Part 7 of The Complete Girl Scout Guide to Traveling to Savannah, Georgia
Brief Overview:
Girls wore shorts, white shirts, and uniform vests/sashes for photos
Breakfast at hotel
10am Scavenger Hunt & Walking Tour
12:30pm Lunch at Telfair Square delivered by Leopold’s
2:10pm Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace Tour
3:30pm Leopold’s Special Event
6:00pm Dinner at Tondee’s Tavern
7:30pm Walking Ghost Tour
The Urban Adventure Quest Scavenger Hunt was a lot of fun and a great way to see the city. We made it through 6 of the 16 puzzles before we had to go to lunch. Unfortunately we never completed the rest of the puzzle to fully review the hunt but the girls had a lot of fun figuring out the clues that we did complete. The hints were helpful and the history of the sites was a great addition to our walking tour. The Quest started near the hotel and took us through City Market and the surrounding squares before leading us down to River Street. We purchased one ticket for the group and the girls were able to login to view the questions on their phones. One girl was the moderator and the rest of the girls were in view only mode. They did have to log back in after they closed out the page on their phone. I wish we had time to complete the rest of the quest. There’s no time limit to complete the quest. The girls could have logged back in at anytime to finish. We only spent $30 after the Girl Scout discount was applied (call to obtain discount code).
During the walking tour we stopped and shopped at City Market. We stopped in for samples at the Byrd Cookie Company and the Savannah Candy Kitchen. There is also a great public restroom at the Ellis Square just past the market. Great central place to keep in mind during your trip if you’re in need of a bathroom (Seriously bookmark this place – you’ll need a free public restroom many times!!). The tour also included a few stops on River Street where the girls also got to interact with one of the street artists who was making palm leaf folded roses. Like most street artists this was his job and how he made money. I donated some of our troop funds to allow the girls a chance to get a souvenir rose from him – to my surprise many of the girls pulled out $1-3 of their own souvenir money to pay him also. It was completely unprompted and a beautiful example of how amazing these girls are.
We ordered the box lunches from Leopold’s and had them delivered to Telfair Square. When you place your order online with Leopold’s they ask you where you’d like the lunches delivered. They have 3 locations on their reservation system to choose from. In the notes of the order I had already typed Telfair before I realized that wasn’t one of the select delivery locations. I was pleasantly surprised to receive a phone call and text message from Leopold’s to confirm where we wanted our meals delivered. They were able to accommodate us and delivered them to Telfair Square. Great customer service all around! At the time of delivery we even received a text message from our delivery gal to let us know she was running a few minutes late. The food was fabulous! Seriously – their sandwiches were so fresh and delicious! I wasn’t expecting much with boxed sandwiches and everyone agreed that they were 5 star lunches! They even had our names on each of the bags for easy distribution. Each bag had the girls patch and coupon for their free ice cream. We saved our ice cream tickets for Sunday. More on that later!
Telfair Square was a perfect photo stop for the troop with the special Girl Scout garden. It’s located right behind the Juliette Gordon Low Federal Building and just a few blocks from the Birthplace. We took our photos while we waited on lunch and after lunch the girls were allowed to play in the park until it was time to leave for the birthplace tour. Even though it was HOT outside, we managed to enjoy our shady spot in the park for lunch. We did leave a few minutes earlier than expected due to the heat but thankfully the Birthplace had bathrooms and water bottle fill stations for the girls to cool down before the tour.
