There has been and will be so much going on in June and July that I thought I had better get going on the updates ASAP so you didn't get overwhelmed with new entries.
Choir tour was amazing. It usually is, but it didn't disappoint this time either. I am going to give you a brief summery of the tour. It will be mostly tourist things.... with a few concert side notes. If you want details and news, choir, and member info --- I will also include a link or two for those. But if you go to the choir website.... there is LOTS of info there. It's link is:
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/There is daily coverage by choir members, pre tour media coverage, post concert reviews, and continuing coverage for the Church News and Deseret News by Gerry Avant . But, here is my mini record of it......
We started out in Cincinnati and the highlight was getting to see the Beazers.
yes, we did do other things.... but the escalator was by far the most popular play toy of the day.
Q was reconnecting with his high school choir teacher, so we didn't get a pic of him... darn.
Here we are on the River at Riverbend. The concert was down right FUN!! it was all familiar songs and a lot of Americana. We sang with the Cincinnati Pops and Erich Kunzel. He is such a great man and even with the cancer he is battling... he didn't let it affect his performance.
One of the highlights of the evening was a reading of the narration of the Lincoln Portrait by Eric Copeland by former astronaut and the first man on the moon Neil Armstrong. It was a moving rendition.
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_CincinnatiNext was on to St. Louis, MO. Seeing The Arch come into view, learning it's history, and walking it's city was a new and memorable experience.
Sat. Morning the choir had an early morning photo shoot, then Brent and I took a paddle boat ride down the
Missouri River, road the trolley to the top of the arch, learned about the Old Historic Courthouse where Dred and Harriet Scott, both slaves, pleaded with the court for their freedom. They lost the battle, and that decision was one of the contributing factors to the start of the Civil War (if I understand it correctly) Virginia Minor also petitioned for women's right to vote in the 1870’s.
This is me in the park right by our Hotel. The Old Courthouse is framed by the Arch.
Our orchestra joined us for the concert that night and the rest of the tour. It was good to have them there. As good as the Cin. Pops are... they are not part of the family like OTS is we love having them with us. One of the publicity ideas that has worked really well is to have a local celebrity conduct the encore. In St Louis it was the Former Missouri governor, U.S. senator and U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft.
He is a delightful man who told us about his friendship with Senators Hatch and Bennett.
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_StLouisSunday we drove to DesMoines by way of Nauvoo. We had Sac Mtg at the Stake Center there and then were allowed to explore until about 5. It was a great adventure. The missionaries don't usually have things open on Sunday, but they were so excited that we were coming that they all dressed up in their period costumes and opened up all the sites for us. It was very kind of them.
Brent and I have already been there many time so we didn't feel the need to do the normal tourist things, so we took leisurely walks around the temple, rode the bus around the city, and generally recalled memories of Mom and Dad and the area. I got a little melancholy that day. I think I was missing them in there favorite place.
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_NauvooDes Monies has special memories. Some of us chose to do some service while we were there. We were bussed to Care Centers ( we had 3 groups that did 2 different centers with 2 different groups in the larger one) and sang a little mini concert for the residents there. We were very small groups compared to what we usually sing with, but the blessings were HUGE. The residents were so appreciative and some were singing
with us, directing us, or just sitting with their eyes closed and listening. It was a beautiful experience.
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_DesMoinesFrom DesMoines we traveled to Omaha. We stopped at 3 places on the way. The Western Historic Trails Center, Kanesville Tabernacle in Council Bluffs, Iowa, and the Mormon Trail Center, Cemetery, and Temple at Winter Quarters The Western Trails center shows the route, experiences, and history of all the major westward trails. The Tabernacle ( pictured here with a statue of the 1st Pres),
is where Brigham Young was sustained as the new Pres. in 1847 (yes he did come back that year!) and Winter Quarters Center is and amazing and beautiful spot. The Spirit is in rich abundance there.
I just realized that this is getting WAY toooo long... so I will try to be a little more brief. Having said that I must tell you that the Omaha Performance was the most comfortable and enjoyable for me. As you know I am not one of the tallest - that's an understatement - so I am usually in the front 3 rows in concert seating. Well.... seating was a bit of a challenge at the beautiful Holland Performing Arts Center they just weren't used to a group of our size... so as luck would have it I ended up on the BACK row!!! How fun is that... and I looked TALL!! Yes that is me right under the "E" I LOVED IT!!! I wish it would happen more often.... but not so. The concert was sold out and the acoustics were wonderful. It was great to be in a performing arts center rather than a Hockey arena.
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_Omaha and http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_Omaha2 Off to Kansas City... spent the morning visiting Independence, both our sites. including Liberty Jail, and those of The Community of Christ. I will be breif.... go to the web sites to get LOTS of info.....
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_KansasCityOklahoma City, OK (or really the concert was in Norman... 45 min away) saw 3 things I had never seen before....
1. A motorcycle rally.... there was a Harley Rally.... more motorcycles than I had ever see in my life!!!
YES!! every street looked like this.
2. The memorial for the OK, city bombing... what a touching site.....
If anyone is in the area ... it is a must see.
3. National Cowboy Museum.
ran out of time to go through it.... but I love the gift shop!!!
I must say that I fell in love with OK city !!! We ate at a great Mexican Rest. that night... we were craving a taco!!! Saw its Canal boats. Loved being at the Sooner's home. I guess the uniqueness of being in a state I had never been in was great!!
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_NormanThe Sabbath is here again.... we had Sac mtg at the hotel and then a lovely 15 hours to Denver. It was suppose to be a 10 hour drive, but with driver breaks, time changes, etc.... we left OK city at 9 and got to our hotels in Denver at 12am..... made for a long day. But was not as unbearable as we had anticipated.
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_CrossingThen Denver, oh Denver. It was soooo good to be in dry mountain air!!! stepping off the bus at midnight was such a breath of fresh air. The smell of pine trees was even in the air!
And then there is
Red Rocks Amphitheatre 
What a beautiful place. Thinking about it still takes my breath away. Make sure and see the link on this one.... look at the crowd.... it was HUGE.
Yes those are people all the way to the rock!
We had to climb in and out of the venue..... those who were out of shape had a really hard time. But boy, was it worth it!!!
http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_RedRocksThen it was time to head home.... not a 15 hour ride but a good 8 hour one. But we got to stop at Little America for a down home cook out under the tent....
the big tent and then on to home. What a great couple of weeks. Hope didn't ramble too much. but, there you go. amd here is the last link..... http://mormontabernaclechoir.org/pages/T09_HomewardBound
