Recent Events

September 20th - Greek Festival at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in Columbia.  We have the last several years worked in the Souvlaki Booth with Chris Miller for a couple of hours before enjoying the festival - this has been a way to say thank you for their church letting us use their facility as a meeting place (and it's been fun!).  I'll check with him and see if he needs some help!

 

October 10th - Apple picking trip to Sky Top Orchard near Hendersonville, NC.  We have been several times now and it has been great.  However... other people have discovered it, too - so we should get as early a start as possible. Pix from a previous trip :
https://picasaweb.google.com/103868908476097872378/TrailblazersApplePicking

 

• Update : It was RAINY - we hiked at DuPont State Forest and picked our apples off of the tables at Sky Top...
• https://goo.gl/photos/XFNSrtNM6SvzZ5J16

 

 
October 24th - Backpacking
It was a short trip - practice for the "real deal" in the spring :
https://goo.gl/photos/8HHBn31vvQ9S8Dme7

 

 

November 21-22 - James Island County Park Christmas Lights, camping, bike riding, etc  I'll contact the park about camping - I would recommend that we go down early Saturday, take bikes to ride in the park, perhaps book some time on the climbing wall, and see the lights at night.  We could visit downtown Charleston Sunday before coming home.
http://www.ccprc.com/1546/Holiday-Festival-of-Lights
https://picasaweb.google.com/103868908476097872378/TrailblazersOnAPirateHistoryWalkInCharleston

Per the park office :
Camping : a space in the primitive, group camping area for 2 tents / 6 people is $28.38
Climbing : $120/group up to 10 people, up to 4 more at $12/person

 

• Update : No climbing this time, but we had a great time!
• https://goo.gl/photos/yYtM1rf4pjwTtbwPA

  

December 5th - Columbia Christmas Parade

 

https://goo.gl/photos/2NSYnafZ2kVCofv1A

 

 

 

Scottish Games at Grandfather Mountain July 10-12

The Scottish Games at Grandfather Mountain the weekend of July 10-12 are our July outing.  

http://www.gmhg.org/ 

Here is the blog post from our last trip - http://scytrailblazers.blogspot.com/2012/05/july-13-15-grandfather-mountain.html?m=1

This was a lot of fun last time. I can call the same campground to check on availability unless there are other ideas.

And prior trip - http://scytrailblazers.blogspot.com/2008/07/highland-games-at-grandfather-mountain.html?m=1

Canoeing for Kids Raft-a-Rama May 16

Our May outing is to go rafting with the Canoeing For Kids fundraiser on Saturday the 16th.  This is a family trip - everybody is welcome.  This trip is suitable for young children  - everyone is in a guided raft. Let your guide know how wild a ride your crew wants.  Trips are at 9:30 and 1:00.  I will be guiding a raft on each trip.

Trips start at the Canoeing For Kids HQ at 114 Riverchase Ct, Lexington, SC  and end at the Gervais St. Bridge

More info about Canoeing For Kids : http://www.canoeingforkids.org

The cost is $50 per person which includes a BBQ lunch and is a charitable donation.

To register, you can print out the registration and release forms on their site and mail it in or you can just call them and handle the paperwork and payment on the day of the trip.  The important thing is to let them know ahead so they can plan the trips accordingly.

Pictures from previous years : 

2010 2011  2012 2013

Camping :  We are able to camp at the CFK HQ on Friday night.  If you plan to do that, let me know and sign up for the 9:30 trip.

Archaeological Site Public Day 3/14

March 14th is this year's "Public Day" at the Johannes Kolb archaeological site near Darlington. More info about the site can be found here : http://38da75.com/  The dig has artifacts from the recent past back to as far as 12,000 years ago. There will be several demonstrators there and the kids get a chance to sift some dirt. We took our tribe there several years ago and it was great!  

These are from a past trip one of our tribes took :link

A video with Sean Taylor - the archaeologist who came to Longhouse once :link  

DNR Site :link

Let's meet there at 10:00am.

Directions

From the site : http://38da75.com/volunteers/

This address is at the entrance to the heritage preserve :

736 N Charleston Rd, Darlington, SC 29540

Hosting a meeting

A good number of our families are new and have questions about hosting.

When: The second Friday of the month at 7:00pm is the usual time. It can be moved because of holidays or other conflicts.  Meetings usually last about 90 minutes

Where: Traditionally we meet at the downtown YMCA, however they close at 8:00 and that only works if there is Y staff willing to stay (Doug Berkel). Chris Miller has made Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church facilities available when they aren't otherwise committed.  The main appeal off these locations is that they are centrally located and allow a variety of activities.  But, the host family can pick any location - home, church, park, etc.

Scott has been coordinating with Doug and Chris for use of the downtown facilities so let him know what you'd like to do with as much advance notice as possible.

Who: We rotate hosting duties among the families, ideally we would have two families hosting, but our numbers are low for that. Parent and child work together.

What : A meeting consists of some basic elements-

• Prayer and pledge of allegiance
• Business - the officers (kids) run this -
• - Review last outing
• - Discuss upcoming outing (usually a Dad speaks up)
• - Award patches
• - Celebrate birthdays
• Country report - Host child presents a report. Tell us something interesting you learned about the country in 5-10 minutes. Be creative, don't just tell us the facts from the Wikipedia page. Tell us about the history, geography, culture, or significance of the country - food, folk tales, music, food, arts, politics, etc.
• Activity - host family organizes an activity.  This can be related tho the country or not. This can be a gym/active game, quiz, puzzle, craft, etc - use your imagination
• Snack- again, it can be related to the country or not. Don't break the bank! This is a snack, not a meal.

Agenda- the Secretary prepares this, with input from the host family and "chief"

Skiing February 28th

Per Wolfgang :

We will go to Wolf Ridge Ski Resort like in the past years, http://www.skiwolfridgenc.com/ .  

The group price (15 or more, no different whether adult or children) is:

Half Day Session Weekend/Holiday 1pm-4:30pm

Liftticket $28

Ski/Equipment Rental $15

Snowbord/Equipment Rental $29

Fee lessons are included and we can even have one for skiers and one for snowboarders if we have both in our group.  We qualify as a group if we have 15 people purchasing lift tickets, even if not everybody purchases an equipment rental or a meal ticket.  Meal tickets are still available at $8 a piece and "picnicking" (I assume they mean bringing your own food) in the lodge is not allowed.

The plan is to arrive before noon, get the tickets and paperwork done, have lunch, get the equipment and start skiing at 1pm.  Carpooling and caravaning are likely to be organized closer to the date.

In our experience most kids love it even if they have zero experience or even snow appropriate clothes.  So for anybody who has not previously done it,  we can recommend just taking the plunge!

Please us this sign up form to help us get a headcount - feel free to bring your family and invite friends - 

http://goo.gl/forms/BhVQysL2CW