Craig Daily Press

Craig — What’s the greatest vacation you have been on?

Courtney Jenison’s favorite is the We See D.C. trip, which she went on as an eighth-grader. Now, she is participating as the trip coordinator.

“Honestly, this is the best trip I ever went on,” Jenison said. “It’s a trip the kids love, too, and community members have all enjoyed themselves.”

Like Jenison, other Craig residents may remember their trip to Washington, D.C. No longer sponsored by the Moffat County School District, Jenison is the successor to organizing the visit.

“This is handed down from person to person,” she said. “I love it. If I could do this for a living, I would plan trips for a living.”

Jenison will hold an informational meeting at 11 a.m. Saturday at Serendipity Coffee Shop’s back room for anyone seeking more information.

Before her son’s birth, Jenison was a social studies teacher at Craig Middle School. Partly because of that background, her favorite Washington site is the World War II Memorial, near the Vietnam Veterans Memorial.

“All the memorials are awesome,” Jenison said. “The World War II Memorial … is incredible.”

The Holocaust Museum, part of the Smithsonian collection, also is an amazing experience, she said.

“For me, it brings a closure to it,” the former teacher said.

Typically, the children and teenagers pick out the dinner and dance cruise on the Potomac River as one of their favorite activities.

Guests on the trip stay at the Great Wolf Lodge in Williamsburg, Va., which has an indoor water park.

“At night, instead of going to the pool, the kids get to go to a water park,” Jenison said.

The trip is aimed at students, but anyone is welcome to come along, she added. Chaperones are welcome, but for now Jenison has all the chaperones she needs for the number of youths she has.

Planners want one adult for every 15 youths, according to the trip’s literature.

Adults on the trip don’t have to follow the itinerary if they don’t want to, she added. They only have to be on the bus to get back to Virginia each night.

Jenison has about 30 people signed up, but she wants another 15 or so, she said. There’s no limit to the number of people who can go.

Last year’s group split the trip with another group from California, and that could happen again if Craig’s party isn’t large enough.

The sponsoring company, School Tours of America, which provides health and accident insurance for people going, often combines smaller parties together.

Although two different groups don’t have to do the same things all the time, Jenison prefers the company of people from Northwest Colorado.

“You don’t know the kids, and sometimes you have to wait for them to get to the bus” at the end of the day, she said.

For participants, a $99 registration fee is due Feb. 1. That money will be applied to the total cost — $1,735 for a four- or five-person hotel room and $1,960 for a double room.

“Looking at it, it’s quite expensive,” Jenison said. “It seemed expensive when I did it in eighth grade. But every kid that’s gone on it absolutely loved it. Community members have said it was totally worth it. It’s a trip people don’t forget. The kids talk about it for years.”