Items

• 
  2021-07

  My Grandpa and I’s Camping COVID Trip

  After 2020, I was looking to travel and try to get back to normal. However, in 2021 I was supposed to go to Europe to see my sister but COVID canceled that trip so I was perplexed at what I could do for travel. Then it came to me, my grandpa is someone who has traveled almost everywhere in the US. With that, he loves to camp and one of his favorite spots that he always mentions is Mackinac Island. I thought this would be a great bonding trip. So for Christmas I told my grandpa that I would love to go on a camping trip with him up to Mackinac Island in Michigan. This would be the first time me and my grandpa would be going on a week-long vacation with just ourselves. What was funny is that everyone in the family warned me because my grandpa never stops talking and the music would be in his hands. The good thing about that is that I had lived with my grandparents the summer after I finished college so I was used to being around the constant conversations. Secondly, I am an old soul so I love 50s and 60s music. Therefore, I knew that this could be one of the best trips I might ever get to take with my grandfather. The trip began in July of 2021 as we left my hometown of Manteno, IL and traveled up to Michigan. We had a small popup camper that we were going to be sleeping in for this week's trip. There were so many favorite memories it is kind of hard to trim down. First off, traveling was so much fun, having deep conversations about my grandpa’s life and the different times that he had gone to Mackinac were so fascinating. My grandpa can talk to anyone so he is a very good storyteller. Another memory was setting up the camper because the second time we did set it up we forgot to stabilize the back so when I went to lay in bed the whole thing tipped over. The good part is that no one got hurt. On the second day when we arrived in Mackinac it was down pouring on us, thankfully my grandpa had ponchos ready to go. That night we started the tradition that would carry on for the night which was our card games. Every night we played either crazy eights or dirty spades. Those were some of the best times when we were just hanging out together. I cannot tell you how amazing those memories still are today. When we traveled to Mackinac Island on the third day it was amazing. Me and my grandpa walked all around the island taking in the nature, the history, and the culture on this small island. It lived up to the hype my grandpa had told me. After that day we traveled up to the Upper Peninsula with the UP-ers which was cool to see. That night we slept on the border of Canada, which we could see across the river in Sault Ste. Marie. We went on a couple water boat tours in the Great Lakes which were amazing. One of the last funny memories we had was that my grandpa finally let me drive on the second to last day. I am not kidding you when I say thirty minutes into driving one of the camper’s tires was gone. The best part was that neither of us noticed until a car passed us and pointed it out. This was such a funny memory because then we had to replace the tire and that is a story that me and my grandpa still joke about. Maybe my driving is bad but I don’t know, it could just be bad luck. The good thing about this entire trip was that the COVID restrictions were minimal. Since we were outside for the most part that was almost never an issue. A couple times when we went into restaurants we had to put our masks on, but it was nice because we were getting fresh air. Overall, the trip was a resounding success and one that I know holds a special place in my heart and my grandpa’s. I feel so fortunate to have had this experience with my grandpa and cannot wait for the next roadtrip we have together.
• 
  2021-07

  Traveling During Covid

  In July of 2021, travel was open in the UK. My family immigrated to the United States in 1998 from England. My grandparents, Aunts, Uncles and Cousins all still reside in the UK. Covid has been a very hard time as I could not visit my family and they could not travel to the US. When travel opened back up we were thrilled. My mom and I planned to travel to England in July 2021. The day before we were set to leave we noticed that my passport had expired the month prior. Since my passport had not been used in over a year, we were not aware that it had expired. We tried everything to get a new one as soon as possible, but there was a delay on getting passports out because many people had the same problems. Fortunately I was able to get an emergency passport appointment in Buffalo. I got my passport at the end of July and my mom and I were set to travel in August. Traveling to the UK required many covid tests, forms and mask wearing. I had not been in an airport in over a year, and this new way of travel was very strange to me, but I was still happy to be able to travel. Traveling back to the US also required many tests and forms, the National Guards were even placed in US airports making sure travelers were filling out locator forms. It was an insane experience, and hopefully travel goes back to normal in the coming years. Although it is a different way of traveling it is still amazing that we are able to leave the US and visit other countries after a long time of not being able to do so.
• 
  2021-07

