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BAND TOUR!

Dear Readers,

Today we came home from a wonderful trip to California to celebrate our wonderful band program at Olympus. Below are just some of the people that made our tour enjoyable. Our tour had some pitfalls, but it all turned out to be fun. Thrills and excitement made the trip what we will remember for years to come.

First off, we left the night of the Region 6 Band Festival. That made it a long night on the road, considering we left about 9 PM. We enjoyed the suspense of "I, Robot" on the bus. Being bus mom, I selected the movie based on the vote of about 30 kids on the bus. The movie ended about midnight, by which time most kids were asleep. Others stayed up til about 2 or 3.

The next morning we hit up IHOP for breakfeast after switching drivers. Randy, our master roadsmen, then transported us safely to the famed Knott's Berry Farm, the first theme park in the United States. Our day consisted of coaxing a couple friends onto high-speed coasters and laughing with ride operators who liked our "MOB" presence. The Jazz Band preformed at noon, followed by several more hours of adrenaline pumping rides such as 'Boomerang' and 'Ghost Rider.' I thought I lost my phone on the latter, but Emily and I had a good laugh when we discovered it was still in my pocket. I became a little confused when asked to take a picture while riding a kiddy hot air balloon ride, but it was for a good cause. ;)

We pulled into our hotel about 8 and discovered a realm of great comfort. There was a gazebo in the main courtyard surrounded by a small creek and pond filled with large fish and turtles. We all got dinner and some went for a swim before bed in those lovely queen size pieces of heaven.

The next morning we were scheduled to meet Chuck Findley as described in a previous post, but he apparently got food poisoning the night before and we ended up going into Hollywood to walk down the Boulevard of stars. As we pulled out from Hollywood, we actually saw Allen Jackson get out of a tour bus to go to a ceremony in his honor. He received a star on the boardwalk the day we were there.

The rest of that morning we spent in Universal city shopping and looking around for other movie stars. Alas, we didn't find any real ones. Of course the girls in our company swooned over Justin Beiber...the high-pitched twelve-year-old. Good thing he was in 2D. We had lunch in the Hard Rock Cafe, which delighted our taste buds.

The beach was pretty cold after we got there, but we enjoyed it anyway. No one disturbed any stingray and no one flew out to sea in a riptide. A pretty good day, no? After wards, we went to Medieval Times, a resturaunt theatre that proved that knights and tournaments can get a crowd going, even in today's world. I lost my voice and didn't get it back until the next day in Disneyland.

All in all, we had a good trip. It's good to be home, though.




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