Last night, I was watching YouTube when I had a wild idea.
I've never been to every American Girl store. I know, that sounds shocking, considering I'm American Girl's biggest fan. But I've only been to six: the former Los Angeles location in The Grove, Charlotte (obviously), Orlando, the now-closed Atlanta store, the now-closed Hershey outlet and Nashville. If you take out the locations where there aren't stores anymore, I've only been to 4 American Girl stores. Out of eighteen across the United States and Canada.
So I had an idea. When I inevitably get a movie deal for my movie Rebelle, I will get paid, right? I could use that money to fund a road trip across the entire continent with the goal of visiting every American Girl store.
Will I do it in real life? Perhaps not. But in the chance I end up not doing this, I figured I'd at least figure out how long it would take and post it on here.
DAY ONE:
-Wake up, leave my house, and drive 20 minutes to the SouthPark Mall in Charlotte, my local American Girl store
-Hang out there and get one of my doll's hair styled
-Get lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall (since the Bistro is closed in this location)
-Drive 6 hours to McLean, Virginia, where American Girl Washington DC is located, and stay at a hotel with the American Girl package
DAY TWO:
-Go to Tysons Corner Center, where the American Girl store is located
-Hang out there, get doll's hair styled, and eat lunch in the Bistro
-See a movie at the AMC in Tysons Corner
-Explore the rest of the mall (maybe go to Uniqlo if they have Sailor Moon merchandise in stock) and have dinner at one of the restaurants in the food court
DAY THREE:
-Drive 4 hours to New York City
-Go to the American Girl Place
-Explore the store, eat at the AG Cafe, get doll's hair styled
-Explore NYC and eat somewhere for dinner
-Stay the night at an American Girl package hotel
DAY FOUR:
-Drive 4 hours to the Easton Town Center in Columbus, Ohio, where the American Girl store is
-Go to the American Girl store, explore and get doll's hair styled
-Eat lunch at the Cheesecake Factory in the mall since there's no bistro
-See a movie at the AMC in Easton Town Center
-Explore the mall and have dinner
-Drive 6 hours across the border to Toronto, Canada
DAY FIVE:
-Go to the American Girl store in Indigo Eaton Centre Toronto
-Have lunch at the mall
-Drive 40 minutes to the next American Girl store in Canada, Indigo Yorkdale Toronto
-Go to American Girl Indigo Yorkdale
-See a movie at the Cineplex in Yorkdale
-Have dinner
-Drive 4 hours to Ottawa
DAY SIX:
-Go to the American Girl store in Chapters Rideau Ottawa
-Explore the mall and eat there
-Drive 12 hours from Ottawa to Chicago
-Stay at an American Girl package hotel
DAY SEVEN:
-Go to the American Girl Place Chicago
-Explore the store, eat at the Cafe, visit the Doll Hair Salon
-Make a stop at the original American Girl location that is now a Anthropologie store
-Drive 2 and a half hours to Middleton, Wisconsin
-Go to the American Girl headquarters
DAY EIGHT:
-Drive 9 hours to Nashville
-Go to the American Girl store in Coolsprings Galleria
-Explore the store
-Eat at the Cheesecake Factory there (unfortunately, no AG Bistro, but there have been a lot of Cheesecake Factories in bistroless AG store malls)
-Stay at an American Girl package hotel (or, depending on when I actually pull this off, my sister's college apartment. She goes to college in Nashville)
DAY NINE:
-Drive 10 hours to Orlando
-Go to the American Girl store in The Florida Mall
-Explore the store and eat at the Bistro
-Stay at an American Girl package hotel
DAY TEN:
-Drive 4 hours to Miami
-Go to the American Girl store in The Falls
-Explore the store
-See a movie at the Regal in The Falls
-Find a place for food (since Miami doesn't have a Bistro)
-Stay at an American Girl package hotel
DAY ELEVEN:
-Drive 9 hours to Panama City Florida, the halfway point to Houston (the next American Girl store)
-Stay the night at a hotel
DAY TWELVE:
-Drive 9 hours to Houston
-Go to the American Girl store in Memorial City Mall (and meet my online friend Lydia there, hopefully!)
-Eat at the Bistro
-Stay the night at an American Girl package hotel
DAY THIRTEEN:
-Drive 4 hours to Dallas
-Go to the American Girl store in Galleria Dallas
-Explore the store and eat at the Bistro
-Stay at an American Girl package hotel
DAY FOURTEEN:
-Drive 10 hours to Albuquerque, New Mexico, the halfway point to Los Angeles (the next American Girl store)
-See if they have any balloon places to take Saige too (since this is her hometown)
-Stay the night at Albuquerque
DAY FIFTEEN:
-Drive 10 more hours to Los Angeles
-Eat dinner and stay the night at an American Girl package hotel
DAY SIXTEEN:
-Go to the American Girl store in Century City Mall (permanent store not open yet, so I'm picturing the old location)
-Explore the store and eat at the Cafe
-Drive 6 hours to San Francisco
-Stay the night at an American Girl package hotel
DAY SEVENTEEN:
-Go to the American Girl store in Stanford Shopping Center
-Explore the store
-Find something at the mall food court to eat
-Stay the night again at the hotel
DAY EIGHTEEN:
-Drive 10 hours to Portland to rest during the long drive to Vancouver
-Stay at a hotel
DAY NINETEEN
-Drive 5 hours to Vancouver
-Go to the American Girl store in Indigo Granville in Vancouver
-Find a place to eat and stay the night
DAY TWENTY
-Drive 12 hours to Edmonton
-Go to the American Girl store in Chapters West Edmonton
-Stay the night in Edmonton
DAY TWENTY ONE
-Drive 3 hours to Calgary
-Go to the American Girl store in Calgary (the last store!!!)
-Buy a base for a custom doll to celebrate going to every American Girl store in the span of 3 weeks
DAYS TWENTY TWO TO TWENTY FIVE
-Drive home
This seems really fun! I will have to rearrange the plan to avoid 37 hours of driving home, but if I'm able to pull this off when I get paid the minimum price for a movie script (around 100,000) plus directing fees, I'd be so happy. I told my sister she could come with me, but I have a feeling I'll be more excited than her.
It might seem painful going to nothing but the American Girl store for weeks, but I could live at the American Girl store.
Thank you for reading this blog post I spent way too much time on.