I know it seems kind of anticlimactic to get an email with commentary about the last day now that we are already home but maybe you will catch something that the boys didn’t tell you.

There was a lot of chatter during breakfast about which roller coaster was the coolest. They were still wound up pretty good however, thought about seeing mom and dad were rapidly coming to the surface. “What time do we fly out? Are our parents going to be there? Where are they meeting us? We fielded a lot of questions about home.

They weren’t all that excited about seeing Colonial Williamsburg but we just could see not going there since we were staying 2 blocks from it so after breakfast we walked down there. If you haven’t been there it is like walking back in time.  As you walk farther down the block you come to the old craftsman homes where docents dressed in period clothing are working at their trades. They are very well versed in the history of the trades at that time. Russ, Chris and I were visiting the cotton/linen spinning craft house and were surprised how interesting making thread was…it wasn’t the thread that was interesting but what different clothing and colors of clothing meant about your status in Williamsburg society. How they redyed clothing to change colors and give them new wardrobe options, and on and on. I was surprised I got so fascinated with thread…Warlough was gawking over the Woodworking craft house which we never made it to. We didn’t see too many of the boys make it that far down the street.  They got sidetracked by the Cheese shop and the Chocolate shop. Imagine that. They were kind of toured out and we didn’t push them.

From there it was a 4 hour bus ride up to Baltimore. To avoid some roadwork that was clogging up Interstate 95 we took some back roads that turned about to be very scenic. In fact there is a parkway heading out of Williamsburg winding through the forest and down the coast of the James river/Chesapeake Bay that renting a motorcycle or convertible and driving that road has just been added to my very long bucket list.

We stopped on the way for lunch at Subway. Boys had script for that meal. Then on to the airport.

Getting through TSA is always met with some trepidation with a large group of teenagers…In spite of all the council to check their carry-ons for things we can’t carry on there was still a couple of knifes that ended up in TSA’s Christmas party fund. Woops! Actually they did pretty good and we got through fairly quick.

One of the things we tried to teach them on this trip is to “Minimize” their footprint on the landscape/environment/natural resources and all that kind of stuff and on other tourists and people around them. First inclination for most people is to see a large group of teenagers, especially Boy Scouts, has a huge imposition to whatever they were trying to do. The boys got pretty consciences of other tourists at the hotels and events and often were found getting a small family and directing them in front of us in line. This always resulted in some great conversations and questions with these people. In keeping with that the patrol leaders would hold their boys in their seats in the airplanes and make sure other passengers got off first so they weren’t waiting behind 40 scouts. When we landed in SLC this tested their resolve to the core. Those boys wanted off that plane and see Mom and Dad! But to their credit, and it took everything they had, they did it!  You all have great boys and it was an honor to be with them.

Thankyou for all the kind words at the Airport and all your support.

Here is the link to Busch Garden pictures:

http://picasaweb.google.com/100869686042495152805/Jamboree603Day17#

I’ll get Day 18 “return home pictures” uploaded this weekend.

We will send an email out as soon as we have the bags in hand and you can pick them up from Russ’ home if you live in S.Jordan or W.Jordan, or at Dane’s home if you live anywhere else.

We’ll plan a reunion sometime in September.

Keep us posted on Eagle Courts, Missions, College Grads, Weddings. We would love to keep track of what these boys are doing with their lives!

More pics coming soon!!!