On my way to work this morning, as I do many mornings, I was listening to Brenda Dayne's podcast called Cast On. I love the sound of this woman's voice. Very soothing. I was listening to episode 51: That's Mistress Dork, to you. In this episode in addition to talking about knitting she talked quite a bit about her days as a Camp Fire Girl. I was never a Camp Fire Girl and I'm pretty sure that we don't even have those here on the west coast, at least we didn't where I grew up. I was, however, a Girl Scout from 1st grade until I graduated from High School. I don't remember attending that many meetings once I was in high school because I had homework and a job that was pretty much a full time gig. But I do remember camping trips and hiking and hoe-downs and father-daughter dances.

The summer between 5th and 6th grades, my troop traveled from California to Tennessee by car to attend the 75th Anniversary of Girl Scouting. As I recall (I'm sure I have a patch on my Senior vest) they called it the Diamond Jubilee. I could be wrong on that one but I remember the trip. My mom and my leader, Ann drove 5 girls cross country to this event. I remember stopping at the Grand Canyon and Inez squeezing the mustard until it exploded on the front of her shirt because she forgot to open the twisty top. I remember stopping at the Lum and Abner store in Arkansas and the Corn Place in South Dakota. And Wall Drug. I remember going repelling for the first time at the Jubilee. I remember meeting girls from all over the US, especially those from the south that couldn't get over the fact that the girls from California say "You guys" instead of "Y'all" like they did. I also remember getting asked over and over if I knew any movie stars and if I spent every day at the beach. It's funny how the stereotypes are. 1st of all, I was 12, I didn't know any movie stars and I lived in Northern California which is like a whole different state then Southern California. and 2nd of all I didn't really live anywhere near a beach and if I did, it was Northern California. The water off the coast of Northern Ca is freezing and you only go in if you have a wet suit! Brrrr!

I remember my dad participating and taking all the girls in my troop when I was about 8 or 9 and taking us all on a hike up the dormant volcano that sits at the end of the valley where I grew up. My dad really didn't like the Scouts because he felt that the troop leader was only trying to instill her values in us girls and those were not values that my father held. I recall him wanting to get a picture of all of the girls together before we started the hike and saying, "All right, all you little women's libbers line up over there." At the time I didn't really understand what he was saying but I do remember out troop leader getting really pissed about it. Now that I'm in my 30's I understand what he was saying it's one of my all time favorite memories of my dad. He's a pretty funny guy once you get to know him.

Thanks to Girl Scouting I got to do a lot of things that I never would have gotten to do other wise. I've been to Mexico to the international Girl Scouting house called Our Cabana, I've been to Alaska on a Wider Opportunity, I've back packed the Grand Canyon and seen the cinder cone volcano in Lassen National Park. I'm thankful for the opportunities that I gained from girl scouting.

I'm also thankful for the love of wild places that I got from Girl Scouts and from my dad. With GS I went on ton's of hikes and back packing trips as I got older. When my parents were still married my dad took me everywhere with him. A lot of those father-daughter trips were doing things like cutting wood and hunting for mouse ear tea (I have no idea what that is now). My dad also took me hunting with him even though he knew with a small girl with him that it was highly unlikely that he would get a deer or squirrels but it was that time with my dad that instilled my love of the wild places. I still love the wild places today.

Hubby and I go camping every chance we get, which really isn't enough. Right now we're planning a trip in two weeks for April 17th. This will be my first snow camping trip. Being that we live in California's Central Valley we're only a couple miles from the Sierra Nevada's and there is still snow up there. Hubby usually goes snow camping a few times a year but I don't generally go, too cold for me. But I'm going to give it a try. The last few times Hubby has gone I haven't been able to go up for even a day trip for various reasons. Some of it has been work and some of it has been "boy's only" trips with other clubs. I'm hoping that some of the other wives will be going so I won't be the only one subjected to the boy's nasty habits that they seem to fall into when there aren't any girls around. I think because I am the only girl a lot of the time they seem to regard me as just one of the boys and forget that their is a lady (if you can call me that. lol) present! Silly boys!