Even after a 36-hour train ride, visiting the Chihuly Glass Museum and exploring underneath the streets of Seattle, senior Renee McSherry said her favorite part of the trip was being able to enjoy time with friends. 

“We had this huge Airbnb that we all shared. It was just everyone hanging out, playing games and watching movies,” McSherry said. 

Girl Scout troop 14177 embarked on a cross country trip, traveling from Minneapolis to Seattle for one final senior trip Oct. 16. Tamara Nugteren, who has co-led the group for 13 years and helped chaperone, said the visit was special for many reasons. 

“It was a really good way to celebrate the relationships that everyone has formed and all of the work towards community service projects and other things that we’ve done together over the years,” Nugteren said. 

The group made sure to take advantage of every opportunity, packing the days full of plans and stopping at all the local tourist spots, said senior Nora Gardner.

“We went to Pikes Place (Market) and the first Starbucks was super cute. We waited in line forever but (it was) worth it,” Gardner said. “We went on the Ferris wheel down by the pier, had a boat tour and tried as many new local restaurants as we could.”

For Nugteren, the positive values that Girls Scouts provide was what initially drew her towards the troop, and the strong sense of community has made her want to continue to help lead. 

“We wanted to focus on community service, learning life skills and having strong female friendships — which is notoriously difficult in middle and high school. In general, being good people who do good things for each other,” Nugteren said. “We’ve stayed because these young women enrich our lives so much.” 

Gardner said she has continued with the troop for so long because of the tight bond the group has. 

“Any excuse that we get to be together we take advantage of; we’ve always been a really easygoing troop and (have) gotten along really well,” Gardner said, “And it just felt like obviously we’re gonna take a trip together. We have no issue hanging out for that long.” 

According to McSherry, taking one last trip as a group was the perfect ending to 13 years of camaraderie. 

“We’ve always been together and it’s really interesting because we’re all part of different friend groups, but we are still really good friends,” McSherry said. “And we thought because we’ve done so much together, (such as) volunteering, a trip to Chicago, helping out with younger troops and creating this bond we (thought) we needed to do one last trip together.”