July 28th, 2010 - Day 5

Everyone had to wake really early this morning to assemble for our first arena show. Most alarms were set for 6 AM with the senior leaders waking even before that. Before every in camp meal the patrol cooks and the troop Quartermaster travel to the commissary tent to retrieve the for the patrol’s meal. This morning the cook’s job was really easy because there was no cooking involved. Danishes and cereal was what was on the menu for this morning, so clean up would be easy enough to give us the time to be prepared to assemble for the show.

We lined up just outside our campsite around 7:30 to begin our walk to the arena. The hike is about a mile from our campsite, but the time it takes for this walk is a great deal longer than normal when there are 45,000+ people all going to the same place at the same time. The stop and go traffic on the road was expected, but from my own past experiences I can say the organization of this march was much better than in years past. Roughly an hour later we arrived to the arena and found our seats to the show.

The show took most of the morning and only allowed for the scouts to take part in afternoon activities. The show featured special guests like Secretary of Defense – Robert Gates, Chief Scout Executive – Bob Mazzuca, WWE’s Sergeant Slaughter, Virginia State Governor – Bob McDonnell, Miss America – Caressa Cameron, National Boy Scout Commissioner – Tico Perez, National Order of the Arrow Chief – Brad Lachota, and a few others wrapped up the rather lengthy show. The several hour show lasted much longer than it should have and the boys began to loose interest and getting anxious to get up and leave to participate in more of the fun activities that the Jamboree has. It was our understanding that the President Obama was scheduled to make his appearance at this first show but due to a scheduling conflict was unable to attend and speak to the boys. Several rumors as to why he didn’t attend have been floating around the Jamboree ranging anywhere from he was at a wedding to he was on The View that morning. I can’t tell for sure what the case was but if he was on The View that morning instead of at the National Jamboree than I personally would say I have lost all respect for him.

Today’s lunch was roast beef on a bun, Ritz bits crackers, mixed fruit, grandma’s oatmeal raisin cookies and a Capri sun. Several guys picked these up just after the show ended at a near by kiosk. Others went straight to activities in order to earn their patch segments and just plain have a blast. One of the more interesting stories I heard of the day was that a few of our guys met the Chief Scout Executive – Bob Mazzuca and were able to take pictures and talk with a little before he had a meeting to get to. Bob handed out a few special commemorative jamboree patches to those that met him, making a great memento of the jamboree. Other area’s like Boy’s Life, Merit Badge Midway and the activity centers continue to be big hit amongst the boys.

Later that evening we settled down to jambalaya for supper with some entertainment by our very own Tristan Meyer. Tristan lost his wallet and a gracious adult leader from another troop returned it, so I’m a little teapot song was in order. Supper clean up was done in the fastest time yet and my guess it was because our upcoming Mic-O-Say dance. The boys were excited to get in costume for the first time and perform for the public for the first time as well. Several bystanders came by to watch and take pictures of the boys dancing. Several comments about how well the dancers performed were the talk after we finished and everyone seemed to be pleased we brought our costumes.

July 27th, 2010 - Day 4

Morning started early for our boys as most were out of bed by 6:45 A.M. and eating breakfast within the following hour. Breakfast this morning consisted of eggs, bacon, toast, peach, milk, and juice. After clean-up everyone was dismissed from camp after receiving name badges, safety cards, and meal tickets. Each name badge is a hard plastic card similar in size to a typical credit card and has the name, council, troop, and a special barcode for every participant. The barcode is the Jamboree’s method to scan a boy’s card to pull up any information on the individual specifically in case of a medical emergency. The meal tickets are for the boys to receive their lunch while out and about the jamboree site. This is setup so they won’t have to return to camp to fix and clean up afterwards, which would take away from their time and experience.

This was around 9:30 A.M. when everyone finally took off to explore what the Jamboree has to offer. With a day full of activities many had the chance to take in all sorts of different events. I heard stories of SCUBA diving, snorkeling, buckskin games, earning merit badges at Merit Badge Midway, and of course patch trading. Several have caught the fever of trading patches with other councils around the jamboree. This craze gets the boys to meet and introduce themselves with other scouts around the nation and some parts of the world.

Each boy has their own story to tell and each one will be different. Although each scout must travel with a buddy to all the activities, scouts get to choose what they want to do and when they want to do it, truly making the jamboree a unique experience.

Personally I visited several of the National Exhibits today on my adventures, my first stop was at the National Guard area where the have information on the various branches of the armed forces. After taking in the patch wall and a few sections of the armed forces branches, I stopped for lunch at one of the kiosks. The turkey sandwich with chips, Jell-O, pineapple tidbits, and apple juice was a good lunch for on the go scouts trying to have a good time. Continuing my journey I headed down Thomas Hill Road to take in the NESA (National Eagle Scout Association) tent, Sea Scouts, Smokey the Bear balloon, religious awards tent, and many more. On my way back to the campsite I stopped by Merit Badge midway to find many scouts hard at work earning merit badges. Getting back to the campsite close to 4 P.M., several had already arrived and were talking to anyone that would listen about their day’s events. You could just see the excitement and fun that everyone was having.

