Troop 72886 voted and in June we traveled to San Francisco, California. We are a troop of fourteen rising 7th through 10th graders. We spent eight days exploring the city and Bay Area.
Our first two days were spent riding the hop-on, hop-off bus around the city. We hopped off in Chinatown, at the De Young Art Museum, Japanese Tea Gardens, Exploratorium, California Academy of Sciences, the Painted Ladies, and took a local's recommendation and made an impromptu stop at Bob's Donuts! To get to the city we got to drive across the iconic Golden Gate Bridge several times, and got to experience various levels of "Karl", the notorious San Francisco fog. We ended our second day with a Ghost Tour, which added additional layers of the city's history in with the spooky stories!
Our third day brought us to Fisherman's Wharf, visit Pier 39 where we sampled some of San Francisco's famous seafood, watched the Sea Lions, rode the cable car, explored Alcatraz after dark, and finished the day with a sweet treat at Ghirardelli Chocolate Factory! On our ferry ride back from Alcatraz National Park our girls earned their second Junior Ranger pin of the trip. At Ghirardelli Square when we went to take a picture under the iconic sign we got to meet some Girl Scout sisters from San Diego who the next day were bridging to Cadettes on the Golden Gate Bridge.
Our fourth day took us to Point Reyes National Seashore. We earned another Junior Ranger pin, swam in the ocean, collected sea shells, saw some of California's amazing seals and sea lions in their natural habitat, and some of us even ventured to the historic and still-in-use lighthouse!
Day five took us on a kayak adventure in Sausalito! We then went to a Giants baseball game. For some of our girls it was their first ever baseball game, for some their first major league event, and for a few others it was their first sporting event ever! It was an incredible experience and the Giants won in the 9th inning!!
We rounded out our last day with a trip to Muir Woods National Monument. The forest consists of Coastal Redwood trees which are a cousin to the Giant Sequoias that make up Redwoods National Park that is further up the coast in California. It was a very peaceful experience and our girls earned their third Junior Ranger badge. Only 5% of redwood forests remain intact so over dinner we talked about different types of pollution and how even a troop from Colorado is having an impact on these trees.
It was an amazing eight days with lots of laughter, sightseeing, relaxing, and of course figuring out how to work together on a longer trip with fewer parents. Every Girl Scout had something they wished we had gotten to spend more time doing. San Francisco and the surrounding Bay Area is a terrific city to explore. For some of our girls this was their longest trip away from home and gave them a little taste of what is to come. Following the Girl Scout travel progression, we will be headed to Our Chalet in 2026.