Our Girl Scout trip to Savannah August 25, 2009

June 28, 2009. It’s 5 a.m. as our sleepy mother-daughter troop from Prior Lake and Savage – Jill and Jamie Stang, Margaret and Stacey LaFrance, and Monique and Lauren Rupp – heads off to the airport, anxiously awaiting our arrival in Atlanta, Georgia. As our plane touches down and we begin our road trip to Savannah, we first make a quick stop at the World of Coke museum in downtown Atlanta, where we experienced some good and some not-so-good Coke products from around the world.

We head off again and drive four hours until finally reaching our destination at the Mulberry Inn in Historic Savannah. What was once a cotton factory, and later became the first ever Coca-Cola bottling factory, had now become our hotel for our week in historic Savannah.

Our first day in Savannah was spent touring the historic city with the Old Savannah Trolley Tours. That same night, we were scared out of our wits while touring the Weed Sorrell Mansion, one of the top ten most haunted houses in the U.S. We awoke the second day to the history and flag semi-fore of Old Fort Jackson. There we were able to watch a real firing of a cannon, and we took a tour of the civil war barracks inside the fort’s walls. We spent the remainder of the day on a dolphin tour out on Tybee Island, where we learned about Atlantic bottle nose dolphins and their habitat. Wednesday morning we drove back out to Tybee Island to climb 178 steps to the top of the lighthouse on the Island. After climbing back down, we toured the house of the lighthouse keeper, where we found a picture of Dan Patch hanging on the wall above the mantel. We all thought this was amazing because our hometown of Savage is named after Dan Patch’s owner M.W. Savage, and Dan Patch and his owner were from Savage.

We also took part in a marine beach walk that afternoon, where we learned about the Georgia salt marshes, the marine life that lived there, and how to protect it. We ended that perfect day with a swim in the Atlantic Ocean and a fabulous lunch at a pink restaurant on the beach called Fannies.

Our last day in Savannah was spent at the Juliette Gordon Low house! We started our day by doing an interest session called Fabrics, Fashions, and Frills. During this session we were fortunate enough to learn everything from the proper way to wear a corset, to how to attach a bustle enhancer to get the true bustle look of the 1880s. Then we took a tour of Juliette Gordon Low’s birthplace. We ended our day with a true Victorian dinner, where we dressed up in dresses of Juliette’s day, and even ate off of replicas of the china she had painted!

It was amazing just seeing in that one day how one woman was able to make such a difference in the world with one idea. Juliette Gordon Low has done some awe-inspiring things for girls that people will remember forever.

The next day we woke up bright and early, to make a long road trip so we could arrive in Atlanta in time to catch our flight back home.

All in all, we learned bits and pieces of everything, all the way from how to wave a civil war flag to how to wear the best fashions of the 1880s, proper dinner manners for a dinner party, and about the founder of Girl Scouting in America. We had been saving up our Girl Scout cookie money for years to fund this trip, and after it was over, we can definitely say that it was worth every penny.

Sibley Girl Scouts in Colorado July 21, 2008

Last month sixth-grade Girl Scouts from Sibley went on a six-day trip to Colorado. Each family paid for part of the trip, and the rest was funded through fundraisers and donations.
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The group left Sibley on Wednesday afternoon and spent their first night in Grand Island, Neb. and arrived at Colorado Springs the next day. During the next few days, they visited many interesting places, including Seven Falls, a lighted waterfall; the Cave of Winds; the Manitou Cliff Dwellings in Manitou Springs, ancient dwellings of the Anasazi Indians; the United States Air Force Academy, where they attended church services at the cadet chapel; United States Olympic Training Center, where they caught a few minutes of the women’s volleyball team training; and Historic Manitou Springs, where the girls tasted the “gross” natural spring water. The group also rode the Pike’s Peak Cog Railway to the summit and spent a morning at Royal Gorge Bridge & Park, where they rode an aerial tram across the gorge, took an incline railway to the bottom of the gorge, and walked across the bridge.
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One of the more adventurous activities was whitewater rafting on the Arkansas River.  What were supposed to be “family level rapids” looked scary to the group, but they all made it to the end. They had an exciting trip down the river, paddling when the guides told them to paddle and wondering how big the next set of rapids would be.
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Other highlights included horseback riding through the Garden of the Gods and visiting the Flying W Ranch, where the Flying W Wranglers kept them entertained after the group’s Chuckwagon Supper. The girls also enjoyed campfires, grilling, and spending time in the hot tub at the lodge.
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We had an amazing trip, and would like to thank all of you who helped us go on this trip in any way – from buying cookies and wreaths to eating at the Sibley Super Foods stand when we were there. Special thanks goes to the Boors for loaning us their van, the Mehls for the use of their pickup, Russ Kasch and the Van Name Trust for their donation, and Suzette VanderVeen for her donation (we’re sorry you weren’t able to come with us at the last minute!). We learned some new things and we came home with some cool souvenirs and some great memories.