Juliette Gordon Low Birthplace: Our tour was scheduled for 2:10 and we arrive about 1:45. That allowed the girls time to use the restroom, shop in the girl shop, and fill their water bottles. I was expecting a lot of people, but the building was almost empty! The staff was super friendly and welcoming. I liked the idea of shopping first because the girls could go back afterwards if they wanted to. We purchased their birthplace pins and the staff provided us with a printout of a pinning ceremony that we could hold on-site. We stepped outside to the courtyard prior to our tour and held the simple ceremony. It was a very nice ceremony which made the girls realize just how special her birthplace is. LOVE!!! Once the tour began we were escorted to a different room to meet up with the rest of the group. Group sizes are still limited but we did have an actual tour guide. I was expecting an audio tour so this was a nice surprise. Our tour guide was fairly new and stumbled through her lines but she tried hard and apologized. The girls didn’t even notice – and the parents enjoyed a few good laughs with the trainee as we realized even more effects that COVID has on travel. The tour was well done, despite her stumbling through the stories. The information they shared was relevant to the girls and really put things into perspective for the girls about life in the 1900s. The renovations were well done and the home looks fabulous! During the tour we were allowed to view most of the rooms on the 1st and 2nd floors including bedrooms of Juliette’s grandmother, her parents, and her own bedroom. The tour also included a glimpse at the bathroom, music room, library, and assorted other areas of the home. The final room in the tour is a special touch and play library created for girls by girls. This room lead out to the beautiful balcony you’ll see in many pictures. The girls really enjoyed this room and stayed there until the tour was over. At the end of the tour the girls were lead out to the courtyard where we took group and individual photos.
After the birthplace tour we were invited to an impromptu event at Leopold’s that I had coordinated leading up to the trip. Thanks to my media connections with this blog, their public relations team had reached out generically with a press release about National Ice Cream Month and the I Pledge for Ice Cream Campaign. I asked if there was a possibility the girls could stop by for a special event to learn more about the campaign. Their media team was AMAZING!!! They had the American flag waiting on our group when we got there and welcomed us by name outside the restaurant. To our surprise Mr Stratton Leopold was also present to meet & great with our girls and for an interview. We took lots of pictures and videos outside before they invited us to a private room upstairs for ice cream and interviews! Mr Leopold was so kind and welcoming – as were the rest of the media team! The girls never had to wait in line and they learned a little about the history of Leopold’s, Mr Leopold’s career in the movie industry, and even brainstormed some fun new ice cream flavors!! A great bonus lesson in marketing and how to use the power of social media to share the I Pledge for Ice Cream campaign. The ice cream was delicious and one of our girls said it was the best vegan ice cream she’s ever had (and she’s tried a lot over the past few years of being lactose intolerant). We enjoyed about an hour with their team before we had to head out for dinner – yes, we had dessert first! Your boxed lunch from Leopold’s includes a free ice cream ticket to be used at anytime. Plan 30-45 minutes for this visit because the line can be long. We did come back later in the weekend for ice cream and it was SO WORTH THE WAIT to fully experience the inside of the ice cream shop.
Dinner was at Tondee’s Tavern. Tondee’s is located near River Street and was nearby to where we were to start our ghost tour later in the evening. It’s an old haunted building with some interesting history – like everything in Savannah. We booked this in advance and it was probably the most unorganized reservation system we dealt with. You call the restaurant and speak to one of their team to make the reservation and then email them with the details and food selections. I never received confirmation from their team and was terrified that our reservation wouldn’t be ready. I did call earlier in the day to confirm and was met with the same disorganization. Thankfully when we arrived our table was ready and their team was fully prepared for us! The meals came out within 10 minutes and the waiter was amazing!! The girls loved the food – especially the mac-n-cheese bites!!
Our final stop in our very full first day was a walking Grave Tales Ghost Tour. The tour met near to Tondee’s and was ready for us when we arrived a few minutes early. The entire group was exhausted and ready for sleep and air conditioning after our full day of walking – but they pushed through for one more activity! The Ghost Tour was fun and our guide told us haunted stories about several locations around town. On the tour we stopped by many of the famous squares, Marshall Hotel, Habersham House, Old Pink House, and the Colonial Park Cemetery. It wasn’t a scary tour and the girls enjoyed the stories that were shared with them. No hauntings or spooky events happened to us and there were no tears from scared little girls! Even the timid girls thought the tour was well done.
The hardest part of the night was walking back to the hotel! We were exhausted! Lights out early so they’d be ready for the next day!
A note about Day 1: We over scheduled ourselves but we did know that in advance! Getting into the hotel the night before at 2am didn’t leave the girls well rested. We also planned too many walking activities for the first day – but I will say the girls were amazing and never complained!! Be sure to check with your chaperones to make sure they are able to keep up if you plan on walking a lot during your trip. There are public transportation options available but you do have to plan in extra time (and sometimes money) to make those work with your schedule.
Part 8: Day 2 Agenda in Savannah, GA
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