Camp Meriwether Weekend (Stormy and Sunny!)

This weekend I pitched in with Troop 628, which explains why this is on the Venturing blog. Thomas, Hunter, Frank, and I made the rainy drive down south of Tillamook to Camp Meriwether. We're scheduled to go to camp there for a week this summer, so it was good to let the boys check it out. They have made some MAJOR improvements in the 17 years since I was there last, most notably a huge new lodge for dining and stuff. Our adirondacks had very waterproof aluminum roofs, which kept us dry but also relayed the noise of the huge storm very loudly all night. A cool site about Camp Meriwether is here.


Well, there weren't enough of us for capture the flag or anything, so I played with my camera. I set it up on a timer on a small tripod and exposed for about 5 seconds.


Then I figured out I could even do letters. My 5-year-old son would be very pleased.


Frank was the first up, and he had water ready for hot chocolate when the rest of us rolled out. This is how you cook when your car is just up the trail. The crab cooker and the cast iron are very effective and quick (and heavy)! Mmmmmm . . . bacon!

Camp Meriwether (The Weather Turns . . .)

We arose to blue sky and sunshine. And, it stuck around! So, we didn't even need raingear to accompany Frank on a tour of the camp. Since we arrived after dark, it was neat to see things beyond our beloved home, Viking.


One campsite we poked around in (which of course was unoccupied) was Bunyan . . . as in Paul Bunyan . . . although many Scouts might encounter bunions if they persist in ill-fitting footwear. In the distance is Cape Lookout. One summer my high adventure group went rock climbing (supervised of course) out at the tip. I believe we climbed up from that small ledge you can see off the end. It was really really cool, and kind of scary because the weathered rock was not exactly trustworthy (thankfully our ropes were).


Thomas and Hunter at Lake Chamberlain (named for early settlers . . . or perhaps that character in The Dark Crystal . . .) This begs a gelfling joke about my Scouts, but I'll pass. :-)


The super Frank tour also took us to the meadow, where we stood alongside a flagpole and the old anchor chain from the Struan. Even photoshopped, it's hard to see the beach very well in the background. Special thanks to the random Scouter with the BYU hat for taking our photo!

Camp Meriwether (Guns and Dogs!)

Camp Meriwether offers a lot of merit badges that involve shooting things, so there are areas for archery, black powder (where this Fort Clatsop-inspired building is), .22 shooting, and shotgun shooting.


The four of us went through about 150 rounds (total). Thomas really needed a gun with a shorter stock on it so he could better brace against his shoulder. He did his best with what he had, and only a few shots killed the plants beyond the target range. I was impressed with Hunter's marksmanship, and his targets probably look better than mine. Frank, who was kind enough to sponsor our ammo, did really well too.


So here are my targets. I'm going to go out on a limb and venture that rifle #6 (the one I had all 3 times) needs its sights adjusted up and to the left. I'm pretty happy with my clustering, though, and Frank said I could've gotten the merit badge for 5 within a quarter. I never got that badge when I was in Scouts though.


Frank was also the foodmaster for lunch. It was a bit like cooking hot dogs with a blowtorch, but dry firewood was hard to come by (as you might imagine).

Camp Meriwether Overnighter (cont'd)

Needless to say, there weren't a lot of GTIs around. It's not really intended for muddy service roads . . . Still, I managed not to get stuck, and we were able to haul the boys and I with all our gear back home when it was over.


We did some exploring after lunch on Saturday and found this Order of the Arrow ceremony site. It has posts that contain kind of a synthesis of the Scout Law and Oath.


I am helpful AND friendly (and good at cheesy smiles)!


Many moons ago, I was at Meriwether for Senior Patrol Week as part of summer camp. During that time, we stayed down the beach a little ways at David Douglas. Frank said they don't really use it anymore and it's probably overgrown. So, we HAD to go see if we could find it, and after ascending a steep trail we did. It must have been a bit of a workout to get from that campsite to the main lodge and camp. Anyway, Thomas and Hunter were having lots of fun with wood and rope here and it was just great to be there with the sunshine and beatiful Cape Lookout in the background.

