Court of Honor

This past weekend we went on a camp out to Camp Birch. When we came back we had a Court of Honor and I advanced to First Class. My scoutmaster gave us our merit badges ( Swimming, Sports, Indian lore, Leather working and Environmental Science ) and talked about how we did a good job at summer camp. He also talked about how I got the Honor Camper Award and how our troop got the Baden Powell Award. Here are some pictures of the Court of Honor:

 These are all the boys who advanced to First Class.

This is me while my scoutmaster talks about my Honor camper award.

Timbuctoo (Timbuktoo, Timbucktu)

Timbuctoo is located in the middle of the Sahara desert. It is found by the Niger river and is home to 10,000.  Many storks and bats live in and on the houses but most people don't do anything about it. Most people in Timbuctoo are Negros, but there are a few Arabs and few French, for it is a French colony.  The men in Timbuctoo wear white veils around their faces until they die. Their houses are made out of mud and will last quite a few years. Unless it rains. The people belive that their people come back from the dead in the shape of a crow, so they build these houses for crows to sit on.

Our trip to Virginia

This past week we have been in Virginia for a family vacation. We visited lots of historic sites and some other stuff too. We had to drive ten hours in the car, but fortunately we had The Hobbit to listen too.

On day one we went to Historic Williamsburg which is a town recreated to look like it did in the revolutionary war. All the people dress up like they would back then, and there was even shops that they worked in. Here are some pictures of Williamsburg: 

 This is the governors palace.

 This is inside of the palace.

 This is the governors desk.

 This is an old fashion stove.

 This is the palace kitchen with real food!

 This is the gunsmith.

 The stocks is where criminals go......

 This is the tailor making real shoes!

 This is Thomas Jefferson making a speech.

 This is the weaver.

 This is the magazine where they kept all the guns and gunpowder.

 This is the cooper (barrel maker).

This is the local jail.

On day two we went to Historic Jamestown where we saw the real James town ruins. There was archaeologists there and they were uncovering a real stove. After that we went to Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson. Here are some pictures: 

This is a monument to Jamestown. 

 That is the James river.

 This is the Jamestown colony.

 This is the stove they were digging up.

This is what they think Jamestown looked like.

  This is a statue of Capt. John Smith.

 This is the man who uncovered Jamestown.

 That is the Jamestown church.

 After Jamestown we went to a glass maker.

 This is part of Thomas Jefferson's garden.

 This is Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's house. (We were not allowed to take pictures sadly).

 On his front porch there is a wind dial, and a double sided clock.

 Thomas Jefferson's house was one of the first to have a dome.

 Aren't you glad this isn't your toilet?

 This is Thomas Jefferson's grave.

Thomas Jefferson's favorite invention: The Polygraph. 

On day three we went to two civil war battlefields: The battle of Cross Keys and the battle of Piedmont, and then we went to Shenandoah National park and did the skyline drive. Here are some pictures:

 There was a beautiful view.

 We decided to get out of the car and take a hike. While we were hiking we came across the Appalachian trail. It is a trail that runs from Georgia to Maine.

We found an interesting type of pine cone.

On day four we went to The Natural Bridge and Foamhedge 

(Yes FOAMhedge). Here are some pictures:

 The Natural Bridge.

 Legend says that George Washington climbed up twenty-three feet and carved his initials into the rock.

 This an underground stream that no one knows where it goes or where it comes from.

 They had recreated an Indian village to look like it did back then.

 The inside of a Indian hut.

 We went to a butterfly room where there was butterflies everywhere!

 We thought that this one look cool.

 This was the plaque for Foamhedge.

We all thought that it was pretty cool.

My dad especially liked it.

We all really liked the trip and we hope we will have more in the future!

The Sphinx and the Pyramids

The Pyramids were built in 3000 BC and the largest one stood about 450 ft high and was about 750 ft square. The largest pyramid was built by King Kheops. The pyramids and the Sphinx are located 12 miles below Memphis. There are three pyramids in all. A few thousand years ago the pyramids were very smooth and no one could get to the top but then in 650 AD the Arabs took control of Egypt and destroyed the smoothness of the stone.

The Sphinx was built around the same time the pyramids were built. It was built by King Khephern the successor of King Kheops. It is 70 ft high and 240 ft wide. The Sphinx's face is 13 ft tall and was built to resemble the face of King Khephern. The stone tablet on the front of the Sphinx tells us the story of the sphinx built 3000 BC

The Pyramids

The Sphinx

The Pharos

The Pharos A.K.A The Lighthouse of Alexandria is almost 600 feet high and was built around 305 BC. On the inside of the lighthouse there was a ramp for people on donkeys to climb up to the top. The light could be seen for 30 miles at sea. The lighthouse was built entirely out of marble and was one of the largest buildings at that time. It stood for over 1600 years but in 850 AD the Mohammedans who were living there had a very greedy Caliph and when a Christian spy told him there was "known" to be treasure underneath the lighthouse he destroyed the two upper stories before he realized there was no treasure there. And then in 1375 an earthquake destroyed it and it took 100 years for the blocks to be hauled away. Here is a picture: