Girl Scouts has designated 2012 as The Year of the Girl. This is a great video with girls speaking in One Voice talking about taking action to make the world a better place.
Yours in Scouting!
Archive for December, 2011
Video: Holiday Message
2011
12.21
12.21
A Holiday Message from GS CEO, Anna Maria Chávez & GS National President, Connie Lindsey.
Yours in Scouting!
Savannah: Tybee Island Adventures!
2011
12.20
12.20
Tybee Island
There is a little island just across the bridge from Savannah – Tybee Island. There is plenty to see & do on this tiny island for troops! We planned a very full day. We timed our travel time very well (we were only late by a couple of minutes once or twice!). However, we probably could have used a little more “extra” time to allow the girls to explore areas that they wanted to. We also didn’t allow ourselves a lot of time for eating lunch! We kind of had a time to meet our caterer, grab our sandwiches and run to the next stop. We meet the caterer at a park & the girls got a chance to play on a playground for about 10 minutes while we waited for the caterer to bring us an order that had been left off. The girls would have liked to have had more time playing & eating – maybe next time!
Dolphin Crossing
Our first adventure of the day was the dolphin tour. There are several boat companies that offer dolphin tours. The girls thought this would be a fun experience! I was a little worried. We were going to Savannah in November. Would there still be dolphins around? The tour operators assured me when I scheduled the tour that we would see dolphins – not guarantee, but reassured me. We DID see dolphins! It was the best! The girls had a blast on the boat. We were the only ones on our tour so we had the run of the boat! They were able to go to the front & watch for the dolphins as we went out to the ocean. The captain & his first mate did an amazing job telling the girls about the area as we were going to find the dolphins. If you’re going to Tybee Island – a dolphin tour is a must!
Old Fort Jackson - cannon firing
Our next Tybee Island adventure was at Old Fort Jackson. There is a one hour session that allows the girls to be “mustered” into the Girl Scout Militia. The reenactor takes the girls through joining the militia. They learned to march, salute and all things militia. They learned how the fire a cannon and watched the reenactor actually fire the cannon. I think that may have been the girls favorite part of this stop – unless you count the part where they ran around aimlessly within Old Fort Jackson itself. They did have fun getting rid of some of their energy!
Tybee Island Lighthouse
Tybee Island Lighthouse was our next stop. The lighthouse museum is actually a group of buildings plus the lighthouse. The lighthouse has over 170 steps to reach the top of the lighthouse. From there you can see up to 20 miles. I am afraid of heights, so I wasn’t able to make it to the top, but I did have plenty of adults that did stay with the troop to the very edge! Every lighthouse is painted a different pattern so that as ships are coming into the harbors they will know which lighthouse they are coming to. The house on the grounds was the lighthouse keepers residence. It still has some of the original furniture from the keepers families. Our tour guide did a great job with the girls!
Jellyfish on Tybee Island
Our final adventure for the day was at the Tybee Island Marine Science Center. The girls chose sand sifting & the marsh walk for their sessions while at the science center. One of the other choices was to go farther into the ocean, but we felt the water might be too cold in November for that! The girls did get wet doing the sand sifting! They were “only” going to get ankle deep, but with the waves, some got a little wetter! During the ocean adventure a couple of jelly fish washed ashore so the girls were able to explore/hold the jelly fish without being stung! The marsh adventure suggested that the girls bring rain boots – this was an excellent idea! The marsh was a little muddy. We also brought trash bags to put the muddy boots/shoes in for the ride home! (a definite must to contain the mud!) During the marsh walk the girls discovered the animals that lived in the marsh. Very cool!
There are other things to do while on Tybee Island – we just ran out of time! There is Ft. Pulaski, it is part of the national parks system. They also have programs for Girl Scouts. I heard that the church that was built for the movie “The Last Song” is located on Tybee Island. It may be possible to tour it. You could also spend some time just on the beach (as long as it is warm!)! There were some shops near the beach on Tybee Island. We didn’t get a chance to explore them, but I’ll bet they were interesting!
Next post – Dining Options!
Videos: Journey’s Training
2011
12.14
12.14
This week’s video is about Journey’s. Are you still confused about the new Journey’s? The video from Girl Scouts of Colorado trainers gives a great explanation to help leaders guide their girls on the road to Journey’s!
Yours in Scouting!
Savannah: The Birthplace
2011
12.09
12.09
Since Savannah is the Birthplace of Juliette Gordon Low, the founder of Girl Scouting, it is only right to visit the places in Savannah that were important to her.
Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace sign
The Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace House Tour: The Birthplace can be toured for a fee. You don’t need reservations or to even be a Girl Scout to tour the house. The house is a museum and you are guided through the house by a tour guide that will tell you about the different rooms in the house and how the Gordon family lived. The home is beautiful! It is a treat for anyone to visit. If you only have time to take the tour it is worth the time!
