Final Day of Tour, Tuesday, June 15

It is 8:00 p.m. and OMG I am wiped out!

Yakima's minister sent us off early in the morning with a blessing - thank you for seeing us off! Our 7:30 a.m. departure turned into a 10 hour bus ride because there were so many closures on the freeway. Our valiant driver, David, took us on several scenic routes, but eventually even his ingenuity was blocked as we had a hour long wait in Baker. Luckily Kristal had a dvd, so we popped in the only video of our trip and watched it while waiting on the side of the road for the freeway to open up. It made the waiting bearable for most of us, except for maybe Karen who was due in Boise to work at 4:00 p.m. If her employers are reading our blog, know that we were not in control of the moving van that toppled over outside of La Grande, or the freeway construction outside of Baker!

So a couple of us arrived home with head colds, and I think all of us are a few pounds heavier, but we'll just have to take care of that by exercising more the next couple weeks. I may be too tired to wax poetic, but we all had a wonderful time, things ran very smoothly, we shared our music and our mission with alot of wonderful people, we saw beautiful sites and we made new friends. Not too bad for an all volunteer choir. Thanks to everyone who had a part in making this dream a reality. I hope you all get a good night's sleep and look forward to getting back to your normal routines.....why do I still feel like I am rolling side to side in the bus?! :)

This is Boise Singer signing off for now. Until next tour!

Remember, Life is full of simple gifts......simply live life as a gift!

Monday, June 14, Yakima Washington

Our day started with a 10:30 ferry back to the U.S. Our border patrol guard was efficient and authoritative, and still personable. (my son might be interested to know that he is a former bubble-head; that's Navy talk for submariner). After our passports had been checked out and while we were wating in the parking lot holding area for the ferry, we were asked to sing Happy Birthday to a travellilng motorcyclist! The wind was up so our passage was a bit choppy, but we all managed to keep standing during an impromptu flash mob singing Heaven Somewhere that we arranged on the observation deck. (If you've never seen one, go to You Tube and check out the Flash Mob 'Sound of Music' in a Belgian train station).

Our bus ride was made complicated by construction over the pass, but we arrived in Yakima at 5:30, just in time for their youth group to provide us with a nice lasagne dinner. They were all very polite and wonderful servers! We said that this may have been the first time in 28 years that we were actually served dinner!

What a crowd! Yakima turned out for our concert, and I think they really had a good time. It was our last concert of the tour, and there were a few misty eyes at the end when we sang our traditional closing benediction, Old Irish Blessing.

The folks in Yakima are super organized and welcoming. They had more than enough volunteers for our home stays - most of us went individually to host home. Claudia said she celebrated by sleeping diagonally across the bed she had all to herself!

Sunday, June 13th, Victoria

This morning we were the guests of the Centennial United Church-their choir graciously allowed us to participate in the service and their beautiful choir loft was filled to capacity! Dinner has just been announced, so I must rush off. We are looking forward to a wonderful concert tonight as folks at Centennial here have been such appreciative and gracious hosts!

This afternoon we spent several unhurried hours at the beautiful Buchert Gardens . I wish I could share with you the scent of the most fragrant orange colored rose, “Just Joey” – if you come to the gardens look for it and give it the smell test - you be the judge!

Later in the evening: We are at our host home, where Peggy resides. She is a retired woman with an amazing amount of wi-fi - we are so connected these days! The concert went off without a hitch and we delivered in response to the fabulous dinner our hosts provided. Without a hitch meaning we sang the encore instead of the song on the program and some people didn’t have music for that song … but it all came out great in the end as we finished with a rousing rendition of Operator that had the audience clapping in their seats!

Our potluck was really quite amazing, so much food and so many delightful flavors. Salad with pine nuts, orange sections and cranberries, ham, au jus, lasagna, cheesy cauliflower, candied yams, jello salads … a cacophony of tastes. It’s so great when so many personalities make food - you have so many things to learn from the way people make cook. Thanks to Centennial for being such gracious hosts.

Speaking of the concert, our director Phil kept his sense of humor and took us through those few last minute changes in the concert. It takes a special kind of guy to work with this many women, especially late in tour when we start suffering from a bit of bus burnout! Thank you to our esteemed director for doing all he has done to make this tour happen and for what he has done to be with us. And thank you to Lisa for your support and your willingness to cover EVERYTHING in a pinch.

One last thing, Barb wanted me to mention the naked bike riding protesters that rode around Victoria’s Parliament building yesterday. They were all over the city and no one managed to snap a picture of these Canadians baring (spelling wrong on purpose) their soles (that one too) and everything else. No one seems to know what they were protesting, even the newspaper couldn’t tell us, but they sure made a statement!!

Back to the USA and Yakima tomorrow!

Saturday, June 12th - Victoria!

Greetings from Victoria, BC! We arrived en masse yesterday, Saturday the 12th, to find the Navy in town! Roll up the sidewalks and bring the women and children inside! Seriously, this was very cool. To help commemorate the 100th or 150th anniversary of the Canadian Navy (I don’t have a newspaper in front of me, so if I misname our host country’s naval forces, please forgive me!) Anyway, to help commemorate their major anniversary, 7 nations participated in the international naval fleet review. Ships arrived from Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Japan and I think France, and of course, the United States. The USS Ronald Reagan, 4700 crew aircraft carrier, was in port for the occasion. It made me proud to read in today’s paper that the US sailors were found to be extremely polite (the writer expressed some surprise at that!). Okay, I go on because my son is serving in the Navy, and seeing all these young sailors caused me to miss my boy! Yes, I am very proud of his hard work and service.

