On the way to Northern Tier

Today our Crew embarked on a new adventure.  We left Tampa, FL bound for Northern Minnesota and the Boy Scout Base along the Boundary Waters.  We flew United Airlines to Chicago O'Hare on a 737 and then on to Duluth, MN in a Regional Jet. After a pizza dinner on Mountain Iron, MN, we crashed for the night at a Holiday Inn Express.  

We have 8 people attending; Ryan and Kelly Spence with their mom (me); Jonathan and Lauren Ebert and their dad Mike; and Jack Edwards and his dad, Bryan.  These youth range in age from 15 to 20 and have been friends for years. 

We are a Venturing Crew, which is a coed program by the Boy Scout of America designed for High Adventure.  Northern Tier is one of the three National High Adventure Bases.  The other are Philmont Scout Ranch in New Mexico, and Florida Sea Base in the Florida Keys.  Scouts who complete adventures in all three receive what's called the "Triple Crown" of Scouting.  BSA has since added a fourth high adventure base in West Viginia, known as the Bechtel Summit, which hosted the National Jamboree in 2013.  That was an amazing event and we hope to go back for the next National Jamboree in 2017.  

Our crew is having fun, relaxing, and enjoying new adventures.  This group of people makes me laugh!  They are always cutting up and they are all so kind.  These relationships are the best part of scouting.  I could not imagine going on this trip without them.