Choir Tour!

Well heavens to Betsy I have no blogged in SO LONG. I am sorry, but when you get behind, you just fall farther and farther until you have an enormous amount to blog so you just don't do any of it!

Choir tour was a blast and a half. We stayed in the Embassy Suites in San Diego and basically the breakfasts that I ate every morning there were the only good meals I had the entire trip! Everywhere we went, the food was over-charged and under-tasted. :)

Anyway, when we stepped off the plane, we rode a bus straight to Disneyland! Space Mountain, Tower of Terror, and Indiana Jones were among the favorites. Naturally. Since I have only been to Disneyland once, and that was 13 years ago, I was fascinated and loved it. The rides there are so different from Lagoon--they all have themes and the scenery is so elaborate!































The second day was spent at the San Diego Zoo. This is another place I've only been once, long ago. The animals actually moved! It was huge and it was fun to ride in the little bucket thing that takes you way up and over the entire zoo.
After the zoo, we had a workshop at Mesa College with a professor. I'll be honest with you, I really didn't like it. Besides not really loving his teaching method, I had to accompany on this awful keyboard that ... just ... ugh!
Thankfully it was only an hour or so and then we went to dinner (yuck) and the BEACH! Mission Beach, actually, and the ocean was warmer than I thought it'd be. This was one of my favorite parts of choir tour. We played in the water, Mason and I made a sand castle, Brant and Eric (eek!) chased me around the beach threatening to throw me in the ocean, and Jeff and I taking funny pictures of us and Dave Featherstone. I didn't know this, but some of the couples in our group wandered off down the beach and had themselves "beach kisses." I was actually asked later if I'd gotten one, but replied a not-so-regretful "no." Afterward, we went back to the hotel and apparently no one had gotten enough water, so we all jumped in either the hot tub, pool, or sauna. There were 35 people in a tiny hot tub so I definitely didn't go in there, the pool was too cold, so into the sauna went I and I stayed in that blessid 135 degree atmosphere for 45 minutes. I didn't start sweating (or "glistening") until I'd been in for at least 30. Yes, my body thermostat is off.

Day three we went to SeaWorld San Diego. Now this I had been to more recently, though in San Antonio. And honestly I liked the Texas version better! Well, you know how SeaWorld is. You watch the shows and look at marine animals. And if you're me, you get deathly ill off of the food. Unfortunately, my stomach suckings had not ceased by the time we got to the cathedral we were to perform at that night. Our performance was good, though, because the acoustics were amazing. Afterward, we had the opportunity to go outside and take pictures in the garden/courtyard thing in the middle. (It was an old, beautiful church.) So I contented myself doing that, but almost didn't make it to the bus, my stomach was killing me so much. I'd actually had stomach problems since the night before we left for the trip, but this was the worst.
We drove to Seaport Village where band and A Cappella ate and shopped. My mind was on my tummy and the person I knew could calm me down was Mason. While everyone ate, we strolled the shore and talked and then returned and went in and out of little shops, looking, but not buying. After a while I didn't feel so bad so we split a chicken sandwich right before we were supposed to board our bus.

The fourth and last day of tour we watched Goofy Movie while driving to Hollywood. I can't say as any of us loved it--Hollywood, that is. The Walk of Fame was covered with vile people, I heard, but thankfully didn't see, and Kodak Theatre was disappointing because I couldn't buy anything. :) I also hated the fact that we were there on Sunday so everything just kind of felt off. There was a group that went to Wicked that day too, which was naturally wonderful, but like I said, that day just wasn't that great in general. On our flight back, it was cool to look out the window and take off over the ocean and then turn back around toward the shore. I've always wanted to fly in the evening when the sun is just going down, and that fact that it was over the ocean made it GORGEOUS! A while into the flight, however, a friend of both of ours basically molested Brant. I remembered a time when I didn't say anything to someone who'd done that to me so I decided to clear up any misconceptions he had that that was okay and I chewed him out. I don't do this often, but it was needed so he got it and he behaved himself the rest of the time. And since then he's never so much as touched Brant in front of me. With girls, however, I understand that they sometimes lose control and just have to touch him, so I don't chew them out as much. ;) After Wicked we flew home. There was a frustrating little ordeal with the luggage, but we got it straightened out. And the next three days were spent feeling dead! Every choir or band person walked down the halls of Jordan like a zombie for a few days, but we obviously got back eventually.