OwntheNight 10 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 So, our Gear is loaded on a truck and will be heading from Texas to Philadelphia in a few days. Less than 2 weeks from now, myself and 37 other members of our beloved Troop will be heading to the airport to catch a flight to Philly for the 100th Boy Scout pilgrimage to Valley Forge, PA. We're getting excited about the trip. Lot's of history to see, oh yeah, and the cold! I got to let our Pack know I wouldn't be around for Scouting for Food that weekend. Couple of the boys were jealous I might get to camp in the snow and they wanted to know if they could go!...Maybe in a few years! So, have any of you fine Scouters done the pilgrimage? Any advice for us Chicken fried southern boys with the funny accents? Are any of you attending this year? If so, come find the 1776 Texas boys and say Howdy! We won't be hard to find (or hear)We'll be the ones eating chili, dressed up like we should be in Alaska, while everybody else is in T shirts. And don't worry, the Texas drawl isn't contagious, it does wear off after we leave! So here's our Itinerary for the rest of the weekend, anything else we can go see in Philly? Yes, Pat's and Geno's are on the agenda. All scouts and adults will be at the camp site in Valley Forge on Friday night and we will spend Friday and Saturday night at the camp site. The Valley Forge Pilgrimage is over Sunday morning; we must be out of the Park by 10 a.m. on Sunday. We will spend Sunday night at on the U.S.S. New Jersey, across the river from downtown Philadelphia in Camden, N.J. Information about the New Jersey can be found at: http://www.battleshipnewjersey.org We will spend Sunday touring the historical sites of Philadelphia, including touring inside Independence Hall and seeing the Liberty Bell. Part of our time will include a 75 minute walking tour which includes the following sites: http://www.theconstitutional.com/guided/guidedMap.html On Monday, time permitting we will visit either the Rocky Statue or Reading Terminal Market. Information on both of those sites can be found here: http://www.visitphilly.com/museums-attractions/philadelphia/the-rocky-statue-and-therocky- steps/?gclid=COnE6e2p4K0CFQ3DtgodYjetmQ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reading_Terminal_Market Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Just curious... Are the boys out of school for something?????? What does the troop charge for an outing like this??? Link to post Share on other sites
T2Eagle 902 Posted February 7, 2012 Share Posted February 7, 2012 Make sure the boys get to try a cheesesteak with some tastykakes for dessert while you're there. Link to post Share on other sites
OwntheNight 10 Posted February 8, 2012 Author Share Posted February 8, 2012 Base, Yes, the boys are off for President's Day, and some are taking a half day off from school on Friday. I'm pulling my son out of school all day Friday since we have an earlier flight than the the Troop flight. Cost: The Trip cost is 200.00 per person, this does not include the flight. This covers all our fees, and our food. Our CC actually used his company to ship all the gear, so that saved us some expense, but we have to rent 2 vans and a bobtail to transport gear and the troop. A friend of our COR is letting us keep the gear in his shop until we get there. We did manage to get a group rate for the flight which came out to around 460.00 per person. My son and I are using advantage Miles to fly up there, and a lot of people are using miles for the flight as well. T2E, Thanks for reminding me about the tastykakes, I was getting obsessed about a steak wit wiz. That is a good finisher! Link to post Share on other sites
Basementdweller 608 Posted February 8, 2012 Share Posted February 8, 2012 Sounds like fun Visited with the son a year or so ago....He thought it was really cool, wife and daughter passed... Mutters medical museum.......Medical oddities..... they currently have albert einsteins brain on display..... Ate Genos and Pats.....I like Jim's better........Guess you need to try them all and let us know what you think. Lukes is rated #1 never ate there http://www.urbanspoon.com/f/21/2012/Philadelphia/Cheesesteaks-Restaurants Link to post Share on other sites
RememberSchiff 3689 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 "This years event, because of the momentous anniversary, brought more scouts (4000!)than ever to the park. This year the troop that traveled the farthest distance came from Texas . http://mainlinemedianews.com/articles/2012/02/19/king_of_prussia_courier/news/doc4f41ab6bc23b9994264658.txt?viewmode=default Well done.(This message has been edited by RememberSchiff) Link to post Share on other sites