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Eaglefest 2007

Steven, Sean, and Matt just got their Eagle Scout award at a joint Court of Honor on Sept. 29th. I had to be out of town, so I'm glad we got some great pictures. Nice job guys!


Earlier we had the "Flight of the Eagle", and here we have the "Bite of the Eagle". That would be kind of a cool scar to show off . . .


No Eagle is an Eagle without a lot of help from Mom. Nice job to you too, Diana and Bonnie!

Fort Columbia, October 17, 2007 (part 3)

Our tour concluded in the old barracks. The men who fired the big guns were elite in their day, and they had their own barbershop. Sweet! I guess it gave them something to do when they weren't fighting their worst enemy (which was boredom, Roben told us).


Thanks to Frank for having the presence of mind to bring a camera and capture this surreal supernatural image. Hey Mike, see any ghosts? Veeeerrrrry strange indeed.


Well, for a heavily photoshopped image taken from 20 or 30 feet away in a dim room and cropped a ton, this looks pretty good.


Another item posted on the wall in the barracks. Nowadays, I wonder if they'd still post such a thing in a US military building. Pretty cool, but pretty un-politically correct, I'd say. JJ would approve, I'm sure.

Fort Columbia, October 17, 2007 (part 2)

It was a dark and stormy night . . . Roben was brave enough to bring some vintage maps to show us.


JJ! Duck!


Well, if you can zoom on this, it's pretty interesting. It's a prime example of government "efficiency", showing that a battery was built some 50 years before the guns were finally installed.


Roben had lots of keys to get us into cool places, like the Fort's jail!

Fort Columbia (part 1)

October 17, 2007

This is Roben and he gave us the tour at Fort Columbia. It was really cool, largely because his genuine enthusiasm for the history of the Fort made following him around fun and interesting.


They heard we were coming and had the ambulance ready. (I seriously have no idea why it was there)


Thomas is standing behind a passage that was likely used to pass the gunpowder out from its storage area so it could be loaded into the shells before . . .


. . . they were hoisted up to the gun. You can see the hoist hole right above Roben's hand, and the overhead track was a system they moved the shells with. The hoist mechanism was designed by the same guy who did the Panama Canal.

Touring Coast Guard Navigational Aid Station

"Hey, I believe I ordered the LARGE aid to navigation." "JJ, are you LISTENING?"


Some behind-the-scenes secrets. When one bulb burns out, another one flips up into use. Also, they're starting to implement LEDs (I was thinking the bulbs look a bit old-school).


Do NOT blindly reach into these drawers. And the Coast Guard does WHAT with these? I believe Mike uses them in his Ninja training.


So I saw this box sitting on the shelf. Some caption possibilities (feel free to comment with more): "See, people with scary teeth DO have a future in modeling!" Or, "So, you say you're a model. GQ? Esquire? Fred Meyer ads?" "No, I do respirator masks . . . and a little hand modeling on the side. Have you seen the 1996 Bulova watch catalog? That's me."

Coast Guard Navigational Aid Station (part 2)

Um, Bronson, the boat works better IN the water.


Sterling goes with a Jared Hess theme here, riding a Nacho Libre-esque cycle and wearing a Napoleon Dynamite shirt. "Sterling, where are your robes?" "They were . . . stinky. But these are my recreation clothes." "They look expensive." "Yes, they have the appearance of riches. But beneath the clothes, we find the man. And beneath the man, we find . . . his . . . nucleus."


What is this!?!! A life preserver for ANTS?!? (Warning: not intended for use as a flotation device . . . they will, however, help keep the water out of your ears as you are sinking.)


If you need some help navigating, Mike is your man. Go team!

Something I Found . . .

So the screensaver on my laptop scrolls through my photo folder, and I saw this one go by recently. It was SO worth it to rummage back through Picasa 2 and find it for real so I could upload it. I figured it would be a good test to see if you're still checkin' the blog, Steve. FYI: It's from May 20, 2004.