A Scouting Vacation

[HiLo]

Hi all

 

I'm not sure if this is the right forum for this. I'll take advice and move it if people think I should.

 

I'm an Australian planning a visit to the USA in January with my wife and 20 year old son. (Im an old-timer at 59.) My son and I are both involved in Scouting, so I thought I could use this site to see if we could add a Scouting perspective to our journey.

 

First, why winter? We have a 26 year old daughter working as a ski instructor at Heavenly Resort on Lake Tahoe, so we plan to visit her. We come from the cooler corner of Australia, and are moderately used to snow, including both cross country and downhill skiing. A rough list of our stopping places is:

 

. Fly in via Los Angeles to Houston, where we will visit NASA.

. Las Vegas, side trip to the Grand Canyon

. Reno, visit Yosemite National Park, then on to Lake Tahoe

. San Francisco, then home

 

All up, well be there for just over two weeks. Its a quick trip, but thats what finances and time away from work will allow at this stage.

 

Weve never been to the USA before. Collected lots of info from American TV shows, but Im sure thats not a very accurate picture of how everyone really lives.

 

Im just interested in suggestions of adding a touch of Scouting tourism to the trip, if anyone has any ideas.

 

Thanks in anticipation.

 

 

 

[Slouchhat]

Hi!

I wish you all the best for your trip to the US and, of course, a lot of fun.

Americans are very hospitable and I'm sure you will find many contacts through this board who are either in the vicinity of where you'll be travelling or know a troop who can help you along.

 

best regards,

Volker

[SemperParatus]

I am sure some folks who live on the west coast can direct you to some interesting scouting points of interest.

 

My suggestion would be to use the internet to find a boy scout troop to visit one evening during your stay. More than anything I can think of, that will give you a taste of scouting here in the USA. I am sure the boys would love to see the Australian uniform and here about scouting down under.

 

Have a great trip.

[click23]

The National Scouting Museum in in Irving, TX about 250 miles northwest of Huston. Are you driving all that or flying from Houston to Las Vegas, it's about a 20 hour drive or so?

[Gold Winger]

If you have the time, driving is the best way to experience America. Get off the interstates and have lunch in the little towns, look at their parks and monuments, talk to the locals.

[click23]

Another stop could be Philmont, I know that have a winter program but I'm not sure if you can just stop in a look around.

[eolesen]

The scouting museum is convenient to Dallas-Fort Worth airport (approx five miles, 20 minutes at most by taxi), so depending on which airline you fly on, so it is possible to visit the museum on a long connection. I fly on American Airlines a lot, and have managed to schedule 4 and 5 hour "connections" at both DFW and Chicago.

[emb021]

There is also a scouting museum in Las Vegas that is now the official WOSM world scout museum. Not sure if they are fully open. Think you have to make an appointment.

 

http://boyscoutmuseum.com/

 

Also, try to swing by Phimont in Cimarron, NM. They have museums there, too.

[John-in-KC]

Wintertime in the American West can be exciting. A winter storm can do all kinds of fun with plans.

 

Let's start with something simple. You're going to Tahoe, to Heavenly. That's grand.

 

Let's have you visit the local Council Office in Reno: http://www.scouter.org/ That's the Nevada Area Council. With some luck, you might be able to hit a District Roundtable or other event! This last September, I was out visiting my folks in the Carson Valley below Tahoe and went to the RT in Gardnerville.

 

If you don't know how to drive in snow/ice, please, don't make a vacation to America an experimental road trip. Not good to recover from the ditch after skidding off black ice.

 

Staying on the West Coast, many Pacific shore councils have camps off the snow line; some are in year-round use.

 

Safe and fun travel!!

 

 

[HiLo]

Thanks for the tips everyone. I really didn't expect such a big response so quickly.

 

And yes, I am one of a very small percentage of Australians who is familiar with driving in snow and ice. There's a driveway containing three Subarus outside precisely for for that purpose. But I still don't consider such conditions to be all that much fun. I'm certainly no Finnish rally driver.

 

But quite frankly, I'm just as worried about learning to drive on the wrong side of the road!

 

To those of you suggesting more time on the road, I know you're right, and I'd love to, but work doesn't permit at this stage. Maybe when I can afford to retire.......