Denver Trip

What do I love more than the start of football season?  Playoff time!  In my quest to attend a game at all 31 pro football stadiums, I announced I would be attending at least two games in the 2012-2013 season when Peyton Manning was able to return and made the move to the Denver Broncos.  I know the time to watch him in person is now limited.  I picked three games I was interested in seeing but only made it to one during the regular season.  I ended up going to Kansas City Thanksgiving weekend.  We took advantage of the number of tickets available and they were very reasonable.  We ended up sitting in the 5th row behind the Broncos.  I can't lie, the seats were amazing and I loved the stadium.  The only thing I would have changed would be the parking set up.  Leaving was ridiculous.  I even joked with my mom that the Broncos would be home before we got to the interstate.

 Arrowhead Stadium

When the playoffs started and the Broncos had the first round bye, I jokingly looked at airline prices for the weekend of the 12th.  But knew the game needed to be on the 12th (Saturday) for me to be able to go.  Ticket prices were shockingly low.  So low that I even asked my husband if I could go.  He made a comment to the effect of "I'm not sure why you even asked, I'm sure you're all ready to go."  I was but I wanted his ok.  I didn't purchase tickets yet, though.  I was unsure about going.... weather, ticket prices were HIGH, and is this really a good idea??  As piece after piece fell into place, I thought this must be the time to go.  There is no better place to cheer on your team that on their home field!!!  

My favorite travel website is Expedia.   http://www.expedia.com/  Especially, if you are booking a hotel at the same time.  Since, I was taking my almost 12 year old, I had to make sure the hotel amenities worked for her too. TripAdvisor is a wonderful site for not just hotels and restuarants but also things to do in the city you're visiting.  http://www.tripadvisor.com/  I came up with a list of items she might want to go to since I was making her spend what we thought would be 4+ hours at the stadium.  She ended up selecting the Denver Art Museum and a Mall.  Aparently, shopping in another state is super exciting.  http://www.denverartmuseum.org/

For tickets, I looked at several sites.  I'm not a user of Ebay so paypal is not an option plus I've had success on http://www.seatspro.com/ and http://www.stubhub.com/.  Both have different fees and need to be weighed with the ticket prices.  Stubhub's fee's are partially dependent on the ticket price.  For both the KC game and the Broncos game I used the specific ticket exchange for each team.  http://www.ticketexchangebyticketmaster.com/NFL/denver-broncos-tickets/?intcmp=tm104525&wt.mc_id=NFL_TEAM_DEN_MAIN_TIX_LINK

Getting around Denver was a little different.  We used a shuttle from the airport set up by the hotel.  Unfortunately, there was a difference from what I read on the website and it was pricey.  Although, our driver on the way to the hotel definitely earned his money waiting us during our hour delay in the air and with the drive to the hotel which was insanely treacherous.  Why did I want to fly into Denver in January?

The light rail was very easy to use and surprisingly inexpensive as prices are not increased for games.  http://www.rtd-denver.com/lightrail.shtml  We also used the free bus in the 16th Street Pedestrian Mall.

http://www.sportsauthorityfieldatmilehigh.com/stadium_info/visiting

 Denver Art Museum

Spacious lockers!  One locker easily fit our two winter coats, sweatshirts, and yes, long johns.  Oh, and there was some great art.  But, that's my daughter's thing and not mine.  :)

 Cap City Tavern.  Good burgers and Atmosphere next door to the Art Museum.  I will add their bathroom has a great couch and space for putting on multiple layers.  :)

http://www.capcitytavern.com/

Unfortunately, the game didn't end as we had hoped but the double overtime was incredible.  The temps also didn't cooperate as the high ended up being 13 degrees at game time.  I heard 1 degree was the low.  Overall, I can't complain.  I was a great trip and despite the temps and the added time at the game, my daughter did a great job.  I'm looking forward to the schedule release on April 16th to decide where my next  football adventures will be. 

Girl Scouts DC Budget and tips

Before our trip, if you had told me we would come home almost $1200 under budget, I would have told you you were crazy.  Based on calculations and some estimates, each category had it's own budget.  I also had envelopes for each category to keep them separate.  Each night I logged what was spent while the girls were in the pool.  In my travel folder, I had a clear pouch for receipts.

Category/ Budget/ Actual/ Overage or shortage
Food - $800 - $508.79 - $291.21
Hotels - $1515.92 - $1520.61 - ($4.69)
Rental van - $1095.40 - $593.17 - $502.23
Attractions - $252.00 - $49.60 - $202.40
Metro/Parking - $232.00 - $142.12 - $89.86
Gas - $600 - $490.12 - $109.88
Tolls - $4.00 - $3.80 - $.20
Total - $4499.32 - $3308.23 - $1192.09
(My spreadsheet does look a lot better than this but I don't know how to attach it.)  :(

The biggest savings came from the rental van.  Enterprise has an outstanding contract with the Girl Scout council in our area.  They do not charge for mileage or are able to up sell any insurance.  Plus, when we returned and I mentioned the check oil light kept coming on and we had to replace wiper blades, they took an additional 10% off the original rental agreement and refunded the amount for the wipers.  Bonus!

