This year the Galway Boy Scouts went to Morrisburg, Canada for the National Brotherhood Camporee. This camporee attracts scouts from all over New York and Canada with its variety of events and activities. Whether they spent most of their time patch trading, cooking, relaxing, or playing football, everyone had a great time.

Galway’s Troop 5 went up to Canada on Friday, September 22nd towards the end of the school day. I was very excited that I got to get out of school early. We drove up to Canada making a couple of stops along the way, including stopping at Long Lake to eat the bagged lunch that we packed. On the way up, my dad drove my friend Walter, my brother Erik, and I. We had a grand time on the way there listening to whatever music station came in and we even spotted a Great Blue Heron standing in a swamp. I also made sure to annoy Walter on the way there by singing loudly in his ear so that he couldn’t sleep. Everyone made it across the border safely and we arrived at the campsite before dark on Friday night.

When we got to the campsite everyone had to set up their tents and we had to grab a couple of picnic tables and bring them back to our campsite. While I was going to go and help grab one of the tables, we spotted another Great Blue Heron flying right above our heads and it was an incredible sight. I have come to the conclusion that these birds are in great abundance near the St. Lawrence River. After some research, I have found out that Quebec has 500 Great Blue Heron colonies including a colony at Heron Island on the St. Lawrence River.

Once we got everything all set up, we ate some delicious, thick burgers and chips. We also set up a cracker barrel that night which is something we usually do every Friday night of a three-day campout and it consists of cheese, crackers, and pepperoni. After this, everyone talked for a little bit about the patches they hoped to achieve, and the activities they hoped to enjoy during the duration of the next day. Finally after a long day, most of us went to bed.

On Saturday morning we had a breakfast called One-Eyed Jacks. These are basically a piece of toast with an egg in the middle and are a meal we have been making for a very long time in the troop as a sort of easy and traditional breakfast. One of our newer adult leaders made sure that the eggs were cooked through and that the yolk was not too runny. After cleaning this up, we put on our uniforms and went to the opening flag ceremony. During this ceremony, the activities for the day are explained and the national anthems of Canada and America are sang while the Canadian, American, and Brotherhood flags are raised by the scouts.

Once the ceremony was over, I got right in line for the trading post. Patch trading is the biggest part of the National Brotherhood Camporee, where scouts from both countries trade all kinds of different patches in order to get the ones that they want. The different kinds of patches are circle patches, council strip patrol patches (CSPs), OA flaps, and sets. In the eyes of the more experienced patch traders, sets are worth the most, then OA flaps, then CSPs, and then circle patches, but it really doesn’t matter what kind of patches you get as long as you enjoy your collection. For the past two years, I had been trying to complete my Dinosaur Barbecue set. As many of you know, Dinosaur Barbecue is a brand of barbecue sauce. Their is a council located near where the barbecue facility is based out of that makes a set of Dinosaur Barbecue patches.  Last year, I got every patch except for the one dinosaur with the beret. Then, when I was waiting in line, a boy in our troop named Joey Remscheid came up to me and he had traded for it right away that morning. He knew how bad I wanted it, so I traded him some CSPs for it and I completed my set! I couldn’t believe my luck that I completed that set first thing in the morning. At the trading post, I bought two brotherhood CSPs, and a patch that looks white indoors but turns pink when exposed to the sun. After this, I was on my way to go set up my patches and trade with other scouts.

I spent most of my day patch trading, but we had to go back at about noon in order to eat lunch. For lunch, we had sausage and peppers, which was really tasty. Once we cleaned up, we went back out to patch trade again. While I was trading, I was able to acquire a variety of really cool patches and also two really neat CSP’s. One of them was a very detailed dragon and the other one was a Subway patch. I also had one bad, yet hilarious, experience while patch trading this year. Walter and I both needed the same centerpiece in order to complete one of our sets. Both of us looked for awhile and we couldn’t find anyone that owned the piece. Since I wanted it really bad, Walter tricked me into thinking that he knew the guy that had the centerpiece. So, I chased him around on a wild goose chase trying to see if he actually had the patch, even though I knew that he probably didn’t. Oh, and did I mention that it was 90 degrees that day? It turns out that I was right and Walter did not have the patch. We also played football against a Canadian troop and we totally crushed them. It was really enjoyable for us, and they were good sports after they lost.

That night we ate dinner which was a special dish called “Cowboy’s Delight” that is a mix of many different seasonings and meat with various other ingredients. It was really delicious. After this we ate “Dump Cake” which is just a bunch of different cake ingredients thrown into a dutch oven and cooked over hot coals. It always turns out really good and this time we had chocolate cherry flavor. Then, we patch traded one last time, went to bed, and packed everything up in the morning. After the closing ceremony that some of our troop members got to participate in, we drove home.

I had a great time this year at the National Brotherhood Camporee, but I did also manage to break two chairs. One of these chairs had already been previously broken, but the other one was new. I am not really sure how I broke it but everyone thought that it was hilarious. On a previous campout, I took the door handle right off of a cabin and I also broke a handle off of the wood stove. I really don’t know how I manage to do these things, but it seems like I break everything I touch. However, these are memories that I will definitely look back on and laugh about. Looks like I’m breaking the troop record of the most items broken during campouts as a Boy Scout. All in all, the National Brotherhood Camporee was a success, and I can’t wait to go back again next year.