  Waiting in Limbo

  Going into the weekend of the fourth of July; my roommates and I were notified of our exposure to covid-19. It came as a shock to us as for the most part we had been good at keeping away from situations that would expose us. After some deducing of how we were exposed we came to find out that one of our roommate’s girlfriend was our source. We decided to go and get tested in order to make sure we could participate in whatever fourth of July events we had scheduled. With the four of us packed into a car, we drove down to the nearest testing center. After waiting for what seemed like hours, we were able to get tests. What seemed like it would be a miserable experience of having something shoved up our noses turned out to be alright. A few days later we received calls informing us of our results. My test came back positive along with three of my roommates. However, hours later I was informed that my test was actually inconclusive and I should come get retested. So the next day I got up and drove myself over to the testing center. After waiting for an hour I was informed that I actually could not get tested for another 10 days due to my recent test. With this knowledge I had the pleasure of waiting out the week in quarantine, unsure of my exposure. The days went by long and slow stuck in a white room for 23 of the 24 hours in a day. My only real entertainment for the days being my PlayStation and my computer, and my only food being the simple groceries delivered to my house via amazon. Mostly peanut butter and jelly. After my 7 days were up I would drive to the nearest testing location to get tested. Except, that location was out of tests. I would spend the next 2 hours going to each location finding out the same thing, they were out of tests. The next 5 days would be spent doing much the same. Eventually, I would find a location and receive my test. After 2 more days I would find out my results: Negative. Having already spent more than my required quarantine time I would not know if I truly was positive in the early days. However, I don’t regret the time spent in self-quarantine in order to potentially protect others.
• 
  2021-07

  Tamarack Smoke Outlook, Thursday, July 22

  This is a report from the USFS Wildland Fire Quality Response Program outlining the expected air quality impact of the Tamarack Fire near Lake Tahoe from Thursday-Friday, July 22-23, 2021. The reports discusses the possibility of increased smoke in the areas south of the Tamarack Fire, which includes Camp Wolfeboro. The report also notes the fire on Thursday had increased over 10,000 acres in size from the day before.
• 
  2021-07

  Main Campfire Propane Fire Bowls

  At Camp Wolfeboro, there were no wood-fueled campfires during the entire summer of 2021. Instead, the two central campfires (the Main Campfire, and Bravo How) and the campsite fire pits had propane campfires. One of the photos is of the Main Campfire during the Monday night campfire, with both of the propane fires visible. The photo was taken on July 19 at 8:40 PM. The other photo is of the easternmost of the two Main Campfire fire pits during the day, with a container of propane right next to it. The photo was taken on July 23 at 2:49 PM. In the daytime photo, it is clear that the fire pit is a KUMA Bear Blaze Fire Bowl - 19" in black.
• 
  2021-07

  Wolfeboro PO Whiteboard

  The top of the program office at Camp Wolfeboro, where the camp director and program director offices are, has a large whiteboard every year where Scouts are invited to draw anything so long as it is Scouting-appropriate. The two photos of the whiteboard were taken at the middle and end of the fifth session of camp; IMG_5768.jpg was taken on Wednesday, July 21 at 11:41 AM, and IMG_5817.jpg was taken on Friday, July 23 at 4:17 PM. In the two and a half days between the photos, there were some additions made to the board. The whiteboard includes a variety of references to recent cultural trends, some of which include: -Upper left: text reading "whats [sic] so funny about Sussus Amongus", a reference to a YouTube video titled "What's so funny about sussus amogus?", itself an Among Us parody of the Biggus Dickus sketch from Monty Python's Life of Brian. -Center left, immediately next to the edge of the board: the word "SHEESH" in orange marker, which is used to show a sense of disbelief about something, with a positive tone (similar to how "dang" or "damn" might be used) -Upper center, slightly to the right: a dark green drawing of an open eye crying laughing emoji, an edited version of the laughing crying emoji that is used in memes to signify an emotional reaction to something -Bottom right: an orange-colored set of Olympic rings, with the words "Olympians [illegible]" in blue beneath it Some of the additions between Wednesday and Friday include: -Center left: an Among Us crewmate next to a text bubble saying "SUSSY!" (a reference to the slang term "sus", meaning suspicious, often used alongside references to Among Us) Many of the specific cultural references refer to the video game Among Us. According to the program director, the massive Garfield drawing at the bottom left was drawn during the 2019 camp season but became unerasable by the time camp opened in 2021 (camp did not take place in-person in 2020).