Why You Shouldn't Be Scared of the Harbor

Every week, as David addresses the new groups who enter into the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, he always asks them the same question. "Raise your hand if you think our harbor is still very dirty". As expected, kids and even counselors will shoot their hands up into the air with a million reasons why our harbor "looks" dirty to them. One of the most common reasons being, "well it's not as clear as the water in Bermuda", or some other tropical island. No surprise there right? They aren't wrong, we don't have see-through water in our harbor. However, that doesn't mean it's necessarily dirty and unsafe to swim in. 

One of my best friends has this same opinion about the ocean. She always claims that the water is "too dirty to go swimming in" or that "I might get attacked by the animals in it" or sometimes, "I can't see the bottom". None of these are valid reasons to avoid Boston Harbor. I would know, considering I swim in it almost every day and catch quite a lot of the animals living in it. Today I will prove to you that there is no reason to fear our harbor or what lives inside it.

Just look at the water!

From Monday to Thursday, I worked at George's Island. I spent each day riding out on the Provincetown II and then fishing off the dock at the island. This week happened to be a very popular week for our crab friends. At the start of each new group we baited the rods with squid and showed them how to properly cast their lines down. Every so often we'd pull up the crab trap and empty out all of the green, spider, and rock crabs into the touch tank. At first, the kids tend to pull away in fear of getting pinched, but once we show them how to hold the crab the right way they begin to get comfortable. Hands start plunging into the tank to pick up a crab and show it off to all the flashing cameras. 

The baby crab was a big hit!

On the boat ride back I always look out over the rail at the water below me. Waves splash up against the boat then fall away into the rest of the ocean. It's beautiful. When you're out in between all of the islands, the sun starts to shine on certain parts of the water giving a clear illusion and a bright, turquoise shade. It may not be Bermuda but it's pretty close. This past week I had a kid ask me if he could jump off the boat into the water. I asked him "why on earth would you want to jump from this high up?" He simply looked at me and said "why not? Look how welcoming the waves are."

Working at Save the Harbor has showed me that Boston's Harbor is beautiful in its own way. There isn't anything to be scared of. Our harbor is beautiful and full of life. None of that life is looking to hurt or scare us. In fact THEY are scared of US. I personally wouldn't want somebody tossing a giant hook into my living room.

Until next time,

Patrice

Share The Harbor and Swim the Harbor

Why hello everybody!

I started my week out at George's Island for our Share The Harbor event, where we take families out to the island for free and they get to enjoy the day as if they were on an AABH trip! It's always adventurous making the trip out with hundreds of families because there is such a wide variety of interests. Most of the older kids want to go explore the dark tunnel while many of the younger kids want to fish or play sports with us. I happened to be fishing this day and I wouldn't have wanted to be anywhere else.

The fog was so thick you couldn't see the water!

It was a foggy day out on the water that day. We had a boatload of families sign up for fishing on this day and most of our aspiring fishermen were younger kids. This means the excitement level and screams of joy were very high pitched. Now when I tell you that we were catching crabs galore, I mean every time I turned around some was reeling up another green crab. One woman consecutively reeled up two about four times! My favorite little friend was fearless and only 4 years old! Normally, when the kids first see the crabs they shy away until we hold their claws down. This little pirate was running from rod to rod each time a crab was pulled up, reaching take the crabs off himself.

My brave little friend

On Friday, I had the privilege of working at Atlantic Wharf. I always love working with the kids here because they're not allowed as many field trips as the camps we normally see on All Access. So, getting to fish print, crab, and fish is all that more special to them. At the fish printing station, everyone squealed when we told them that the flounder was actually real. All of the kids were struck with awe after seeing the foot-long, striped bass that the crew at the Children's Museum had caught. Each one wanted to shove their hand into the tank in hopes of feeling the fish's scales.

Holding up a female green crab for everyone to see

 Fishing was even more exciting for everyone. It's funny fishing with the kids who are really young, because although you tell them to wait until they feel a tug, they do just the opposite. One little girl named Malia was a very enthusiastic fisher. The minute her weight hit the water, she'd reel the line right back up. She was having a grand old time, but had absolutely no patience to actually catch a fish. I tried to encourage her to wait a little longer each time, but "a little longer" to her meant all of 5 more seconds. Even though the kids didn't catch a striped bass, they still had an amazing time, which is all I wanted.

