GS SF GGB

Addisyn's Girl Scout troop bridged from Juniors to Cadettes in San Francisco over the Golden Gate Bridge.  They used their cookie and fall product sales to cover half of the cost, and Addisyn had sewn badges on uniforms for us and friends ($1/patch donation) to pay for much of the other half.  They did a LOT of walking this weekend!

This trip took lots of planning.  I booked our hotel about 6 months in advance.  We got an afternoon flight so they didn't have to miss more than one day of school.  It was the first time flying for one of our girls. We had Addisyn, Anna C, Allison K, Ava M, Cate B, Cadence G, Holly K, Isabella V, Lily M, and Sophia T.

Karen & Natalie were official chaperones, and the other moms went to be nearby and enjoy the city and chaperone extra hotel rooms-- Heidi, Jill, Shannon, Danielle.

We used all public transportation, taking the BART to/from the airport, Street car, Cable Car, and the Public Bus in the city, and lots of pounding the pavement on our own two feet.  I have a great memory of almost losing half our group at the wrong stop on the BART--I frantically stood in the door, expecting it to close on my body, calling girls back in when they thought we were at our stop (because the name was similar).

On Friday, We walked up curvy Lombard Street, rode the Cable car up to the cable car museum, through Chinatown and saw a fortune cookie factory, and all the way down to the SoMa district for the Children's Creativity Museum, where we did stop motion animation, coding robots, green screen and more.  We finished our day at Fisherman's wharf with the seals, window shopping, mirror maze just for fun, and dinner at Boudin Bakery.

For lunch we gave each girl cash to buy her own lunch at the food court in a shopping center, and dinner, I had one looong receipt for our big group.  Girls were responsible for staying with their buddy all day so no one got left behind.

Saturday Bridging Day!  We waited in line for 4 blocks SWAPing with other groups while waiting for the charter bus to drive us to the other side so we could walk back.  The event crew timed it to stagger troops steadily throughout the morning. We walked to Crissy Field for picnic lunch back on land.  We attempted the musical Wave Organ which was supposed use acoustic tubes to amplify the waves in the bay.  and a loooong walk back to the hotel.  The girls couldn't wait to celebrate at Ghirardelli for dessert after easy pizza dinner at the hotel lobby.