2012 marks one hundred years since Juliette Gordon Low founded the Girl Scouts of America. Local Girl Scout councils have been hosting 100th anniversary celebrations all year, but the signature event was this past weekend in Washington D.C. - Girl Scouts Rock the Mall. Along with 250,000 other Girl Scouts from around the country, we headed up to our nation's capital for the big event. We arrived on Thursday evening, checked into our hotel, ate dinner, went for a swim, and began noticing packs of Girl Scouts everywhere we turned.
Friday morning, we took the metro into the city. Our first stop was the ticket booth for tours of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. My attempt to get tickets from our congressman before our trip had failed, so we stood in line instead.... success!
Next up - Washington Monument where some of us were happier than others. (Four years old + wonky schedule + travel + big city = meltdown)
Next, we checked out the Obamas' pad. We weren't able to score a private tour of the West Wing like we did on our last trip to D.C., so we were stuck with peering through the gate instead.
Next, we raced over to the National Archives to drop off Elise with a friend to do a Girl Scout badge program there. The rest of us walked over to the Air and Space Museum. Nina really seemed to enjoy hearing about her great-grandfather's role in WWII, and I loved showing her his plane, photos of his aircraft carrier, and telling her all about his time on Guadalcanal. She is old enough now to really appreciate some of her family history, so that meant a lot to me. Here she is in front of his plane, the Douglas SBD Dauntless.
After a speedy lunch at the museum, we hotfooted it back to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing where our paper currency is printed. If you've never been there, the tour is really fascinating. Strollers weren't allowed, so I carried a very tired forty pounds of dead weight for much of it. As soon as the tour was over, J.C. and Addie went back to the hotel for a much needed snooze.
The girls and I continued our whirlwind tour of D.C. at the Smithsonian Museum of American History. We saw Dorothy's ruby slippers (and learned a bit of trivia... Dorothy's shoes are silver in the book, but since the movie was in technicolor, the decision was made to have red shoes that would show up better against the yellow brick road.), and Lincoln's top hat. There was a doll house exhibit that Nina loved, and we all really enjoyed seeing the first ladies' china and dresses. Nina was so excited to see Michelle Obama's inaugural ball gown.
After walking what felt like 50 miles that day, I told J.C. that I wasn't moving another inch for dinner. We made due with appetizers at the manager's reception in the hotel lobby for dinner. My feet wouldn't take me any further than that.
The next morning, we got up bright and early. Elise, Nina, and I went down to the metro station where we mingled with dozens of Girl Scouts all dressed just like us in their "Rock the Mall" t-shirts. One troop leader (with about 10 girls and 4 adults) asked me if we were going to the mall. I told her that we were meeting up at a friend's hotel first, but that we were eventually going to the mall and that she was on the right platform to go that direction. I said, "Just take the blue line to the Smithsonian station." She said, "Oh... I thought I needed to take the yellow line." I said, "Well, it depends on where you want to go, but the Smithsonian station is closest to the event, and it is only on the blue line." She said, "Oh, well we were planning on going to some of the museums first." I said, "The Smithsonian station is closest to the Smithsonian museums as well." She said, "OK, I guess we'll just take whichever train comes first!" That didn't sound wise, but I decided not to push it and just left her with the information I had already given her. The next train that came along was the yellow line. We needed it to get to our friends' hotel. We hopped on, and this troop did as well. The next stop was the Pentagon. The doors opened, and this same troop leader started yelling, "Get off! Get off! Get off! This is our stop! Everybody off! Get off! Get off!" Their group jumped up and quickly moved off the train. No sooner had she gotten all of them off than we heard her yell, "Wrong stop! Get on! Get on! Get on! Get on!" I felt like I was watching a sitcom... total comic relief early in the morning. I'd love to know where they eventually ended up.
We made it safely to our meeting place. Elise went off with the eight other girls in her troop to the Crime Museum for a badge program there. (They all reported back afterwards that the Crime Museum was "scary".) Another mom and I took all the Daisy and Brownie little sisters to the Natural Science Museum for another Girl Scout program.
We arrived before the museum opened to this crowd of Girl Scouts waiting in line. I feel so sorry for anyone who picked this weekend for a family trip to D.C. for sight-seeing.
Despite the wall-to-wall Girl Scouts, the girls all had a great time. We lost Nina for a while in the gems and minerals exhibit. She dissolved in a puddle of tears when I found her, but she definitely learned her lesson about wandering off in a sea of people all wearing the same t-shirt.
This museum was right up her alley though - the insects, bones, rocks, crystals, and gemstones.. she loved it all.
One of the girls was brave enough to hold the hissing cockroach. Ick!
For lunch, we headed over toward the Washington Monument to find the rest of our group. Ever tried finding a needle in a haystack? Kinda like finding a particular picnic blanket at Rock the Mall. Here's our view of the Washington...
and the Lincoln...
and the Rock the Mall stage
It was really energizing, overwhelming, and amazing to see all those Girl Scouts in one place. There was dancing and singing. There were speakers. It was hot, and we didn't stay all afternoon, but it really felt special to be celebrating this historic milestone of Girl Scouts in such a big way. I hope the girls will always remember this weekend, even if they don't quite yet grasp the significance of it.
Later in the afternoon, we met up with a friend of mine who came in from Northern Virginia, and we visited with her and her daughter for a while.
Then it was back to the hotel to find J.C. and Addie who had spent the day at the zoo.
Our final day, we took one last lap around some of the monuments and memorials before heading home. We went to the WWII memorial,
the reflecting pool (which is not so reflective right now... actually quite ugly),
and the Lincoln Memorial.
Are you exhausted yet? I'm wiped out just typing this and thinking about it. It was a fun, busy, blur of a trip, but for their first visit to D.C., the girls really hit a lot of the major attractions. I'm not sure my feet will ever recover from all the walking, but we all had fun "rocking the mall"!
Happy 100th Anniversary Girl Scouts!
You guys are pretty brave for going out in the heat.
Also, Ann...know you were busy with the trip, but any other time you're up in DC, give us a yell...we're 30 minutes closer now. :)
Posted by: Armin | Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 09:24 AM
Armin - this trip was sheer chaos non-stop, but we'll definitely hook up with you guys next time we're in town!
Posted by: Ann | Wednesday, June 13, 2012 at 10:19 AM
Forget HOUSE of Estrogen..sounds like an entire CITY of Estrogen! lol looks like a blast :)
Posted by: Tonya Oh | Friday, June 15, 2012 at 09:35 PM
That first picture cracked me up. I love it and glad you posted it. Those are the ones that you want to remember because that's usually how it is! At least in my family. And Nina getting lost in that crowd...YIKES! I don't know how you managed to find her, or how she found you. I'd be crying to. AMAZING. I was a girl scout too. I loved every minute of it. Sounds like a blast.
Posted by: Cindy H. | Sunday, June 17, 2012 at 11:07 PM
What a cool trip! Wow, that is SO MANY girl scouts.
I agree with Cindy, that first picture is a cracker-upper.
Posted by: Audrey | Monday, June 25, 2012 at 12:59 PM