Helping some boys untangle their line

Catch you next time,
Patrice

Back to the Island

Hey there fellow harbor explorers! Last week was my first official week back working for STH/STB and I can't believe how much I missed it. To be honest with you, I was very nervous heading into my first day. I mean everybody gets butterflies when they have to meet new people or work in a different place right? You'd think that since I worked there last year I wouldn't be worried, but it was definitely the opposite. Thursday morning, I woke up at 3 am to leave Vermont and head back down to Boston to start my first day. Watching the sun rise on my ride down, all I cold think about was getting back into the swing of things. I knew I would be working on All Access heading out to George's Island, but I was quite afraid that I'd forget everything I learned last year! Luckily, it was smooth sailing.

Kharliyah and I were out front of the Blue Hills Bank Pavilion welcoming families and camp groups to the trip. Kharliyah would check them in and I would organize them in front of the fence to take a photo with our banner. Then I would lead them right inside to the VIP center to wait until David explained the history and expectations for the island. All of the families that I talked to walking in were thrilled to be riding the BIG boat out to an island that most of them had never even heard of. Speaking of David, I couldn't wait to work for him again. I learned so much from him last year and couldn't wait for more adventures this year. All Access is one of my favorite sites because each day I get to meet a whole new group of people and share my love for the harbor with them.

After David explained George's history and some old prison tales, it was time to head out to the boat. I lead the group of about 250 people down past the World Trade Center towards the Provincetown II. On the ride over, many kids kept pointing over the edge to Long or Spectacle Island asking if it was our destination. When we arrived I was put into the fishing group with Kharliyah and Kent. We were all pretty experienced fishers and excited to work with all of the families that signed up. Setting up,  we pulled up the crab trap and found about 20 crabs inside!

The first group of crabs

One family from Epsom, England had recently moved to Boston because their father was extending his business out here. The children were so excited to fish and hold the crabs in the touch tank. I pulled out a large green crab for them to hold and they squealed with excitement. The brother was fearless and offered to hold the crab in demonstration for his sisters. The youngest sister (about 3) then insisted upon it being her turn. She pinched the crab so tight and paraded it around the dock until she thought it needed to "go play with his friends". The children named the crab Bob and asked me to tell all other kids that that is what his name is. As they were leaving they asked to know our names because they never wanted to forget this experience and hoped to come back one day.

This is why I love working for All Access and Save the Harbor. Without this job I wouldn't have had the opportunity to meet this amazing family and make such a difference in their lives.

Holding up Bob for my new friends

Until my next adventure,
Patrice

An Interesting Close to an Interesting Week

Meet my new friend!

This week had been pretty exciting with the fishing Derby and all. I was stationed at George's Island where it's always an adventure. Now if I really think about it, my favorite part of the week was stealing Max's home-run from him in kickball. It was a brilliant strategy in my opinion, but he for some reason disagrees. However David supports me 100%. I also enjoyed fishing this past week at George's. Kids were catching and pulling up crabs left and right. Kharliyah was manning the touch tank and being very cautious of how kids were picking up the crabs. With her at the touch tank a child NEVER gets pinched. Sadly we didn't have our other senior harbor educator Jenn the Mermaid with us so we didn't catch anything super interesting like baby fish or old, mysterious crab traps, but it was still a really great time on the dock with all the different groups of kids.

Friday was my favorite day, it was my first time ever working at Atlantic Wharf! I had no idea how fun it would be. All the kids were so excited to learn about the harbor and how to protect it. I used a sword to inaugurate every single child as a steward of the harbor. Hooray for the harbor!! After the history lesson, Kharliyah and I headed over to the touch tank. We caught

Me explaining to the kids the difference between crab species!

20 green crabs, all of which were females. Throughout the whole day we only saw one male crab in our crab trap. Bridget came over a couple of times and she said that over at Carson, they too only caught female crabs. Anyway, it was a short week but a fun one because everything flew by so fast!

See you next time,
-Patrice

A Courageous Sail

Hello Boston!

This week ended just as spectacularly as it began. On Thursday, I played sports at George's Island. A few boys were eager to play football with us while other groups were happy to bounce a kickball around in an attempt to keep it off the floor. After a while, we took a break to explore the dark tunnel again. Although there was no sighting of the Lady in Black, we did get scared by a few creepy campers.