If your troop schedules a tour & a special interest session, you will be allowed to hold a special “Pinning Ceremony” in the garden at the Birthplace. Only girls that have visited the house can wear the “Daughters of the House” pins. The garden is next to the street so it can get a little noisy with traffic and pedestrian noise, but it was still a special ceremony for the girls & parents.
Candles" for Ceremony during Special Interest Session at Birthplace
Special Interest Sessions: There are ___ sessions for the girls ages Juniors – Ambassadors to participate in. There is one session – Spanning the Decades – that is only available during the 100th Anniversary Year. My troop participated in this session. It was a good session to show the girls what kind of things troops did during the different decades. They could see how some things changed and how some things never change! (Like SWAP’s, singing & flag ceremonies) There are 9 different sessions the girls can choose from.
Andrew Low House/First National Headquarters: Our troop did not find time to work this into our schedule. I wish we had. During our carriage tour, the tour guide showed the girls the house. The Andrew Low House is where Juliette Low died in 1927.
The Girl Scout First National Headquarters is located in the Carriage House behind the Andrew Low House. There are programs that troops can participate in also. Maybe on our “next” trip to Savannah, we’ll be able to “do it all”!
Gate at Juliette Gordon Low House
Next psot – Tybee Island adventures!
Video: Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting
2011
12.07
12.07
This week’s video comes from the Girl Scouts of Orange County. The video shows how the new Girl’s Guide to Girl Scouting & Journey’s work together.
Yours in Scouting!
Savannah: Transportation & Budgeting
2011
12.01
12.01
Getting to Savannah might seem like a no brainer until you realize that Savannah is in Georgia and you live in Califorinia or Iowa or New York. So what is the best option to getting to Savannah. Well that depends on where you live.
While we were in Savannah, we met a group from Maryland. They drove 10 hours to visit Savannah. I think that would probably be my limit on how long I can ride with a troop in a car (I know that’s my limit riding with my family!). I also heard about a troop that traveled from Texas to Savannah (talk about dedicated!). They turned it into a week long trip with stops in Florida/Alabama on the way. I believe they spent 4 days in Savannah.
When you drive, you need to consider how many people will be going, so how many vehicles will be on the road. More than 2 cars/vans is tough to control/follow. Also you will need to budget the cost for each car to park while you are in Savannah. Our hotel charged us $10 per car per day. Others may charge more. Parking is limited in Savannah. You will also need to budget gas prices for every vehicle – that is tough to do with the rising gas prices.
Another option is to secure a tour bus. This is a great option if you have a lot of people (over 20). You can rent a smaller bus for less cost. The tour bus company will be responsible for all the permits & parking costs while in Savannah. You just get to get on the bus & ride! The cost on this can seem a little high, but the stress of not having to drive can be well worth the extra cost.
Taking the train can be a fun option also. If you are staying in the city of Savannah everything is within walking distance. If you are on the east coast, there may be a straight shot for you to get to Savannah – it wasn’t an easy shot for us this year, so we didn’t pursue it! Taking the train is a great experience for the girls. It is much easier than riding in a car – you can get up and move around, go to the bathroom whenever you need to & there is food always available!
Flying is another option. Savannah does has a small airport. All the major airlines fly into it. Many of the hotels offer courtesy transportation to and from the hotel. You can get some cheap airfares with the right airlines. Atlanta is not too far away (about 4 hours), you could rent vans to take you the last way to Savannah.
One of the things girls/adults struggle with is budgeting. As our troop travels, we have learned several things about budgeting. I’ll list some of the highlights here and then other things in upcoming posts.
- Gratuity – On our first trip, we failed to include tips/gratuity when we calculated our budget. Tips/gratuity are usually required for groups over 8. They can range from 15 – 20% of your total bill. They also are not limited to restaurants. Our dolphin tour & carriage tour also added gratuity onto our total bill.
- Patches – We bought 11 patches on our trip to Savannah. We had budgeted for 10 patches. The cost difference from the girls trip & the adults trip was $25 – the cost of the patches. Girls love to show off the places they have been with patches on their vests. We did so many things in Savannah – we knew they would want a patch for every place we visited & everything that we did.
- Food – If the menu was a la carte, we calculated the higher price item for everyone. That way we were covered with the adult who wanted to order the $25 Fisherman’s platter and the girls who ordered the $8 pizza. Plus then we had “bonus” money in the budget for the unexpected patch purchases!
I still haven’t had a chance to review the budget from our trip to see how close we came. On our original budget – we did not budget any money to pay for gas for the cars (a small error, but we were trying to keep the trip cost low). However, we had budgeted for a trolley tour that we did not take (more on that in the fundraising post!). After deleting the trolley tour, there was enough money in the budget for gas for everyone’s car (we had 2 cars). We had also over budgeted for “snacks” for every day for everybody. We estimated snacks at $7.50 per person per day. We knew one day we would get ice cream for everyone. There was also candy shops on Riverfront! We decided to give everyone $5 at the candy shops and let them buy what they wanted! That made them very happy!
I’ll cover fundraising about the trip in another post!
More on our Savannah trip later!
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