The patrols began to prepare the evening meal (tacos), while continuing to brag about their day, the people that they met, and the different patches they traded for. After supper we had a dance practice to refresh our dancing skills and spark interest for our first public dance tomorrow night. Marking the end of our activities for the day some took the opportunity to take showers in the near by facilities, while others just had a good time.

Then after a brief meeting with the patrols, in which the patrol leaders discussed the day’s events and informed them of what is going on tomorrow. Many closed their meeting with a discussion of thorns and roses before everyone was sent to bed with the intentions of an early wake up call. The first arena show takes place in the morning and we have to eat breakfast and be prepared to move to the show by 7:30 A.M. So I close this post with my own retiring for the evening, goodnight to you all and god bless.

July 26th, 2010 - Day 3

Breakfast this morning was very similar to yesterday except this time we were located in a different and slightly larger room than before. The hotel was exceptional in almost everyway and according to the tour company we were very lucky to stay in such a nice hotel since most other contingents did get as good a privilege.

Leaving the hotel our first stop was Ford’s Theater. This portion of our tour was a ticketed item in which we needed to show up at a certain time. Our showing was the first of the day at 9 A.M. The first part of our tour featured a run-through of the museum located underneath the actual theatre. Featured were several mementos from the historic day when our 16^th President of the United States was assassinated. Items such as the gun that John Wilkes Booth used to shoot President Lincoln were showcased along with tons of information and artifacts from the time. After we finished glancing at the items on display we ventured upstairs to sit in the actual theater were the gun shot occurred. Sitting through a narrative that explained the events that happened that fateful night. After the presentation concluded we gathered back on the bus to depart to capital hill.

At capital hill several sites were taken in from a far, since we were unable to go inside any of the buildings due to time constraints in our schedule. We were able to stop and take plenty of pictures and listen to the explanations from our tour guided about the history and neat facts of each place. Our first picture stop was the US Capital Building, in which we had the forethought to bring our troop flag to use in our picture in front of the building. Our guide was able to provide a lot of information on the building and after what I would imagine several hundred photos that were taken amongst the boys we ventured over to the library of congress.

Much like most of our tour of Washington DC it was a brief stop to take pictures and hear a little history behind the building. Moving on past the library of congress we stop for another picture on the steps of the Supreme Court. We were actually pretty lucky to do this because they had been running people and scouts away from the steps before our arrival. Luckily we were able to convince the security guards to let us take a troop photo.

Lunch followed shortly after at Union Station, in which boys were issued tickets for a meal of their choice at one of the restaurants inside. This was a very important meal for the boys for it was their last chance to have a meal prepared for them until after the jamboree. Giving everyone about an hour at union station, many had and took the opportunity to buy souvenirs and gifts for those back home or for themselves.

While counting the boys for our last bus loading many were counting down the minutes to our jamboree arrival. Our bus trip lasted a little over an hour and a half as we headed south to Fort A.P. Hill. Arriving after 3 P.M. our troop began quickly to unload the gear truck and set up our home/campsite for the next 10 days. Set up was very disorganized and inefficient which was blatantly apparent by the amount of time it took to set up. Supper is supposed to be served around 7 P.M., however tonight it was served around 9:15 P.M. because our delay in the construction of camp. Due to our late meal clean up ran late and lights out soon followed.

July 25th, 2010 - Day 2

Unfortunately we arrived back late to the hotel this evening and I am pretty tired so my post this evening will be much shorter than yesterday’s but my plan is to go back later and add more when time is available. I will post pictures in the order in which we saw them with a short caption explaining what is being showed.

Breakfast at the Hyatt Hotel

The Boy Scout Memorial

Scout Oath on the side of the Boy Scout Memorial

The Treasury Department Building

1600 Pennsylvania Ave - White House Address

Troop 1122 in front of the White House - North Lawn

The White House - South Lawn

The National Museum of The American Indian

The National Museum of Air & Space

The National Museum of Natural History

Arlington National Cemetery

Arlington National Cemetery

Kennedy Gravesite

Backside of The Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

Changing of the Guard - Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

Tomb of the Unknown Soldiers

Iwo Jima Marine Memorial

Korean Memorial

Lincoln Memorial

Vietnam Memorial

Armand's Pizza - Supper

Washington Monument

Sunset at the Washington Monument

As we settle into our beds at our hotel, everyone is doing well and from what I can tell having fun too. After a long day of traveling all over our nation's capital the group is looking forward to a good nights rest in an air conditioned building before we travel south to Fort A.P. Hill tomorrow afternoon. Excitement is building and questions about what to expect at the Jamboree has been the talk of the troop and other scouts in the area as we prepare for the biggest celebration of scouting ever. Like I said earlier I will add more to today's post when time permits so keep watching for new information to be posted. I apologize for not having the time to write more but a wise man once told me that a picture was worth a thousand words so please take a look at the pictures posted and stay tuned for more. Thanks again for all your support and to those that left comments as well. We miss you all and we will be home soon!