Eamonn 61 Posted February 20, 2012 Share Posted February 20, 2012 Don't worry about talking funny. I think all Americans talk funny (I'm now ducking under my desk!) As cities go Philadelphia has more than its fair share of problems, but is a great place to visit, not sure that I'd want to live there. Some years back myself and HWMBO visited, I forget where we were going but we got lost. As I tried to work out where we were, I noticed that we were standing outside of a club/bar called The Black Banana. Today many years later I still contend that when the only landmark around is a place called the Black Banana, -You really are lost! Hope you all had a great time. Shame it's a flying visit, I like Lancaster county and have a great admiration for the Amish and how they have held fast to their way of life. PA has been home for me for the past 27 years. The people are some of the nicest and kindest that I've had met. Maybe you can find a Shoo-Fly Pie and take it back home as a dessert to eat after all that chili? Ea. Link to post Share on other sites
OwntheNight 10 Posted February 22, 2012 Author Share Posted February 22, 2012 Well we made it back to the Lone Star State! A little tired, (Okay, alot TIRED, that was a lot of walking and hiking )in need of a shower, felt bad for the people on the flight, they got to share the plane with us and and an under 16 club hockey team from Dallas who just finished up a tournament that day ( they finished 4-0 in their tourney!) So all around good representation from the city of Dallas, and the state of Texas. Have to say, this trip moved to the top of the list of any trip I've taken as a Boy Scout or Scouter. It was a fantastic trip all around. Our boys had a great time. They were attentive, had a great attitude, asked great questions every where we went. Can't tell you the number of people that came up to us and complimented our boys on their Scoutlike behavior. Everybody from TSA agents, to Customs agents, to passengers and the staff out at Valley Forge. They all knew who the Texas boys were and let us know they appreciated our visit and would welcome us back anytime. So Friday afternoon, My son and I get in about 3pm, we head over and pick up one of the 15 passenger vans for the trip, and start making our way up to Valley Forge ( after getting misplaced in one of the communities outside of the airport!) We make it to VF, and I meet up with our Treasurer and another ASM, who had arrived earlier and picked up all the gear from the warehouse. They had already done all the shopping for food and were getting ready to start laying out all the tents to set up, when a Venturing Crew from New Jersey offered to set up all the tents for us while we drove back to the airport to get the rest of the troop. What a great start to the weekend. Got back to the airport, with a few minutes to spare before the troop flight got in. Got everybody loaded in the vans and made our way back up to VF. On the way back up , we were flipping through the radio stations and found that the Mavericks were playing the Sixers in Philly that night, wish we would have known that sooner, maybe tried to get tickets for the game, oh well.. We got into camp and setled in for the night. Saturday morning, everybody got moving around, got coffee in the adults and some hot cocoa and oatmeal in the boys, and then got sandwiches made for lunch. Was finally able to get on one of the last shuttle buses to the site and got there about a quarter of the way through the opening ceremonies. After the opening ceremonies, we got back on the buses and headed off to our first rotation point on the other side of the park. We worked our way through all the rotations that day and even got the requirements done for the extra encampment badge (Visiting Gen.Washington's HQ, Visiting the Washington Chapel, and the Visitor Center) Just so happen that our lunch time rotation coincided with the medical rotation referenced in the article that Schiff posted. Lunch was not as appealing during his discussion of amputations and diseases! After all the hiking that day, it was good to get back to camp and start some dinner. We decided on Chicken Tortilla Soup instead of chili. Didn't really matter, it was hot, it was good and we got to share it with some boys from a troop from Buffalo. After that, we got the DO's fired up with about 5 different cobblers going. Tried convincing the boys to go to campfire that night, but they were content just hanging around the campsite. It was nice just to be able to hang around and visit with some of the other units near us. Sunday morning- Took a little extra doing, but we finally got everybody up and moving around and getting camp broke down. Kind of a hodge podge breakfast, we basically threw all the food we still had left on the tables and said "finish it up". From cheese to summer sausauge to oatmeal to fruit, we had the full buffet going. We also found an Apple cobbler that didn't get touched, that became the adult breakfast, throw the DO on the stove and heat it up a little bit, you got yourself a warm apple danish! Camp staff was gracious enought to let us get our Uhaul early so we could get all our gear loaded instead of making us wait for our campsite