Pony Express Encampment (150 year anniversary)

Pony Express 150 Year Anniversary - June 11-13 - Cordelia
The year is 1860. You wish to be employed as a Pony Express rider but they are not hiring females. (How Rude!) To prove to the firm that you can do it, you propose a contest to locate the fastest riders. Come join Pony Express Encampment 2010 at the Cordelia Outdoor Center, 4550 Cordelia Road, in Cordelia June 11-13 to be a part of the Pony Express action!


Alexis and I spent our first weekend camping with the Girl Scouts. We arrived at 6:00pm on Friday night, after a week of worrying about the weather which was supposed to be from 91 to 94 degrees. Oh my!!! The girls received a backpack filled with a t-shirt, a horseshoe case with a pony to make, a map of the stations for the next day. Let the fun begin...praying I make it.



Set up camp amongst the other 40 or so tents. Sun setting, very nice.....then the mosquitoes came out!!!! We sang songs and watched skits....lights out at 10:30p.....LOL Yeah right, girls ranged from Brownies to Cadettes.....I think it was about midnight, and then they awoke at 5:30am with breakfast not until 8:00am!!!!

Started off with breakfast. We brought our mess kits and Alexis was thrilled to wash the dishes and hang the clean dishes in the meshbag on the line hanging from the trees. So many activities planned for the day. We had three girls with us, Alexis, Jamison & Imani we were joined into a group of 8 other girls. They were all troopers in the heat.

Stations:
Knots (learned the square knot & one other)

Map & Compass (learned directions on a compass and how to follow a map)

Tent Set Up (learned to set up and take down a tent all by themselves)

Lunch break for hot dogs, chips, bananas.

Bandanna/Backpack coloring (they received cute back packs with two horses on them which they all personalized with the colors...neat watching their artistic thoughts flow, some make night scenes and other were daytime, and of course Alexis made half sun/half moon); they also received a Bandanna which the learned different ways of using them, how the Pony Express riders would have used them. Alexis came back from the break with her little dog tied into her bandanna with a long stick attached...instant Hobo bag.

Tracking & Trail Signs: They learned to mark a tree with an onion so they would not be lost in the forest; and how to mark a trail with sticks and stones to show someone how to find them.

Snack (made a trail mix and learned about what the Pony Express ate and drank....sip of water and beef jerky).

Emergency Shelter: Learned to tie ropes to the trees and use a covering over it to make a shelter. The girl that was showing them this was really fun. After the girls make the shelter, she had them get inside, then she dumped a bucket of water on the shelter....amazing, they did it right, no one was wet (although they would have liked to get wet at this point). Hot hot

First Aid: Prepared their own first aid kits and learned how to make care of minor injuries like scratches, bug bites (lots of those!!) and bloody noses, which helped later because two out of three of our girls got them (Alexis & Imani). They learned to do an arm carry in case some broke a leg and also arm splints. We also learned about poison ivy and how help someone out if they fell into it and spiders too.

Post Card/Beaded Key-Chain: Letters to the troops and then we make a cowboy hat beaded key chain. Also, one the girls with the camp-name "Firefly" taught them about the Pony Express and what the when went through.

Leave No Trace: Learned about the environment and helping to save it when we are out in the wilderness and respecting the land.

Chili, corn chips, and salad for dinner. Then we had a campfire that night and the girls performed songs & skits. Great weekend of learning and now we will figure out what skills they learned to match up with their "Try-Its". They also received a fun patch for their vests. Alexis bridged to Brownies from Daisies last month, so this will be her first addition to her uniform.

Great first camping trip.......would have been fantastic minus the MOSQUITOES!!!