Sunday 6 July 2014

Salutations from Portland, Oregon!  We arrived here this afternoon after a busy morning and long bus ride.  Early this morning, we were blessed with a special home-cooked meal just for us, sharing several of our choir favorites during the worship service at Faith Lutheran Church.  The congregation was welcoming and the service memorable.  We then loaded up into the bus and headed north to the very popular, very flavorful, Rice Hill ice cream stop.  It is a choir tour must-have and we could not miss it!  Driving into Portland, we unpacked to stay the night at Resurrection Lutheran Church.  We definitely had a great time with all of the games and even gave a new hairdo to one of our youth.  It just might be a bit curly by the morning! We finished up the night with daily devotions, and are getting tucked in for another travel day tomorrow. Goodnight, sleep tight, we're trying really hard not to let the bugs bite!

Saturday 5 July 2014 Crater Lake

Good evening!  Today was a spectacular day as we traveled further north into Oregon from Klamath Falls to Roseberg.  Along the way, we visited Crater Lake and its breathtaking view of Wizard Island.  Everything from viewing the deep ravine near the lake to taking a running start, Crater Lake and all the surroundings did not disappoint.  Two of our youth ended up having a Celtic dance-off in the gift shop while waiting to head up to the lake.  In fact, a snowball fight broke out when we pulled along the side of the road to take a group photo.   There still is snow in July somewhere!  When we arrived in Roseburg, we celebrated our choir director’s birthday at Red Robin, even though were a couple weeks off with that one. Other than that we did our usual evening practice and actually got some downtime. We are looking forward to worshipping and performing in this church tomorrow.

 



 

 

 

 

 

  

 

Friday, July 4th- Shasta, Laundry, and Wal-Mart Adventures

Happy Independence Day from Oregon!  Leaving Woodland early this morning, we headed north past the spectacularly blue Lake Shasta.  We stopped for lunch and snapped a youth group picture, marveling at Mount Shasta and the snow blanketed upon it.  Arriving in Klamath Falls, OR where we are staying at Hope Lutheran Church, our first and only laundry day for two weeks was successfully completed at the local Laundromat.  Soon after, we celebrated the Fourth of July holiday in a local Wal-Mart parking lot with all the trimmings, including sparklers, fireworks, and ice cream.  The end went with a bang as we danced, listened to patriotic music, and enjoyed the rest of the evening.

 

Howdy!  Our morning began with a visit to the beach on the South shore of Lake Tahoe.  This time, some of us did fall in, with the help of our friends, but it really did help us to remain cool as we made the trip to Sacramento, CA.  We spent our lunch and an easy afternoon in Old Sacramento along the riverfront, admiring the quaint old wooden buildings of the 1800s.  Enjoying all the sugar that we bought in the sweet shops in Old Sac, we headed to Woodland, CA to prepare for our first full choir concert at American Lutheran Church.  Both the congregation and youth welcomed us with open arms and a home-cooked meal. We spent an evening playing improve games, soccer, eating s'mores, and having a guitar jam session.  Overall it was a busy but good day. Tomorrow will be a travel day, and we expect to see quite a few sleepy passengers along on the bus!

Wednesday, Devils Postpile, Mammoth, and Lake Tahoe

Hey again! Today was quite the full day as we began with our first Sonburst Choir Tour performance for the preschool class of Mammoth Lakes Lutheran Church.  Our audience was certainly attentive throughout the entire concert, and we enjoyed their excitement!  We rode the bus to Mammoth Mountain, then hopped on a shuttle to the valley of Mammoth Lakes, hiking to one of the nation's most wondrous monuments: the Devils Postpile. On our way down we also got to see the river, and some of us got pretty up close and personal with the current..... Don't worry, no one fell in.  We came back up to the Mammoth resort area and stopped to take a snapshot of our group with the infamous Woolly Mammoth.  Climbing back on the bus, we drove north past the salty Mono Lake into Nevada, and up to the sparkling Lake Tahoe.  It was a relaxing evening as we parked the bus and admired the pine trees from Hope Lutheran Church in South Lake. With plenty of time to spare, we got dinner and spent some time hanging out and playing card games at the church. Some of our new travelers also discovered just how cold the tour showers can really get. Brrr.....

We have very spotty WiFi here however, and it seems to be refusing to allow us to upload pictures, but we will try to get today's pictures uploaded as soon as we can tomorrow!

Here are the pictures from yesterday: