By: Cadence Wright
Last week I went on a Summer trip with the Scouts. This year we went around the state because some people live in the state and they don’t know what’s in their own state. It was the shortest trip that I’ve been on because we didn’t go far. Usually, the trips are like 10 days but this year it was only 8 days. There was a lot of work to do, but we did have fun.
On the trip, we had to do a lot of research. You needed to have at least 100 points a day. Some questions were worth 25 – 30 points and some were doubled. If you have enough points you can go swimming and participate in more fun activities. If you didn’t do your work, you had to sit on the bus until you did all your work. One day, so many of us didn’t do our work that none of us were allowed to participate in the fun activities for that day. I was upset but I do understand. You have to take care of your priorities before you can have fun.
We went to a real Oil Rig in Morgan City, Louisiana. They showed us how they make their money from oil. It was one of the first oil rigs in Louisiana. We also went to the Tobasco factory in Avery Island, La. We saw the Tabasco peppers, red peppers, and the other ingredients that are in the hot sauce. They leave them in a barrel so they can get their smell and their taste for 3 years.
Most people love using hot sauce but I never knew the whole process they go through to make it.
In New Orleans, we attended Essence Music Festival. It is the largest Black Convention in America. Over 500,000 people attended. There was a lot of Black clothing and Black products being sold. Many of the big companies had mega stages and there were celebrities everywhere. When actor, Kofi Soriboe, came in all the women started screaming and running to meet him. It was fun but there were too many people and it was hot!
Blue Bayou was a lot of fun. It’s a huge water park in Baton Rouge. There was one ride where they lock you in a capsule and drop you. The ride was only 8 seconds long but it was fun. They had water that shot at you and smothered you. I went away completely soaked. It doesn’t matter what water park you go to there will always be somebody to nearly drown in the wave pool!
Because my brother and I live in New Orleans, we stayed home and missed the last day when the scouts headed home. The other kids went to Southern University and LSU to tour the campuses. I have seen both campuses before but I am glad the other kids got a chance to see them. My favorite thing throughout the whole trip was Blue Bayou. My least favorite thing on the trip was all the work we had to do. I guess in life, you don’t get to have fun without putting in some work.