Team sports at George's Island

Fitted in my life vest before sailing

On Friday, I had a bittersweet last day at the Courageous Sailing Center. Myself, Vince, and Qalid celebrated our last day by being part of a sailing race! I have never sailed before and was a little nervous about being hit by the sail or capsizing all together. I got placed in a small boat with five young boys and a sailing instructor. The boys were in second grade and full of questions! They wanted to know everything I could tell them about the harbor, the sea life, my life, and what its like in California. They taught me quite a bit too. It was fun to watch the boys scurry around the boat and working together to race through the harbor. When I wasn't ducking and avoiding the main sail, I was learning about how to steer the boat with the rudder. I also picked up on terms like "jibing" and "tacking." Those boys definitely knew a lot about sailing at such a young age. We came in third in the race but it was such a rush to glide with the wind through the harbor.

I am sad to say goodbye to the Courageous Sailing Center, but I made friends there and learned way more than I imagined I could.

Now I am off the check out the Seafood Festival!

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

Explorations and Interrogations

   Wednesday I had the fun opportunity to go on All Access for the first time this summer. With sunny skies and warm weather I knew I was in for a fun day! After boarding the boat with hundreds of kids we were on our way to Georges Island. On the way out I sat at the bow, outside with some kids from a math and science camp. My choice of sitting back fired slightly as they continuously asked me questions I didn't know the answer to! They asked me things like "How long would it take you to swim from Georges Island back to the dock?". They were logical questions, most of the time, but I didn't always know the answers!

Sports on Georges Island

   We finally made our way onto the island after my harbor interrogation on the boat and we had the chance to explore. Melissa and two of the interns that came with us had never been on the island so we took the chance to explore the fort a bit. Upon arrival of the dark tunnel Everybody was too scared to go in. You could hear kids screaming and trying to rush to get out! Their fear was understandable, considering David Coffin was waiting for people to walk by so he could scare them!
   After our trip to the dark tunnel we walked around the fort and bit more and found some old rooms and a nice view from on top of the fort. Finally, we went to the large field in the middle of the fort and played some sports. We started by kicking the back to one another until some kids decided they wanted to come play too. Me and a few kids started practicing our soccer skills as well as our hopscotch skills. Then we joined the dodge ball game that was going on! Two different boys and girls clubs had come together to play the game and it was a whole lot of fun! My trip to one of the harbor islands was a lot of fun and a great learning experience!

Keep Exploring!

Sam

Touring the Harbor

Hello Boston!

This week was filled with variety and excitement. On Monday, I spent the day fishing at Camp Harbor View. Our first pull of the crab trap produced a small, algae-covered spider crab and two hermit crabs. The kids loved playing with the hermit crabs on the table; encouraging hermit races. Some of the more courageous children held the small, fluffy spider crab. Our little friend was content nestling down into the children's palms and staying put. As far as fishing went, we lost a good amount to bait to some strong nibbles, but were not able to catch a fish fully.

Vince teaching these young girls about crabs

On Tuesday, we returned to George's Island. I was in charge of fishing on the island, but was once again overrun with crabs! Every time we pulled up the crab trap, we caught another handful of multi-sized crabs. There were large red rock crabs and snappy, small green crabs. The kids kept catching crabs on their lines as well. It was entertaining to watch them reel in a crab, bring it over the dock, and then scream whilst chasing it all over the floor. Once the kids felt comfortable holding the crabs, they would not put them down. It was almost a struggle to get the kids to release the crabs back into the ocean. They all wanted to know why they couldn't take them home in their bags.

An all girl team on the fishing derby

On Wednesday, we had the wonderful opportunity to take part in a fishing derby. Our staff was split among a multitude of fishing vessels and were able to partake in some serious tournament fishing. Myself, Kharliyah, Kimberly, Patrice, and Marly were on a boat together with Captain Tim. The captain and his assistant taught us how to bait a line that would be used to catch blue fish and striped bass. We released the lines and watched as they trailed behind our moving boat. We passed through schools of fish flopping at the surface of the water. This, it was explained to us, was a sign that larger fish were below the surface causing these small fish to panic where we could see them. Although we did not catch any fish, we did get to see a harbor seal and have an excellent tour of the harbor from the back of a beautiful boat. I learned a lot about fishing and the Boston Harbor and I can't wait to return to the islands to test out my new fishing skills.

Front row view of the beautiful harbor

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

"I want to hold it, I want to hold it!"

Me introducing young
campers to me new friend!

This last week on All Access was a blast! My team and I spent it on Georges Island, familiarizing young campers with their harbor and the many creatures that live in it. Fishing off the pier yielded more crabs, surprising I know. The kids delight in reeling them up, and the best part is letting them investigate their catches in our touch tank. The young children are usually timid towards them at first, but it's not long after after seeing my associates and I pick them up and learning a little bit about their anatomy and life cycles that they perk right up and begin asking to touch and hold the crabs themselves. I enjoy seeing the kids venture from their comfort zones and get hands on with the sea critters; they always bunch up their little faces, almost as if they can't believe they're holding a real live crab in their hands!

