campground we stayed at for our Klondike Derby prep campout back in early January. The weather was much nicer this weekend! Although we had almost a foot of snow on the ground from Tuesday's late-winter storm, we had a terrific time cooking and playing in the outdoors. The temps were in the upper 30s on Saturday with plenty of sunshine.

After a few hours of epic snowball fights, the two patrols  were presented with the ingredients, which included, chicken, ground beef, sausage, pasta, couscous, potatoes, peppers, onions, carrots, zucchini, mushrooms, crushed tomatoes, lemons and an assortment of seasonings. The secret ingredient was... sweet corn!

Both patrols did a fantastic job of making chicken soup, and pasta with sautéed vegetables and chicken. The sleeping was easy in a cabin for a change.  Both patrols made breakfast Sunday morning and the SPL even cooked for the scoutmasters! After cleaning up and another, brief snowball fight, we headed back to Burlington. Another successful weekend in the books!

Klondike Derby: 2017