GS Camping at Elk Neck

The four Girl Scout troops we are in cahoots with went on a camping trip to Elk Neck State Park at the northern tip of the Chesapeake Bay.  This is a lovely park situated on a peninsula with a historic lighthouse on the point. We did a Ranger program that was really cool.  The girls got to play a game where they were birds on the Chesapeake and had to make choices or deal with consequences based on situations they might fly into.  We saw Zebra-striped Monarchs.  The program ended at the lighthouse, which the girls all got to go up into and see the Bay.

I was the "Fire Momma" at this campout.  Which is funny to me considering my fire skills.  But I had some talented teams of fire bugs to help me out, so it worked.
*This is where I will rat myself out.  I brought our propane stove, the big kind that are for cooking large pots on and a brand new tank of propane.  It was our intention to use this to cook the main meals because it's easier than the fire and bigger than a camp stove.  When I hooked it up however, I could not get any gas to come out of the tank!  We finally determined that I had been sold an empty tank.  I was super mad and frustrated, but at least we did have a camp stove and a fire, so we could still cook everything we had planned.  When I got home, before I took the tank back to complain thankfully, Jason hooked it up and it worked fine.  So much for Fire Momma.  Major fail on my part.  I blame it all on sickness, but that comes later in the story.

Everyone had jobs and the girls had a great time.  They prepared and cooked food, tended the fire, Gwyn taught the other girls the Superman blessing, they played.  They even had a talent show after dinner, which mostly consisted of giggling interspersed with songs from Frozen.

It did begin to rain at one point and we were all ordered to the cars.  (This is a funny point that will have to be told in person in respect to the concerned individual who was just trying to keep the girls safe in a possible thunderstorm)  We were allowed to return to the campsite after a while, so this just added to the funny anecdotes that always happen on camping trips.

In retrospect, the girls had a fun time on this camping trip.  I had bits of fun.  But I spent the trip mostly frustrated or just plain sick.  Come to find out I was coming down with the flu and had a fever for most of the trip.  I am super glad no one slept in my tent with me. (the girls all wanted to sleep in their friends' tents)  So I blame it all on the flu.  With a clearer fever-free head, I'm sure I could have gotten the propane tank to work.  That's the story I'm sticking with anyway.