Welcome to Camp Icicle

[cjlasky7]

I am currently WAY out of my comfort zone: a cabin in the woods in Putnam Valley, New York. It is my son's first Cub Scout camping excursion, and I volunteered to chaperone.

My friends in the New York metropolitan area must be thinking: "Camping? It's freezing out there! Are they CRAZY?" Well, it was positively balmy when they booked the site; little did we know that we would have record low temperatures the whole weekend.

My wife kept going, "Are you SURE you want to do this?" Sigh. No, of course I wasn't sure--but how could I disappoint the kid?

(And, not so incidentally, I wanted to prove to myself that I could organize and supervise this kind of trip by myself.)

After an epic drive (don't ask) from NYC, we settled into our surprisingly comfortable cabin. Accommodations for 30 people. Wood burning stove/fireplace in the center. Electrical outlets for those who cannot leave civilization behind.

{slowly raises hand}

Went on a nature hike this morning. Wind chills in the teens. My kid had a great time; others were weeping on the trail.

Archery at 3.

I think the trip was worth it.

Comments

[shadowkat]

Sounds like fun, I'm sure your kid is loving every minute of it. (I used to love those sorts of trips when I was a kid. Now, not so much. Although we did have separate cabins, no wifi, no computers, and less civilization...)

Very sunny day today. Cold. But very sunny.

[cjlasky7]

Honestly, I expected the cabin to be a lot more primitive. If the bathroom were actually in the cabin, this would be a decent, oversized hotel room. Still very nice.

[shadowkat]

It has to be somewhat similar to camping, otherwise what is the point? ;-)

Sigh, be nice to get out of NYC for a bit. The city has gotten a wee bit too crowded of late. Go home, crazy tourists. ;-)

[cactuswatcher]

At least you've got cabins. I remember a cold weekend in the Boy Scouts in tents. Fine during the day when we were busy doing things, nasty at night, especially when everyone got too tired to sit by the campfires.

[cjlasky7]

We almost cancelled, because the cabin was overbooked, and we would have had to "tent it." In 17 degree Fahrenheit weather? No.

Fortunately(?), there were cancellations (probably due to the weather) and space in the cabin opened up.