Home from Cub Scout Camp Excalibur

Just got back from 4 days of camping with Cub Scouts at Camp Excalibur held at Camp Brinkley which is an old Boy Scout camp.

We had a great time there. Weather was pretty mild, and it even rained on the last day of camp. Last year the weather was very hot, in the 90’s so swimming was always very crowded.

The theme was Excalibur. Since we have a medieval pavilion, I thought it would be fun to bring that along and set it up to help with the theme.

My pavilion (medieval tent) was actually a pretty good hit. The boys helped set it up, and took turns sleeping in it at night. We slept 5 boys comfortably, and could have done 6 or 7 if we needed to. The tent part takes up 14’x14’ with an awning that runs out another 14’

This year, we shared a camp site with Pack559, and between our two packs, hosted a friendship fire for another camp site. The friendship campfires are generally a hit with the boys. They perform skits, sing songs, and in our case we roasted marshmallows for smores both nights.

Some of the activities included BB guns, Archery, Swimming, Rowing, Outdoor cooking, Knot tying (my son Lucas is now a champ at tying a bowline.) crafts, games and more…

The staff puts on a rather campy theme skit that runs through the stay at the camp. It usually has parts or scenes that take place at each of the meals, and at the friendship campfires at night. It all comes together at the end on Sunday.

We did one cool gag this year on the staff. During the nature walk, it often comes up where the leader of the walk asks the kids to find a pine cone. Last year, he offered to buy an ice cream for any boy that had one. Well, we set them up this year, Don and Bill both brought authentic pine cones from Eastern Washington with them. We handed them to the boys at the appropriate time, and the staff was very surprised… Unfortunately for the boys, there was no offer of ice cream as a reward for finding a pine cone. But everyone clearly enjoyed the joke…

Bill arranged to get cots for each of the adults in our group (10 in total) and they were fantastic. I really need to get some cots for next years trip.

Looking forward to next year, the theme is Blazing Saddles (yes, after the movie).