On to the chorale, today was our day off in Victoria and we were rewarded with sunny skies and warm temperatures. We checked in to the Victoria Regent and then split into groups that found various forms of fun, shopping, the bug museum, the wax museum, walking on the wharf, chancing upon an Irish pub that served the best halibut with asparagus and Yukon gold potatoes – we were all happy and tired at the end of the day!

Friday, June 11, Sumner WA

This is Katie here ...

Today we left LaGrande Oregon at 7:30am. First stop? Columbia Crest Winery. This was a beautiful place to visit, the wine tasting was decadent, even at 10am. We smelled the flowers, walked the grounds, swam in it's magnificence.
Next? Chukar Cherries in Prosser, Wa. Chukar Cherries specializes in making lush, juicy cherries into dried, sweet confections. They had Cabernet cherries, Pinot noir cherries, Mocha cherries, Cherry Peach Salsa, Cherry Peach Pie Cobbler Filling, Amaretto Cherries ... honestly, I could go on and on.

We drove into Yakima and had a fantastic lunch at Miner's of Yakima. You order at the counter and sit down with a number on a pole. I think the little pole was about 3' high. I had a roast beef sandwich on a hamburger bun.

On to Sumner! Our sweet Karen met up with us there with her equally sweet brother, Stephen. Karen had to work so she flew in this afternoon. I thought our concert was amazing, except for when Phil stopped us due to trains blowing in the distance. :D This church is especially meaningful as this is Gayle's hometown. The church was the one she married in, her brother was there, her kids, her mother, her distant relations - it was so very neat to be there. Her mother, Anna, single handedly provided the entire meal for us, it was the perfect pre-concert pick me up.

The concert was hot, well excecuted and well attended. There was a gentleman that truly walked in off the street when he heard us practicing and said, Can I come to hear you sing? We invited him to join us and he came!! Karen's Uncle Louie, Aunt Jeanene and cousin Tyler drove in from Olympia, Karen had no idea they were coming so she was beyond delighted.
Singing for those you love is one of life's quiet joys.

Day 1 - LaGrande UMC,

Our first day on the bus passed without any noticable calamities! The hills in eastern Oregon are a deep shade of green, so beautiful passing through Baker with the mountains still full of snow! Our first concert was in LaGrande UMC - a beautiful old church with amazing acoustics and all the brass pipes from a pipe organ! Our hosts fed us a fabulous dinner - italian themed with the tastiest spice raisin cookies for dessert (I wrapped an extra cookie in a tissue and I will get into that after I finish here! mmm)

Our audience was a modest size, but their appreciation was sincere and heartfelt. Our home-stay host, Margo, said we near-brought her to tears on one song. We like it when we can make our audience laugh and cry.

I am staying the night on 10 acres horse property in a huge house, hyooj I tell you, situated on a hill with incredible views of the valley and surroundng mountains. Margo is hosting 7 of us, Katie, Kristal, Jill, Lynn, Marylee, Mary B, and me. You should have seen us crammed into an SUV with our suitcases crammed around us and on our laps! Same drill in the morning, so we should be good at it by tomorrow.

This is Katie here ... can't wait to get back on the bus (believe it or not) and make our way up to Canada. I miss you Karen - hurry up and get here! Every one else we're missing - we miss you so much! I think Phil is doing fine with us so far ... it's early yet though. :D

Tomorrow we head to Sumner, near Tacoma. The great thing about tour is that each night we find areas that need work, and we have a chance to fix those hiccups the next night! So Sumner, you are in for a treat tomorrow because tonight we found some areas that need polishing! Off to the ocean tomorrow!

Whitney Women's Chorale

On the eve before tour begins....2010

The ladies of the Whitney Women's Chorale are going to be on the road again! We've waited two years to board the bus again to head out of Boise and bring our music to other folks who enjoy chorale music, or at least those who understand the fellowship and fun that is the gift given to us for singing with a group. This year we are joined by director Phil Theodorou and his family. So start looking for our red jackets because we are on our way!

This year we leave Boise on a Thursday and we sing in La Grande, Oregon, Sumner Washington on Friday, Victoria BC on Sunday (day off in Victoria, whoo hoo!, and then head back towards home with a concert in Yakima Washington before arriving back in Boise on Tuesday.

My plan with this blog is to keep a journal of sorts of our experiences during our tour. This is when we really get to know one another! I am sorry that so many of our members could not make this trip, but those of us going make a balanced group of singers, and we will do our best to represent Whitney Women's Chorale as we meet new people and perform the music we love!

And who am I? We are such an ecclectic group, all ages, all walks of life. I am just one of the ladies who works hard and play hard, and has an interest in experiments with ways to communicate to my friends. So enjoy this little posting! Wish us luck!

ps: Did you see our YouTube Video? It was made for a contest (if we had won we would have used the money for funding music scholarships, but we'll just have to work on some creative fund raisers instead.) Anyway, check it out! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jzxYBCpoV7M

Okay, I really have to make an attempt to pack now.

Boise Singer singing off for now!