These two were my star
pupils of the day!

We educate campers and counselors alike!

The children love fishing so much, I know they would do it all day long if they could. Often times groups of them will stay for a couple sessions and I have to encourage them to get out and explore the island! I myself was able to explore the fort housed on the island, with its pitch-dark tunnels and legendary "Lady in Black". I walked in with two little girls I had seen sitting outside of one of the tunnels too scared to venture inside. We held hands as we tried to navigate through the darkness, but even with them being arms-reach from me I could not see either of them. The farther inside the dark tunnel we got, the harder they began to tug on my hands trying to reverse our direction. I was pleading with them to continue onward until we had reached the back wall, but then I heard a scream come from right next to me and I was unaware there was even a person in there with us! Suffice to say all three of us bolted out of there screaming bloody murder until we had reached the safety of the sunlight. A part of me is still disappointed I didn't reach the end of tunnel, I know deep inside that I have what it takes-- I will have to fix that on our next trip back!

Until next time,
Maxwilliams

Sea Stars and Tunicates and Mussels, Oh My!

Our first sea star at Georg's Island

Wednesday and Thursday were another great few days spent on George’s Island. I was still on sports duty and spent the days gathering kids to play with us near the fort. On Wednesday, Kharliyah and Vince started a game of kickball while Patrice played football with a group of campers. Even adults were lured in by a friendly game of football leading to groups of campers playing island visitors. It was fun for everyone! After we were worn down from sports, we made our way back to the boat to find that our fishing group had come across a beautiful purple sea star! The kids on the dock gathered around as I taught them about echinoderms and how a sea star can grow an arm back if it loses one. “Just like a crab!” one child replied and told me that he had learned all about crabs while fishing with Save the Harbor that day.

Qalid helping a young sailor with fish printing

On Friday, I attended Courageous Sailing Center with Ana, Qalid, and Vince. We were teaching all new sailors today so we gave them a brief history of the health of the Harbor. We discussed Deer Island and played From Your Sink to the Boston Harbor which is an interactive lesson on the water treatment plant and all of its components. The kids couldn’t stop laughing at each other as they pretended to be a flushing toilet or a chlorine squirt gun. Next, we moved on to fish printing and fishing. All of the children loved poking and petting the flounder we were printing. They just could not believe we were painting a real fish! At the end of our lesson, we all walked onto the dock and pulled up our crab traps. One trap was tangled in seaweed and it took all four of us to pull it up onto the dock. It was the perfect opportunity for a sea shanty! Our traps were mostly full of feisty green crabs, though a mussel bed did start to form on the outside of one trap. I showed the children the byssal threads that were created by the mussels and showed the kids just how strong a mussel can be. We also caught a group of tunicates and the children enjoyed squishing those sea squirts. 

Overall, it was another successful week with Save the Harbor, Save the Bay! I can’t wait to do it all

again next week.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

George's Round 2

Hello Everyone!

Two-hand touch football with the kids!

This week was the second time that All Access made a visit to George's Island. I was stationed at Sports this week and had the opportunity to visit the dark tunnels once again, but this time, as an expert. As always, David led our expedition into the dark passages. Along with our usual group, we had the opportunity to show a few of the Save the Harbor interns who usually stay in the office around the island. The second time in the tunnels was even better than the first. Instead of being the one who gets scared, I was the one doing the scaring this time. We got to lead some of the campers into our "trap" led by David  of course. The weather that day was extra chilling, making the hairs on our arms stick up. You could feel the temperature drop when you walked through the tunnels. This made the presence of the "Lady in Black" that much stronger. It probably made the experience for the kids much more exciting and fun! It was fun to see how scared everyone was, knowing that was how I felt last time.

During sports, I got to play football with some of the campers. We invited them over when we saw them aimlessly walking around the fort. It always feels good to bring some smiles to a few friendly faces. We organized a game of 4 on 4 with, no tackling, but two hand touch. I also had the pleasure to witness our senior harbor educator Jennifer "master" her football throw. Maybe she will be the next Tom Brady by the time summer ends! The Patriots will finally find the perfect quarterback replacement!

Until next time,
Henry

I Thought I had 20/20 Vision...

They were all here to welcome me back!

