2012 Tour - Day 3 - On to Toronto

We had muffins and juice for breakfast, then headed out to Metropolitan United Church in Toronto to join them for worship.  We sang three anthems in this old beautiful church.  It houses the biggest pipe organ in Canada with 8,300 pipes.  We were wishing Steve had been with us to play some of his amazing improv.  We have noticed something, with our scientific sampling of 2 Canadian churches:  they don't have air conditioning!  Our van drivers have been making multiple trips to keep us stocked with water.

The affirmation of faith at Metropolitan today was really nice:

We are not alone, we live in God's world.
We believe in God:
who has created and is creating, who has come in Jesus, the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new, who works in us and others by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence, to live with respect in Creation,
to love and serve others, to seek justice and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen, our judge and our hope.
In life, in death, in life beyond death, God is with us.
We are not alone. Thanks be to God.

We left Metropolitan and drove 20 minutes to visit Casa Loma.  Built in the early 1900's, it has cool things like an 800 foot long tunnel, beautiful gardens, and amazing rooms.  We enjoyed the BIGGEST hamburgers many of us had ever seen, and the little rain that fell did not deter those of us who like to dine outdoors.

After Casa Loma, we visited Eaton Centre.  It is the largest mall in Canada, 4 stories of retail madness.  Some of the girls bought cute new outfits to wear to our nice italian dinner at Joe Badali's Ristorante.

The hotel pool finally got some use tonight, and some of us learned what constitutes a full moon cannon ball (yes, it is as bad as you imagine).

Medical update:  more FFBS cases, sore arms (string players) and a few headaches.  The chaperones are keeping us supplied with vitamin C and hand sanitizer, so hopefully there won't be any illness going around.

Click Here for Photos from Day 3

2012 Tour - Day 2 Eastman House and a Border Crossing

Our second day of tour...Chip and Erin fed bagels, coffee and juice to those of us who slept in the dorms at Lycoming.  In case anyone is wondering, returning to dorm life as an adult isn't the joyride you might think.  The Edmonds had to go back out to buy more coffee...our chaperones didn't receive instructions on caffeine withholding so it was "Attack of the Caffeine Fiends."   Those of us that had host families were treated well, and we didn't really have any "funny" stories about our accommodations, which is great but not much entertainment material there. Jake and Luke Edmonds blew us kisses, but weren't too happy when they found out they weren't going to ride on the bus.  We rode in the bus, and got to visit The George Eastman House in Rochester N.Y.   35,000 sq ft, 50 rooms, built 1902-5, at the grand cost of $350,000.  Beautiful gardens, and we were given our first meal allowance to eat where we liked. 

Concert at Trinity UMC in Amherst NY.  As in Lycoming, the Edmonds knew many faces in the audience.  Our chaperones liked the space, because they could see nearly all of our faces at once.  Mrs. B  is thinking of instigating a "joyful countenance" award since some of the faces in the choir are so joyful when they sing.  We were fed pizza and wings for dinner, with birch beer (no worries, it's a soft drink akin to root beer). Colborn and Mansfield family members came to listen.  Dan James joined up with us for a few days.  Once back on the bus, we were very happy to find that two of our adults had acquired fruit for us!  There was some rioting on the silver bus when the green apples ran out, but in the end red apples were deemed acceptable by most riders and those who complained were crammed in the tiny overhead compartment (JK!).

We waited a LONG time for our turn at the border crossing, but were quickly dispatched into Canada.  The border guard mostly wanted to know we all had the proper documents to leave Canada at the end of our trip! The noisiest moment was when Beth Taylor announced roommates for the next 2 nights.  So noisy that several riders on both buses missed hearing their room numbers.  The squealing after they heard who their roommates were sorta drowned out the room numbers.
It's midnight, and we are still en route to our hotel.  Mrs. Taylor is applying lovely long fingernails as a way of mourning her lack of violin playing for the next 8 days.  The gold bus was super silent when we checked in on them at the border.  Not sure if they were threatened or drugged but it is apparent that the silver bus leader (Cam) needs to step up his game if the silver bus is to meet these high expectations.  Highway signs are now in English & French, so maybe we will learn a few French words.  I now know Nord means North (okay, maybe we won't learn any useful French from road signs, but I'm trying...).

Wound count to date:  2 skinned knees (the worst one obtained by one of our trusty chaperones who shall remain nameless although Mark Bowe could tell you who was most likely to have taken a spectacular fall on the sidewalk in front of a crowded cafe) & one case of mild and non-terminal FFBS (flip flop blister syndrome).

Click Here for Photos of Day 2

2012 Tour - Day 1 We're off on our first day of tour!

We were only delayed 30 minutes during our departure, and driving was smooth. We had bag lunches at City "Park" in Harrisburg PA. Only 2 people forgot to bring their lunches! Mrs. Bowe threatened to make us wear her goofy (ugly) hat if we got sunburned, so most of us are highly motivated to use sunscreen (really, we're not even sure why anyone would wear that hat!). The newbies among us were amazed at how tired one can get just riding on a bus. Cameron discovered the wireless microphone on the silver bus, and now he can make announcements while wandering the aisle. The jury is out about this is good news or bad news for the silver bus riders ;).

When we got to Lycoming College in Williamsport PA, Walt's son Chip made us feel at home. We got to tour the campus of this small liberal arts school, kick around soccer balls and throw frisbees. They fed us pizza & wings for dinner, and since lunch was a long time ago some of the chaperones mentioned "horde of locusts" while they were waiting their turn in the food line.

Our first concert on tour was FABULOUS! We sounded even better than this past Sunday. The audience was treated to something we didn't play on Sunday, a violin trio piece played by the Mansfield sisters & Judith Tsoi. Everyone is in the dorms or host homes now, although the dorms are not quiet yet. We'll check in again tomorrow. Thank you to everyone who is praying for us.

Click Here for Pictures of Day 1

Click Here to Listen to Hallelujah He Shall Rise on YouTube