January 2005 Activities
Now Playing: (6 events in January)
Topic: a - January 2005

EVENT #1 - ADVENTURES IN TRAVEL EXPO - FREE EVENT
January 8, 2005

This event was held at the Donald E. Stephens Convention Center in Rosemont, Illinois. It featured a variety of booths and demonstrations involving adventure travel opportunities. The cost was free to those under age 18. It was sponsored by National Geographic Traveler Magazine. The climbing wall was especially popular with the boys.


EVENT #2 - NORTHLANDER CLIMBING GYM -
January 15-16, 2005

This was an indoor lock-in at a climbing gym located in Rockford, Illinois. They have some good climbing surfaces with a variety of difficulty ratings. Troop 32, also of DeKalb, shared the facility with us. We ordered pizza for Saturday dinner and had some coffee cake for Sunday breakfast. Everyone had plenty of time to climb and belay during our time there.


EVENT #3 - RUSSELL FOREST PRESERVE - FREE
January 16-17, 2005

The second half of Martin Luther King Weekend featured a nice cozy cabin at Russell Woods Forest Preserve near Genoa, which made a great place for an overnight. A wood stove in the cabin kept us warm. Boys brought their own individual dinner to cook. The troop furnished a breakfast Monday of pancakes and waffles, with sausage and bacon. The boys also brought a sack lunch for Monday. The annual Winter Carnival provided some events. The most popular activity was the sled hill. The boys enjoyed hours of sledding in on this trip.


EVENT #4 - CHICAGO ADVENTURE -
January 22, 2005

This great day in the windy city included a visit to the Museum of Science & Industry. Tickets were donated by Algus Packaging, which had loaned some robotic packaging equipment to the museum for a display called Toymaker 3000. Everyone enjoyed the morning at the museum. We stopped in at Riccobene's for a great lunch. The afternoon was spent at McCormick Place Convention Center for the Chicago Boat, RV, and Outdoor Show. The show featured hundreds of boats and RV's, plus an outdoor adventure travel show hosted by Outside Magazine. There was a trout stream, climbing wall, and a sea lion show, among other attractions.


EVENT #5 - WISCONSIN SNOWMOBILE ADVENTURE

This is a major trip for our winter season. We start north on Friday night, driving to Tomahawk, Wisconsin. We rented some machines and brought others along. Our snowmobile caravan consisted of
9 machines, with most riding double. We began the day with a robust Wisconsin breakfast at the Tomahawk Family Restaurant, followed by lunch at the Alpine Resort with their famous Mexican Chili. A fabulous dinner was found at the Silver Birch Supper Club, one of the northwood's finest eateries. We snowmobiled all day long, covering over 100 miles along groomed trails, frozen lakes, and snow covered meadows, located north of Tomahawk and west of Rhinelander. Recent snowfalls and mild temperatures made it a perfect weekend for snowmobiling. All of our Scouts had previously taken an 8-hour Snowmobile Safety Certification Class. Everyone rode very well together. On Sunday our final snowmobile meal was at the Junction Restaurant north of Tomahawk. It was a fantastic weekend!