inspection to be done. All the vehicles were parked in a remote parking lot and they had shuttles running from the camp site to the parking lot for all the drivers. They also moved us up to the front of those lines, so we could get all of our vehicles early. Got all the gear and boys loaded and headed towards downtown Philly. Stopped at Pat's and Geno's and got to enjoy a nice gooey mess on a roll. One of the boys commented to me, " It was good, but the people behind the counter were kind of rude!" Welcome to Philadelphia, son. I joke, but that was really the only time we experienced any kind of negative attitude, everybody else we ran into was very friendly and wanted to ask about our troop and our adventures. We got the boys dropped off at the visitor center and started our walking tour around Philadelphia. Saw all the usual suspects on the tour, Franklin's grave, Betsy Ross House etc. Our tour ended up at Independence Hall and we got in line for the tour. An hour later we're standing in the room where the history of our country began. I have to say I was pretty overwhelmed by that moment. While I've been to DC and seen the " Big 3 " documents behind the glass, that just seemed very antiseptic and distant. This was totally different, this was the spot where our founding fathers agreed to commit treason against the King to create a better way of life for us today. We then finished up at the Liberty Bell and the Visitor Center to let the boys burn some of that money in their pocket. We then headed out across the bridge to find the Battleship New Jersey. Once we got on the boat and settled in, our boys got the honor of doing the evening flag ceremony on deck. After dinner, we were broken into 2 groups and were given an up close and personal tour of the boat. Our tour was directed by a retired Master Chief who served on the New Jersey's sister ship, the USS Wisconsin, during the Korean war. Chief had some great stories to tell, and seemed to have more energy than the boys. It was 2230 and we still had 3 more parts of the tour to go with a 2300 Lights Out/Taps. Chief got us finished at 2255, just enough time to get changed and in the racks. The boys finally crashed about 0030 to get some sleep, 0700 reville would come way to early!! Monday morning- The Final day of our journey. After morning colors, we ate breakfast and started packing up the gear. Got all the boys off the boat pretty quickly so we could do the obligatory photo ops. We finished up the packing of the Uhaul, so we could deliver the pallets back to the warehouse, where they will be picked up by a shipping company and transported back to us in a week or so. The boys wanted to stay on the boat for a while longer, and were perplexed when we told them we were going to a mall instead of playing on a battleship. We loaded up and headed to the Reading terminal. For those that haven't been there, this is like a food court on steroids, except it's not chain restaurants, but local merchants and families. They have a lot of everything! I got to enjoy a fresh made cannoli, wanted to get a fresh pretzel, but didn't have the time. Of course the boys all commented on the chocolatier that had body organs made from chocolate. Lungs, Hearts, you name it. Pretty wild stuff. Some of the vendors have been spotlighted on The Food Network. Definitely need to get back to try some of the other cuisine. I could eat there everyday for a week and still not have seen it all. I got a great perspective on Scouting this weekend and a refreshing breather to keep me energized about scouting. In talking to some great Scouts and Scouters, I realize we're not doing it wrong, we're letting the boys plan a great program, or at least letting them see what is possible. While we did the heavy lifting of the planning and dealt with the logistics of the trip, the boys got a really cool opportunity. I hope we can do this again down the road for other boys that join our troop, and those that didn't get to go this time. Thank You all for the ideas and input, and if any of you know any staff members from the Valley forge encampment, please give them our best regards and warmest thanks again from the Texas boys. Don't forget to say Howdy if your unit makes it to Dallas anytime. Now it's off to plan the Pack Blue and Gold. Link to post Share on other sites
RememberSchiff 3689 Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Glad you and your scouts had a great time. Your scouts might enjoy watching "National Treasure" (the first movie). My $0.02(This message has been edited by RememberSchiff) Link to post Share on other sites
OldGreyEagle 5 Posted February 22, 2012 Share Posted February 22, 2012 Make sure your boys know that Genos and Pats are ruse to everyone, its said the Seinfeld "Soup Nazi" was modeled on the people at Geno's window, then again, people in Philly do tend to think the world revolves around them Link to post Share on other sites
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