What a Trip!

My friend Alicia and I recently got back from taking some of our Girl Scouts to Washington DC and Williamsburg/Historic Triangle. It turned out to be two adults and four girls (Alicia’s two daughters, Steffi and a girl we borrowed from our old troop, ‘cause we like her so much!).

We were gone for 12 days and truly had a fabulous time! I swear the only things we didn’t see were the Library of Congress and Ford’s Theater! It feels like a really successful trip, which is really satisfying after all the time and effort I put into it on the front end planning every last detail. (The girls are still a little young to plan their own trips – it was all they could stand to pick out what they wanted to do and see!)

We loved where we stayed in Washington – the Doubletree Suites in Foggy Bottom. It was a smallish hotel in a very, very quiet neighborhood (no sirens, no traffic…), 1 1/2 blocks from the Metro, 2 blocks from the Safeway at the Watergate (really, NOT impressive!!), 4 blocks from Trader Joes and within walking distance of the Lincoln Memorial.

Soaked! On our first full day in Washington we went to the zoo. This ended up being a highlight for everyone, as we were stuck in the zoo during a particularly fierce thunderstorm that made us all scream out loud. (Not all highlights are positive!) We were totally drenched and ended up skipping down the street to the Metro singing all the weather songs we could remember.

On Memorial Day we decided to go to the Arlington Cemetery Memorial Day Ceremony, where we ended up sitting in the third row of the White House guests reserved section and seeing President Bush deliver his address. We’re guessing it had something to do with the fact that we were wearing our Girl Scout uniforms.

We happened upon the Supreme Court Justices reading an opinion on Tuesday! We had no idea that that would be happening, or even that you could see it, but it was and we were some of just a few of the public who were let in to observe (after being stripped of everything we owned!).


Steffi’s 11th birthday was on Thursday, and we celebrated by getting dressed up in Colonial dresses and going to dinner at Gadsby’s Tavern in Old Town Alexandria. What an experience! The food was great and the entertainment was even better. It was a treat to imagine George and Martha Washington entertaining guests in the very room we were dining in.

After spending a full week in Washington, we rented a car and drove to Williamsburg, where the girls had a great time parading around in their Colonial dresses. They attracted a lot of attention with the dresses, making it totally worth packing them all the way across the country. We went on a ghost tour, hauled water from a well, smooshed clay with our feet in the brickyard, and taught other tourists “the courtesies”.

12 days of traveling and the girls were just such good companions! I would definitely travel with this group of fabulous young women again!