Ella’s Girl Scout Trip to Savannah

by guest blogger Ella

It was a special Friday afternoon at the end of April and I was anxiously waiting for the front office to call me down so I could get going and be off to Savannah, Georgia with my fellow Girl Scouts (I got to leave school early to go on my trip)! They finally called me to the office so I could get my stuff and say bye to my Mom and Dad. I couldn’t wait to get to Savannah!

Once we all got to Savannah we were assigned a room at the hotel that we were going to sleep in for the next two nights. That day we were not going to go to the Juliette Gordon Low house because we didn’t have enough time to go. That was the main reason that we went to Savannah, to see the Juliette Gordon Low house. In case you were wondering, Juliette Gordon Low is the Girl Scouts founder, so you can imagine how cool it was to be going to see her house!

The next morning we got an early start and started to sight see until it was time to go to the Juliette Gordon Low house. We first got to make some arts and crafts then we got to learn all about her life.  One thing I learned is that people also called Juliette “Daisy”. Next, we did a scavenger hunt and went to a park near by. After that we took a tour at Daisy’s house. They showed us the room where she was supposedly born and her parent’s room. Finally they showed us the dining room and the entertainment room, and both had matching chandeliers. We saw every room in the house!

After that we got to go to a really cool candy shop where I bought orange Hubba Bubba! There were trains up on the ceiling carrying candy and taffy being made right before your eyes.  The store even had a wall of candy!

Sadly, the next day we had to leave, but we left happily and we also left with many more memories!

Easter

We had a very busy Easter day—Easter baskets in the morning, church service, fancy brunch in uptown at Blue, a Blue Man Group show at the Blumenthal (when I purchased the tickets I didn’t realize that particular Sunday was Easter), and then we were home in time for an egg hunt in the backyard. 

{every year, two golden eggs are hidden in our yard, each containing a $1 bill.  the kids are always excited to each find one.}

Spring Break in Charleston: Day 3

On the last day of our trip we headed out of Charleston to State Historic Site Charles Towne Landing, the site of the first colony of the Carolinas.  English settlers established a colony on a marshy site on the Ashley River in 1670.  There is a 17th-century replica sailing ship, cannons and a fort wall, remains of the original settlement area of 1670-1680, a museum, nature trails, and an Animal Forest natural habitat zoo which houses a variety of species that inhabited Carolina at the time when this site was a newly settled English colony (wolves, deer, otters, bears, bison and more).  It was a muggy, wet, foggy day which to me added a nice historical ambiance to the site—it also meant we pretty much had the park to ourselves.  The landscaping and grounds at Charles Towne Landing are really lovely and we all enjoyed our (several mile) walk through the park.

Spring Break in Charleston: Day 2

On our second day in Charleston we crossed the Cooper River bridge to head over to Patriots’ Point.  There we explored the Naval aircraft carrier USS Yorktown, Naval destroyer USS Laffey (where we actually saw a few veterans who were once on the crew), and the submarine USS Clamagore.  We all found our tours of these ships very interesting and the idea of living on one surreal. 

After Patriots’ Point, we head to Shem Creek for lunch and then a walk by the marina on the boardwalks.  From the end of the boardwalks you could get a closer view of Fort Sumter—we hope to make the ferry ride on our next trip to Charleston when perhaps it’s not quite so windy or threatening rain all day.  We fortunately didn’t get rained on during our adventures at Patriots’ Point or Shem Creek, but that night we had to make a run for it to a restaurant for dinner in a torrential downpour.  Luckily, we were staying in the historic district and close to many great restaurants.

{check out jonathan’s swagger.}

{aboard the uss yorktown.  it was fun for me to be near military jets again, although none were air force.}

{on the bridge of the uss yorktown.}

{ready to climb down into the submarine, the uss clamagore.  we couldn’t believe that 60 men could live aboard, some sleeping with the torpedoes.}

{it was obviously a very windy day. :) }