My team came back to Georgia's Island and it was a lot different than last time, but it was still time to have some fun working for Save the Harbor/Save the Bay. So it was time to start with sports, after eating lunch, and dealing with David Coffin's shenanigans (still an awesome guy). I walked there cautiously, just because I had some pretty nice shoes and did not wanna see a surprise, but we went through the dark tunnel. I went through it before and thought I remembered it, but my, the amount of people I bumped into and the walls I banged my head against would shock you. I banged my head on the same wall two times in a row thinking there was a turn, but to my surprise after breaking the forbidden rule of no flash light-- and no I am no rebel, everyone breaks that rule-- I saw that it was a dead end. And when I stepped outside I felt like Dracula because I could not handle the brightness. I was in there a bit too long I think!

Where is Spongebob, we found Patrick!

I just said let me do what I do best, better than everyone I know, and that was fishing. You already know what Qalid the Pro usually does, ask Max to put a hook on the line, but bait it MYSELF, and cast it as far as possible. Though not lucky, I did share my expertise with the kids. We caught starfish, and crabs, but if we were given more time I bet we could have caught something because our bait does not normally just magically disappear. Well, it was a great time if you really forget about the fails. I mean come on, the kids will always put a smile on your face!

Until next time

Qalid Hassan :D

Fun in the Fort

Playing catch at George's island.

This week started off great on Georges island! It began with a rainy Tuesday no doubt, but it turned into a fun one by the end of the day. My Tuesday was spent at sports in the opening of Georges island, where we spent time with the kids playing football. Although it was a bit rainy and a little cold we held it together and still managed to have a ton of fun and didn't let the weather affect us at all. We also helped people go through the dark tunnels on the island and might I tell you that its by far one of the coolest things ever.

Strike a pose for the blog!

While Tuesday was a blast, Wednesday was just as amazing as the day before. It was warmer, sunnier and we had a whole bunch more fun. No more rainy day gloom hanging over the harbor! Today I spent the day fishing off the dock at George's island with a bunch of different groups of kids from he city and might I just say it was a blast. They had a lot of fun fishing and I had a lot of fun showing them the way to do it properly. I couldn't have asked for a better day!

From yours truly,

Jaiden Coren 

Did You See That?!

Me instructing a group of teens how to cast and
care for their rods.

It was another fun week at Georges Island! The hustle and bustle of shuttling the 400+ passengers to the ferry every morning is blissfully interrupted by a soothing ride across the harbor to the island. The campers and counselors alike buzz at the sight of our fishing equipment as we board the boat, pleading to enroll in the day's fishing club-- I am so thankful for my team member Patrice who has assumed the responsibility of helping me structure the club's schedule and often assists in touring the boat in search of eager children to come fish with us!

I wish you had seen the size of this thing!

This week yielded zero fish caught on the island. All day we were reeling up crab after crab, mostly green shore crabs with a few red rock crabs peppered into the mix. I admit, though, the kids never seemed disappointed. Many of them have never gone fishing before, or had never had the luck of hooking anything; they are honestly just satisfied with actually having caught a sea creature, from within the same harbor they call home no less. Today, as a few of the kids and I were hoisting our crab trap, we spied a humongous-sized spider crab clinging to the outside of the net! Believe me when I say I was not the only one that was frightened! I was sure small dogs couldn't breathe underwater, but the size of the figure's silhouette really made me doubt myself for a second! Sadly, the crab let go of the trap before it broke the surface of the water so we weren't able to grab a pic. I left an extra big piece of bait in the trap for it though so hopefully we'll have another chance at capturing photo evidence tomorrow, I will keep you posted.

It's a starfish!

We weren't completely disappointed though, today one of the kids reeled up a starfish! My colleague Jenn jumped into action, identifying for the group of campers and Save the Harbor staff alike, the madreporite and its role of filtering water in the starfish's vascular system. My favorite were the looks on the childrens' faces as she went on to explain how starfish fed by expelling their stomachs out of their mouths and externally digesting their lunch; a very fitting description as it seemed as though some of the campers' partially digested lunches would soon be making an appearance of their own!

Until next time,
Maxwilliams

No Flashlights Allowed Here

So far, this week has been pretty interesting. I started the week off at Piers Park. Now I knew Monday was going to be a crabby day weather wise, but I didn't think it was going to be this bad. When we went down to the dock, I tried talking to a young boy named Justin. He loves hockey and so do I so we began to talk about our favorite teams and how much we cant wait until NHL season. This poor kid was so cold the hairs on his leg were sticking straight out and his teeth were chattering every time he opened his mouth. At lunch, my fingers were too cold to even pick up my food. Now although the day was as miserable looking as can be, all the kids were still happy to be there, go sailing, and play with the crabs we brought up. Then of course Moana caught all of their undivided attention.

