A couple weeks ago Resli's Girl Scouts troop took a camping trip to
Fort DeSoto park. They kindly let Lela go too, even though she's not quite old enough to be an official scout.
This is the camp site (sans girl scouts!).
And this is where we put our tent. Well, it was Ms. Kristen's tent, she was very gracious about sharing it!
We cooked our meals over campfire, in spite of the ridiculous FL heat. And we had a nightly visitor - this raccoon was intent on getting some of our food! We named him Roscoe, and the girls alternated between being terrified of him (he was very brazen about approaching us) and giggle about his silly name.
We were also visited by other creatures, including this snake.
Our campsite was in the woods, but just a few paces away was a cute little beach, and Resli and Lela loved running down to visit it.
It wasn't good for swimming - strong currents and lots of sting rays, but we still enjoyed it.
The big excitement was the Saturday, which we spent in Clearwater. We took a boat ride around the various islands and examined all kinds of wildlife.
And we went to the aquarium, too, where we saw a dolphin show and a bunch of other cool animals and fish.
From there we took a trolly
to the museum they have about
Winter, the dolphin that lost her tail and was the basis for the movie
DOLPHIN TALE.
We also got to swim at the beach and were so exhausted by the time we got back to camp that night that we almost didn't care how hot it was. (Almost.)
The next morning we cleaned up the campsite and took a few parting group photos.
It was a great experience and although I have vowed never ever to camp again in Florida in July, I commend the scout leaders on planning a great trip!
