A few year ago my troop started an annual "mystery trip". Briefly, what it is is a trip where the destination is not announced until we arrive at the location. We do the trip at the end of april break from school, Thursday through Sunday. In the past we have gone to places like Washington DC(smithsonian, navel acadamy), Boston (science museum, USS Massachusets), and Valley Forge/Hershey.

 

What I was hoping to get from this group is some ideas of other places we could go to. We are located in Albany, NY. So it would probably need to be

Have you ever done the Buffalo Shipyards? You can sleep one night on the ship and then camp up near Niagara Falls. We have done that and it has been fun!

Have you been to Gettysburg yet?

 

It is probably a little over the 5hr drive from Albany.

 

You should plan at least 3-4 days if you plan to earns the "Gettysburg" Historic trails award offered by the York-Adams Council.

 

There are a few other threads on this here.

 

It's a great trip!!

 

CE

Well, since you have been as far as DC...how about a tour of the FBI Academy in northern Virginia. You can stay at the Quantico Marine Base right next store - they have a nice family campground around a lake with plenty of stuff to do and you can hike to the academy. Several years ago, we did this trip when I knew the then Academy director. He and his son actually camped with us. When the bowling ball-sized hailstorms came, he took us over to the Academy where we spent the night. The tour takes you through the offices, gym, fake training town, car track, pistol ranges, etc. The director took us in the main conference room and did a very nice spiel on FBI activities. Basically free except for food and travel.

 

I'll also echo Cave Eagle's Gettysburg suggestion. That is a great trip destination too.

meamemg,

second Gettyburg! outstanding camp if you can get into the youth camp ground right on the battlefield it is AWESOME!

 

FBI is great the Campsites at Quantico MCB -Lunga (the lake)recreational area are very nice. (Judy-who does the resevations is very helpful...more paperwork now though). The Marines are opening a new museum in 2006...do not know dates but you might check with them.

 

Anteitam Battlefield is a great location.

you could hike the C&O canal, see Harpers Ferry ( of John Brown and Civil War fame) and maybe see the sights from Jeffersons Rock (where the Potomac and Shenandoah rivers join at Harpers Ferry)- a view Thomas Jefferson said, "was worth a trip across the Atlantic", on the same trip!

anarchist

 

 

 

 

I too live near smAlbany,

I'ts not real far but what about Camp Henderson and Cooperstown. BB hall of fame, farmers museum, Fenimore Museum.

We took the Cubs there overnight and they loved it . Henderson folks were very nice.

I've done Gettysburg 3x... great trip, and don't forget to visit the Eisenhower Farm.

 

As for other trip suggestions.... Ben Franklin's 300th birthday is in January... many, many intresting tributes to him being planned in the city of Philadelphia.

 

And you can always do DC again, because there is always more to see.

 

Jon

 

Near Scranton, PA there is a coal mining museum.

There is also a Houdini Magic museum and a place called Claws and Paws which is an animal park in the woods.

 

Farther South there is a tour of the Pioneer Tunnel where you ride down into a coal mine in the rail cars. Also located there is a narrow gauge Steam Train

 

Lincoln Caverns, near Huntingdon, PA has a good Scout program. You can have them run a program to earn the Geology MB.

 

A little farther is Baltimore, MD. At the Inner Harbor there is the National Aquarium, The Maryland Science Center , Fort McHenry, The USS Constellation and the Baltimore Maritime Museum. Near the Inner Harbor there is also Edger Allen Poe's Grave and the house where Babe Ruth was born. Camden Yards Sports Complex is not far either.

 

 

And there is always the NYC to go visit.

Near Scranton, PA there is a coal mining museum.

There is also a Houdini Magic museum and a place called Claws and Paws which is an animal park in the woods.

 

Farther South there is a tour of the Pioneer Tunnel where you ride down into a coal mine in the rail cars. Also located there is a narrow gauge Steam Train

 

Lincoln Caverns, near Huntingdon, PA has a good Scout program. You can have them run a program to earn the Geology MB.

 

A little farther is Baltimore, MD. At the Inner Harbor there is the National Aquarium, The Maryland Science Center , Fort McHenry, The USS Constellation and the Baltimore Maritime Museum. Near the Inner Harbor there is also Edger Allen Poe's Grave and the house where Babe Ruth was born. Camden Yards Sports Complex is not far either.

 

 

And there is always NYC to go visit.