Girl Scout Trip Planning

This past summer, our Girl Scout troop ventured out of Wisconsin to Washington DC.  Saving for the trip started with cookie sales during their 3rd grade year with the trip to take place after their 5th grade year.  I actually plotted out 4 different trips depending on budget, travel distance, and the girl's thoughts.
1.  Orlando, FL
2.  Washington DC
3.  Mount Rushmore
4.  Rocky Mountains

The girls quickly ruled out anything with camping so when readjusting the lodging, Mount Rushmore became the same price as Washington DC (which was also originally a camping option).  http://www.cherryhillpark.com/index.cfm
And, removed the Rocky Mountains from our list of options...... 1 down.

Ranking of driving distances from Eau Claire, WI were:
1.  Mount Rushmore - 10 hours
2.  Washington DC - 18 hours
3.  Orlando - 24 hours

And, while Orlando and Washington were similarly priced, (Orlando - lower priced hotel but higher priced attractions.  DC - higher priced hotel but free attractions) Orlando was removed from the list due to travel time.  I probably should have mentioned we were driving and not flying.  With a troop of 16-18, the price of airfare was not an option.

Our parent information meeting was met with many concerns of safety, distance, and home sickness.  Ultimately, 7 girls and 3 adults made the trip to DC and I quickly planned another trip to Minneapolis for the rest of the girls.  That way crafts we decided on could still be used by all the girls.  But more on those later.

During planning chats, the girls had decided they wanted to go to the White House, the National Zoo and up the Washington Monument.  Unfortunately, the Washington Monument was closed due to damage sustained during an earthquake in the fall of 2011.  Adding a White House tour to your trip requires 6 months of planning in itself.  To request a tour, one must submit a request to their state Senator up to 6 months in advance.  At the time of the request, you need to have everyone's full name, address, date of birth, and social security number.  In my experience, I sent an email to Senator Kohl's office with the nature of our request (Girl Scout troop) and they responded within a few days with a spreadsheet for the information and specific instructions.  It should be noted that your information needs to be absolutely correct as they will not contact you for verification.  Once the information is returned, you sit and wait.. and wait and wait.  We received our tour confirmation 2 weeks prior to our trip.  This also arrived with very specific instructions on what could and could not be brought in with you.  And, absolutely no pictures were allowed!!!
http://www.whitehouse.gov/about/tours-and-events

Our trip took place on June 21-June 27
Thursday, June 21 - Departed Eau Claire at 7am and stayed in Columbus, OH
Friday, June 22-25 - Alexandria, VA
Tuesday, June 26 - Bloomington, IL

Something to mention for troops, Virginia is a state that requires a life guard to be on duty when the pool is open.  Because of that, the girls were able to use the pool as none of the chaperons were life guard certified.
http://www.washingtonsuitesalexandria.com/

To cut costs, we also looked for a hotel that had free parking, a refrigerator, and shuttle options.  The Washington Suites is a converted apartment building.  Our suite had 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, full kitchen and a pull out couch in the living room.  The closet in one of the bedrooms was a full walk in so we used that for all of the girls luggage.  It worked really well as they each had their own spot and it kept the living areas clear of clutter.  I don't believe we had any mix ups of who's clothes was who's.  Added bonus!!!  While there were several suite options, this worked best for our group.  We also used a queen sized air mattress to accomodate everyone.
http://www.washingtonsuitesalexandria.com/images/bodyimages/WSA-2-BR-Diagram-big.jpg

Pay close attention to hotel ratings and reviews.  Even if you are not booking through a site like Expedia, you can still view customer reviews.  Or utilize a site like TripAdvisor which is also great for Things to Do, in addition to hotels and restaurants.  http://www.tripadvisor.com/

Girl Scouts require stops every 2 hours for road trips.  I think this was the most difficult part of the planning process.  Trying to balance meals, gas needs and access to actual facilities proved to be challenging but attainable with the aid of Google Maps, Map Quest and AAA.  If you are not a member of AAA, I highly recommend it.  Their website can be used to order road maps, create Trip Tiks with all of your required stops and locate nearby stop options.  It was through AAA that I found Cooper's Rock which we stopped at for lunch on Friday.
http://www.coopersrockstateforest.com/

Google Maps was also very helpful for being able to locate hotels or restaurants near our stop points.  Simply enter the address or city and select "Search Nearby" and pick your request.  I.e.  Restaurants, hotels, etc.  It then shows you where each one is in relation to the address you entered.  Easy Peasy!!

Our meal plan included either 1 restaurant stop or carry out each day and a picnic meal.  We had loaded up on sandwich meat during a local grocery store sale which reduce our meal cost substantially.
While my original thought was to mix it up between lunches and dinners, we did end up having a picnic lunch every day.  While in Alexandria, we did order Popeye's Chicken and Dominos at the hotel.  The girls also ate at Cracker Barrel, McDonald's and the food court in the Landmark Mall on the trip.  Kelly even made dinner one night.  The first night we spent in Alexandria, we went to the mall for dinner and then to a nearby grocery store.  I'm proud to say we only went to the store that one time with the small exception of stopping at the nearby gas station to buy more soda.  We had the girls select snacks and ice cream treats for our hotel and combine that with the chips, snacks, desserts, and bottled water we brought with, we were set.

I'll have more on budgeting, road trip activities for the girls and things we did in DC in the future.  :)