To lessen pressure on finals and holiday preparations, T648 scouts elected to trial a one-day December outing in Scottsdale rather than two Arizona nights somewhere in nature. Beginning with a somber trip around the USS Arizona Memorial at Talking Stick, it was sobering to imagine the number of families impacted by one long ago horrific morning in Pearl Harbor. After that, it was a glorious day of wandering through swarms of butterflies while looking for chickens and bunnies, followed by observing and interacting with (and petting?!?) sea creatures like stingrays and sharks. Not much scout skill advancement was accomplished (nary a knot nor first aid effort were thankfully required), but fun was had by all. The general consensus was this successful day outing concept might be considered for an occasional future finals-filled month (perhaps a May day-trip to Sedona’s Slide Rock).
