Hi everyone!
Now that we know who's interested and available, we can get into some of the nitty gritty.
Based on the list of who's both interested and available for the trip the week of June 18-24th, we have 26 scouts interested and available. (See list at the end of this email, since the sign up is now closed.) That means we'd be required to bring 6 parents to fill both Girl Scout safety ratios and driving/sleeping arrangements, bringing our trip number to 32. More than those 6 adults could come along, but because those are outside of the Girl Scout numbers, and what we would need for the trip, those adults would be handled separately.
Trip wise, Kathleen, Ms. Kelly, and I spent a lot of time considering travel arrangements, lodging, food, and what to do when we get there.
For travel we compared trains, buses, air, and passenger vans based on travel time, price, and convenience. In almost every case, it just makes sense to rent three 15 passenger vans for the trip. The only place the vans didn't win on all three counts was in travel time (where air-travel was the clear winner, obviously.) In addition to being by far the least expensive option, and by far faster than trains or buses, vans give us the option to make several stops along the way, and had the added benefit of giving us travel options while in Washington DC if we change our itinerary to include a more distant site. (For example: If we have a great cookie sale this year and decide to spend a day going to Mt. Vernon, having our own transportation makes that very very easy.) The downside to vans however is the requirement that we actually drive them. To keep things as safe as possible, we need to have 2 drivers per van, alternating at need. Which means the best possible option would be for all 6 chaperones to meet all the Girl Scout driver requirements.
For lodging, based on the number of people traveling, we looked into a couple of different options: 1) renting entire houses, and 2) staying at local hotels. Unfortunately, while there's a certain allure to just having a big house for us all to stay in for the trip, availability was limited. In every case we ran into either location or parking issues (or both.) Also, only one house came close to being able to fit everyone, and that was located far from anything interesting.
Hotels turned out to be the better option, and one hotel in particular stood out:
The "
Marriott Residence Inn" is within a few blocks (1/2 mile) of the Smithsonian Museums and the US Capitol, as well as most of the major Washington DC attractions. Reserving space this early can get us into 6-person rooms for $270 per night. In addition, this hotel has an indoor pool for the girls to relax and play in when we get done with each day's activities, includes complimentary breakfast for everyone each morning, and includes a kitchenette in each room to help us prepare lunches for our day trips, or even group dinners at night if we choose.
Once we're in Washington DC, we have a lot of options for our daily excursions, and most are free! We will let the girls prepare the exact itinerary before we go, but options include:
The Smithsonian Air and Space Museum, Natural History Museum, Native American History Museum, Art Museum, African American History Museum (just opened!), National Zoo, and the various memorials and monuments.
The girls will also write letters to our Congresspeople and Senators in the next month, to try to get tickets to the US Capitol tour, and/or White House.
Our itinerary will look similar to:
Leave Milwaukee around 5:00AM June 18th Arrive around 8PM June 18th. Swim for an hour or two, eat dinner, go to bed.
19th: Breakfast at hotel. Do some cool stuff. Eat lunch (bagged or bought) Do some different cool stuff. Return to hotel for dinner, swim, and bed.
20th: Breakfast at hotel. Do some cool stuff. Eat lunch (bagged or bought) Do some different cool stuff. Return to hotel for dinner, swim, and bed.
21st: Breakfast at hotel. Do some cool stuff. Eat lunch (bagged or bought) Do some different cool stuff. Return to hotel for dinner, swim, and bed.
22nd: Breakfast at hotel. Do some cool stuff. Eat lunch (bagged or bought) Do some different cool stuff. Return to hotel for dinner, swim, and bed.
23rd: Eat breakfast at hotel, visit a morning site or attraction, eat lunch at that site (bag or buy), hit the road at 4:00PM, dinner on the road, arrive in Milwaukee 7:00 AM June 24th.
So, what will this all cost?
Prices for travel, lodging, and expenses are:
~$4000 for three 15 passenger vans.
~$2000 for food/meals: Breakfast at the hotel is free, we'd order pizza or some other delivery or cook our own dinner (pasta?) at the hotel, and would prepare bag lunches for our day trips generally, possibly eating at the attractions 1-2 of the days.
~$9240 for our hotel stay (6 rooms) arriving in DC June 18th and Leaving June 23rd
=$15,240
We currently have $12,700 in our account. Which means, at this precise moment, the 26 scouts, plus the 6 required chaperones would each have to chip in between $80-100. If you want to send your scout with spending money for souvenirs, etc. that would be at your own discretion.
Additional participants would cost about $500 to go. (Possibly less if we didn't need to add an extra van for travel, or an extra room to the hotel reservation. But while a 15 passenger van SAYS 15 passengers fit, it really means 10-12 fit OK especially with luggage, etc. factored in. We'd pretty much have to add at least an extra van to fit more adults. Which would also mean we'd have to add more adults willing to drive.)
We have the nut sale that starts October 7th, and the Cookie Sale in Feb/March to change these figures. A good Nut and or Cookie sale would also give us options for more daring excursions in and around Washington DC (like the example I mentioned of going to Mt. Vernon which would cost $350 for 26 kids and 6 adults to go.)
We will base the choices for the first six chaperones on parents who've helped the most, and are willing to share in the driving. To make sure we're keeping it fair, if you're interested as an adult going on the trip, please email Ms. Kelly and I your "Troop 8035 Resume" so we're not short-changing anyone from their service. Make sure to indicate if you are able and willing to help drive a van for the trip, as well as any volunteer time you've spent with the troop whether it's at meetings, events, activities, etc. Ms. Kelly's email address is kellymatt8476@gmail.com and I'm at this address.
This sounds like it's going to be AWESOME!
Happy Scouting,
Aleks
Here's the list of Scouts who indicated they are available and interested:
Teagan A.
Lara E.
Ashlee F.
Jesialis P.
Lauren P.
Kahlen W.
Portia P.
Sophia V.
Alyssa S.
Samantha S.
Ellen W.
Maya H.
Isabel S.
Liliana K.
Adrhia F.
Alison D.
Katie B.
Evie S.
Lia S.
Makenzie S.
Megha M.
Madison M.
Hannah P.
Hannah S.
Mahi P.
Bailee A.
