Mark's Experience

A Day At Fort Ross

Day 1

Dear Journal,

Today was a great day at Fort Ross. My group, the Militia, learned how to march. After we learned how to march, we marched around the fort a few times and inspected some places. Then our group got our weapons: muskets, sabers, and a drum (which isn't a weapon, except we got it at the same time). First we chose who would go first with each one and then learned about them. Then, we learned about the weapons, mainly the musket. We learned how to load and stuff like that. After we learned about them, we marched around the fort a couple more times with the drum keeping our beat. After that, we had dinner and then had our evening walk with all the groups.

The evening walk was really fun. It was fun because everybody was really quiet and because we could see all the stars. The point of the evening walk was pretty much just to cool down before we went to bed. We walked all over, not just inside the fort but mainly outside the fort. I think the evening walk was one of the best times of the day. Well, time to go to sleep, see you in the morning!

Day 2

Dear Journal,

Last night, my group had nightwatch just like any other group, but I think ours was at the best, 4:00-6:00 am. I think ours was the best because it was the last one and because we didn't have to try to get back to sleep. The nightwatch I think was actually fun. We got to watch the sun come up. Also before the sun came up, we got to look at the stars. The point of nightwatch was to make sure no one trespasses or anyone or anything attacked the fort. When we were at nightwatch, we sat by the fire that was making me sweat because it was so hot and drank hot chocolate. At nightwatch, all you could pretty much hear was the ocean. Also today, my group fired the cannon. It was the BEST part I think. The reasons I thought it was the BEST part was because I had the most important job of firing it. I was the lighter! The other people in my group prepared the cannon. The different tools were the worm, which was used to clean stuff out of the cannon. The sponge was used to clean the cannon. The ramrod was used to push everything down, and the lighter which I used was used to light it. Well, time to go home see you there!

What I Will Remember

At Fort Ross I have lots of memories. These are three that I can remember well; firing the cannon, tasting some sort of cream cheese that was very good, and seeing a harbor seal.

The thing I think I will remember the most is firing the cannon. I had the most important job, which was lighting it. I had to take this tool (of which I can't remember the name) with a metal piece which was attached to a piece of wood which I held. On the metal there was some rope that was dipped in some special liquid to make it light longer. I then lit it with some special old-fashioned matches and I lit the cannon, which made it fire and man, was that loud!

At Fort Ross, I tasted some sort of cream cheese. It was made with cream cheese with some herbs added into it. It was very good on bread. The surprising thing was that I had never tried it before.

Also near Fort Ross (at the beach), I saw a harbor seal. I was surprised though, because it was really close to the beach. The seal wasn't very big and looked like it was eating. I was excited though, because I thought it was coming on the beach. Then some girls scared it off which mellowed my excitement.

What you just read are some of the things I remember from Fort Ross.

You can also check out my friends Michael's Experience,Keith's Experience and Kevin's Experience

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