The next two days I spent on George's Island. I can't explain how much I love this island. On Tuesday I was fishing with Kharliyah, Vince, and Max. We had so much fun cutting up the bait pretending we were actual chefs. It was really funny. One kid got super excited that he caught seaweed on his hook and he wanted to keep it as his "trophy".

On Wednesday, I went to sports. Of course, the first thing we did was climb the tree. Vince pushed up Kharliyah and me, then Jenn tried to help him up. Eventually we all got up, but the hard part was yet to come. We had to get back down. Kharliyah was first. Jenn was so confident that she'd be able to help her down, but when the time came, Jenn's eyes grew very wide and she almost started crying saying "I can't I can't. I don't have that strength. Kharliyah was laughing so hard I thought she'd pee her pants.

Our tree climbing adventures

After our tree climbing adventures, I decided to go play football with Christian Charities. They were playing tackle football. All of them thought that since I was a girl I was going to be slow and weak. Once I got the ball though, I ran through them all very fast and scored the first touchdown. I scored another one after that and then they realized that for a girl, I'm not so fragile and slow.

Me trying to stop another counselor 

See you next time,

-Patrice

Wind and Rain and Scary Tunnels

Hello Boston!

Periwinkles and Asian Shore Crabs

Wind and rain can't stop our invasive species hunt!

This Monday was a soggy one for sure! I spent my Monday at Camp Harbor View where the wind was blowing strong, the rain was coming in sideways, and the chill went straight through you. Our first group learned about invasive species and helped us gather Periwinkle Snails and Asian Shore Crabs from the beach. We tried to hide our next group from the wind as we played What You Can't See Under the Sea on a covered pathway. As the weather progressed, we took our last group up to the fort on the island. This was my first time exploring the fort and the kids were excited to give me a spooky guided tour. At the end of the day, we had a slow and bumpy, yet heated,
boat ride back to Boston.

The perfect spiral

On Tuesday, I got to visit George's Island for the first time. Although it was still a little cold, it was not nearly as wet as Monday. When we got to George's Island, my group forced me to go into the dark tunnels that line the forts there. They definitely got a good laugh as I screamed and shuffled through the completely dark stony path. After one walk through the tunnel, I had experienced enough scary dark places for one week. I spent the remainder of my time on the island playing sports with the kids. I am quite proud to announce that my football throwing skills are getting better each day! Though I probably will not be a quarterback any time soon. I am looking forward to spending the rest of the week on George's Island and learning more of the history there.

Sea you out there,

Jennifer Leiendecker

Into the Dark Tunnels

Hello Again!

This week was the start of our All Access adventures to George's Island. Although this wasn't my first trip to George's, I did receive a jolt of excitement when I heard David tell his haunted tales of "The Lady in Black" to all the little campers. This reminded me of the times when I was a little boy. Although I may have been a lot more gullible back then, I still do believe in those haunted stories. That is why I never get tired of them, I'm always down for another scary adventure.

We made our way to Fort Warren, where supposedly, "The Lady in Black" haunts the pitch black tunnels of the fort. There were also many campers that ventured into the tunnels as well. As they reached for their devices for some lights to reassure their safety, David yells "No flashlights!" The flashlights would upset "The Lady in Black", and the kids wouldn't want that would they; I'm pretty sure even I wouldn't want that! To play a joke, David decided it would be fun if we lured the kids into the tunnel and into a large room. Inside the large room, there was a sliver of light from a little opening outside the room on the ceiling. To scare the kids, David would appear from the dark and into the light with just his hand. This devious plan had great success and I'm even sure it would have worked on me about 10 years ago.

As we made our way back out of the tunnel, I was tasked to walk through it once again to see if any trash was left behind. I would have surely not dared to do this if I was a few years younger, but since I am past the "little boy" stage of my life, I decided that I would be up for the walk. I went back through the tunnels, most of which had some lights shining through from outside, and collected any trash that was left behind. As I safely made it back outside, I looked back into the tunnels. Only about 20 minutes ago were the tunnels lit by the screams and laughter of the children, but now, as I looked back, it was as silent and empty as it once was hundreds of years ago when "The Lady in Black" searched for her escape in these tunnels to find a way out. I took a minute to look inside. I couldn't see anything from the outside, but I wonder if something was looking at me from the inside...

Until next time,
Henry

Me and Vince doing some tree climbing on Georges!