This wonderful water trip was the first outing to Patagonia Lake in troop history. A beautiful boating oasis minutes from the Mexico border was not as hair-raising as some static electricity made it seem upon arrival, but an excellent opportunity to boat and swim despite it being almost winter. Early in the day was spent on the water, the highlight of which was a ranger boat tour all around the entire lake, including the island campsites (and outhouses) which were noted for future consideration for a troop canoe outing. The afternoon was almost warm enough to spend in the water – which a couple of the bravest and most warm-blooded scouts managed to do. The outing SPL was on his final trip as a scout before turning 18, so we all had one last opportunity to say goodbye to his trademark duckie swimming trunks from the past 4+ years of water outings. Into the evening there was a Lincoln log building contest, then it was time for dinner – and what culinary masterpieces there were! The scouts put together a delectable beef stroganoff, but the adults likely trumped that with the Long Island iced tea of meals – paella! Afterwards were S’mores around a campfire (Mmmm, carcinogens!!) with a ghost story or two (Did you hear about the terrifying story of the Trog, the horrible, terrible Nachtrog!!!?). As we were getting ready to douse the fire, a bit of rustling was heard over at the scout’s table, and two adult skunks and a baby skunk were excitedly squeaking and attempting to eat a hole through our cloth trash can and bag to get at the raw chopped onions and stroganoff remnants wafting beautiful aromas into the air. The great Mr. Benyi trash can maneuver resolved the immediate crisis of mama skunk burrowing teeth and claw through fabric and rubber, and nary a nasty squirt occurred. We abandoned thoughts of tents and sleeping bags as we spent the remaining evening watching Mr. and Mrs. skunk, and baby too, wander through neighboring campsites looking for additional delicacies to replace the stroganoff / paella bonanza they had just lost. All in all a most excellent new campsite to add to the T648 wonderful outing list, and a fabulous set of new memories for all those fortunate to have come along.
