[Edited to put outings and meetings all in one table]

We have had over 10 families reply with current interest in the program - 5 made it to the meeting.  Thank you!  Following is what we came up with -

Meetings - 

• We decided to stick with Friday evening meetings - see dates below - most are on the first Friday of the month
• Note - if you are hosting, you are free to pick a different day 
• We will be following up with Chris Miller to see if Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox will still be available as a venue 
• Note - if you are hosting, you are welcome to pick your own venue - your home, church, or location related to activity you want to do
• We will make a rotation for hosting shortly - feel free to volunteer for a date

Outings -

• Based on input via the Google form, e-mail, and discussion, we came up with the following slate of outings.  
• I took a stab at proposing some dates.  
• Some of these outings will need hosts and some planning.
• Some of the outing ideas that didn't get on the calendar would make good meeting activities...

Month	Meeting	Host	Outings	Date
August	8/12		Stand Up Paddle boarding on lake Murray Water Skiing	8/13 8/20
September	9/9, 9/30		Biking on the Spanish Moss Trail in Beaufort (planned Swamp Rabbit)	9/17
October	10/7		Apple picking (SkyTop, other?)	10/8
			Backpacking	10/22-23
November	11/4		Big Mo drive in	11/5
			James Island Lights	11/19-20
December	12/1		Service Project	12/17
January	1/5		Lock In	1/21
February	2/3		Snow Skiing	2/11
March	3/2		Charleston Trip	3/25-27
April	4/6		Camping? Canoe Camping?	4/22-23
May	5/5
June	6/2

Link to the spreadsheet with the above info :
https://drive.google.com/open?id=103A-dbdKZ8EV0Uc4soIC7rxZq7Sa3KVcSH4cF76N41I 

Dates are on the Y Indian Calendar :

https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=01e05c3dhblc427bnk5aql1pg0%40group.calendar.google.com&ctz=America/New_York

Johannes Kolb Archaeological Site trip 3/12

March 12th 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

Upcoming events

January 30th - Lock-in We have many times had a lock-in at a Y in January. The Indian Guides have one at the Jeep Rogers YMCA, let's join them.  They will be doing some Y Guides recruiting at 6pm.  Let Scott or Ed know if you are coming.

February 27th - Skiing!  Wolfgang has volunteered to host this.  We will plan on a day trip to Wolf Ridge.

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