As I had mentioned in my first trip planning post, we had one meal daily of picnic foods and one delivered, picked up or meal out.  We were fortunate enough to have a home cooked meal also during our stay in DC.

Third was attractions.  We had originally budgeted for a trolley or bus tour but during the trip, the girls decided they would rather spend more time in the pool.  The third day in DC, they voted to go to the National Aquarium.  And we were able to use some from this category to cover it.
http://www.trolleytours.com/washington-dc/
http://www.aqua.org/

Some tips from our trip:
**Pick a hotel with some type of kitchen set up.  Even a Microwave and mini fridge can add up the savings.
**Look for a hotel with free parking and free shuttle.  I came across some hotels that charged $20-25 per night.
**Does the hotel offer free internet and continental breakfast?  We made sure every hotel had free breakfast and internet.  Who wants to pay extra for their girls to check Facebook?!  And, when we budgeted $15 per person per day, cutting out breakfast goes a long way.
**Check out multiple websites or vendors.  Do they allow discounts for groups, AAA memberships or frequent "fliers"?  A lot of times you can double up on discounts.
**Keep the girls involved.  While our budget changed from camping to hotel and Trolley to Aquarium, they need to enjoy the trip with in the budget.
**Keep detailed records.  It was much easier to track this daily than waiting til the end of the trip to do everything and remember every detail.  I'm pretty happy we only misplaced two receipts.
**Trust and communicate with the others on your trip.  They may have different, valuable insight!!
**Two areas to always over budget - Food and Gas!
**Always overestimate the amount of food your troop will need!
**Use sites like http://gasbuddy.com/ to estimate the amount needed for gas.  Using the Trip Cost Calculator will allow you to enter your stop locations to see who has the lowest priced gas along your route.
**http://www.wmata.com/rider_tools/tripplanner/tripplanner_form_solo.cfm  will help budget costs for using the Metro.  Utilize the online maps to find which stations are closest to your destinations.

Girl Scout Travel Journal

For our trip, I created a travel journal for the girls.  I had individual pages for the following activities:
The License Plate Game
Tic Tac Toe
The Dot Game
Rubbings
Who I Traveled With
Post Cards and Stamps (w/envelope for stamps)
Before and After (what they anticipate their favorite thing and actual)
Journal Pages
Daily Agenda w/ envelopes for storing receipts, maps, etc.
Where I've Traveled
National Zoo Pages
Sketching

The Journal size was 8" x 5".  Large enough for games and activities and small enough to carry in their back packs.  Since I printed all of the pages at home, one tip I learned was to center the page on your paper when printing front and back pages.  Another tip would be to print in grey scale until your final draft is ready to be printed.  Like any other project, changes will need to be made.  I was fortunate to have a former (now adult) Girl Scout and a former Girl Scout Leader edit my creation.  The sample I brought them had pages taped front and back to create the flow of the journal.  I changed the order several times and actually removed pages based on the size it was becoming.

Overall, this was a great project which was inspired by my daughter.  It was very time consuming though and with the cost of binding and ink, it would have been easier to purchase a generic journal.  But, that's definitely not me.  I like to create one of a kind items to make their/family trips special.

Journal Cover......  Binding and Protective covers done by Kinkos

One of the License Plate Game pages.  The other was to find the state on the map.  We also utilized it with the states we were traveling through and state capitals.

Each day has it's own pair of pages to track the daily weather, things to do and see, and things bought.  The envelopes had to be hand made to be in scale with the size of the journal.  As a result, I was able to coordinate the colors used with each page.  

One of the National Zoo pages.  The original idea was to place the Zoo map on the opposite page.  However, the picture wouldn't size properly so I opted to have a titled only page for them to draw their own map.

Before and After pages..... there was one oval per traveling girl.  The idea was to get them talking to others on the trip and find out what they were most interesting in seeing and then find out if that was actually their favorite thing.

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.  :)

Turkey Pot Pie and Chicken Spaghetti

Cooking for today involves using some left over turkey to make our favorite Turkey Pot Pie for dinner tomorrow and a new recipe Chicken Spaghetti for tonight's dinner.

Typically when we try a new recipe, we use it as is.  This time, I did add more noodles which seemed to be ok.  Going forward, I would probably add 2 cans of Ro-Tel.  Here's the Chicken Spaghetti recipe for your viewing pleasure.

http://www.boomerbrief.com/2012/03/super-satisfying-chicken-spagetti.html

Our Turkey Pot Pie modifications include:
Remove celery.
Reduce turkey to 3 cups.
Add 2 cups frozen, shredded potatoes
Below is the original...... cook time is not altered with the above changes.

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/dads-leftover-turkey-pot-pie/detail.aspx