Christmas 2015 has come and gone, and soon we’ll be celebrating the New Year and 2016. I always remember sending in the new year with Casey Kasem and the Yearly Countdown. And then turning on the TV to watch the never aging Dick Clark. Kids today don’t know what they are missing.

Now that I’ve gotten that nostalgic memory out of the way, here’s another one. I got one of the best Christmas presents from none other than Marla Vickers. Yes, THE Marla Vickers. And guess what? She found her Trip Out West™ journal – and sent me a copy. I laughed and laughed and yes, even teared up a little reading through it. Continue reading

Falls Creek Falls

Hikes & Outdoors No Comments becky, big boy mountain, camp wabak, geocaches, hiking, outdoors, upstate sc, waterfalls

After finding out that there’s a hike and an incredible 100′ waterfall on the backside of Big Boy/Cedar Rock Mountain, I knew I had to check it out!

I talked my leader friend Becky into it – well actually, she’s pretty much game for anything so I didn’t have to do much talking even though it’s listed as a short 1.2 miles but difficult hike. We hiked this trail on a chilly but crystal clear late October morning.

Falls Creek Falls is part of the Mountain Bridge Wilderness Area and joins up with the Hospital Rock Trail (which is even more strenuous) at the falls. There are also three geocaches along the path. At the closest part of the trail, WaBak is probably about a half mile away as the crow flies. Here’s a contour map: Continue reading

December 15 2015

Random Patch of the Day

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me 2 Comments patches, random patch of the day

So I’m looking for a patch for Woodworking, and I come across this one:

Log rolling? Like something you would see lumberjacks doing?

Is there a Safety Activity Checkpoint for Log Rolling?

BTW, here’s the link to the patch if you’re wondering where to get it. And doesn’t that gray dog look suspiciously like Wile E. Coyote?

December 13 2015

It’s My Least Favorite Time of the Year

Random Things That Don't Fit Anywhere Else Kinda Like Me, Reminiscing No Comments caroline, cookies, gold award, jenny, memes, mrs. vickers, samona, troop 20, university of georgia

No, this is not about Christmas. But Samona is going to buy me this $42 Gold Award ornament – right, Samona? 😉

We’re on the eve of cookie sales. Our service unit cookie manager has started sending out notices to cookie moms & dads to sign up for trainings, so you know that kickoff date is coming soon. It’s January 8th for us which I believe is the earliest we’ve ever started – at least since I’ve been a leader.

January 8th is less than a week after school starts back, so there’s no time to ease into 2016. We’ve got Daisies this year who will be selling cookies for the first time ever, so we’ve got to get them (aka the parents) up to speed since our service unit wasn’t able to put on a cookie rally this year – which, by the way, has a lot to do with sales starting so early.

I know it’s heresy for a lifetime Girl Scout to admit this, but I dread cookie season. I’m not going to say I hate it, but I definitely harbor some ill feelings toward it. Continue reading

November 22 2015

Brownies Unleashed at Summer Camp

Reminiscing No Comments brownies, gold award, memories all alone in the moonlight, northeast georgia council, patches, summer camp, the 80s

I haven’t shared a story or memory here lately, and for some reason, this one has been itching to get out. On the way to earning the Gold Award, you had to earn all sorts of awards with breathtaking and awe inspiring titles dreamed up in GSUSA meetings such as Dreams to Reality, Let’s Make It Happen!, Careers in Exploration, The Challenge of Being a Girl Scout, and The Senior Girl Scout Challenge. There were also some silver and gold Leadership Torches. Throw in some yellow and green service bars and lots of community and Girl Scout service hours and you’ve got yourself a full sash. Continue reading

November 18 2015

It’s the Little Things – Girls Guides Pet Peeve

Experiences as a Leader, National Operations 5 Comments badges we don't need no stinkin badges, da-nice, girls guides, gsusa, leader issues, pet peeves, volunteers

dreams to reality — From Nightmares to Reality

Sometimes it’s the little things that get to me. As we all know, a lot has been made about the Journeys and the Girl’s Guides books. To be honest, I’m more irritated by the Girl’s Guides books than I am the Journeys. I guess I remember the late 80s days of From Dreams to Reality (bor-ring!) and Let’s Make It Happen! (sounded like a game show) and Careers in Exploration (high school guidance classes, anyone?) and see those as the frontrunners to Journeys (h/t Da-nice aka Samona’s doppelganger), so I’ve been beaten down by them. Continue reading

November 11 2015

It’s Complicated and Leader Connections

National Operations, Opinions 2 Comments cei, comics, councils, gsusa, leader issues, make new friends but keep the old, mountain magic, samona, volunteers

Last night I realized I have a very dysfunctional relationship with Girl Scouts. It’s complicated. Sometimes I’ll get ticked off or feel despondent about how things are going, and I’ll say well screw you Girl Scouts. I don’t need you. And then about a minute later, I’ll feel bad and say, oh Girl Scouts, I could never quit you, and I’ll come groveling back. Forget you GS! I hate you! It’s OK GS, I didn’t really mean that… I guess I’m in it for the long haul. 😉 Continue reading

November 9 2015

Return to Whitehall Forest

Reminiscing No Comments ghost stories, jenny, memories all alone in the moonlight, northeast georgia council, summer camp, university of georgia

If you’ve read Summer Camp Memories at Whitehall Forest, then you’ll know that summer camp from 1983 was one of my favorite memories from GS. It was a crazy day camp with all sorts of drama and suspense! Jenny reminded me that a car bringing a girl to the camp ran into a deer. I don’t think they were injured, but that news was all the talk among the campers. This followup post may be of no interest except to me and Jenny, but I wanted to share it anyway. It’s my blog and I’ll post if I want to, post if I want to, post if I want to…. Continue reading

October 30 2015

I Led a Group of Girls Up Big Boy and Nobody Died

Experiences as a Leader, Hikes & Outdoors No Comments big boy mountain, camp wabak, da-nice, hiking, juniors, outdoors, patches, samona, success, teamwork, troop 2562

About four or five years ago, I hiked up Big Boy at Camp WaBak for the first time. If you’re not familiar with the top of Big Boy, the view is magnificent, but there’s this sheer rock cliff that kind of gets your attention. Now, if you’re an adult, it would probably give you pause because you know better than to step out too far onto this granite face (at least for most adults). However, if you’re a Girl Scout leader like me, then you probably have nightmarish visions of girls tumbling off into the abyss.

This picture might give you an idea of what the rock cliff looks like:

So... yeah. — And right past that granite is a drop off. So… yeah.

October 25 2015

Junior Journey Weekend

Experiences as a Leader No Comments camp wabak, girl led, journeys, juniors, tips, troop 2562, troop stuff

Over the weekend, we traveled on a magical journey to the land of aMUSE where we discovered, connected, and took action! Well, not really….

FWIW, if you came across this post looking for a guide to do the aMUSE journey in a weekend or a day, you’re better off checking out a page like this. Or this. This blog post is only my experience with doing one and not necessarily HOW to do one. Continue reading

Girl Scout with a Cause

What a Great Christmas Present