| Lakewood Performing Arts Council |
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California Tour 2008 |
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3/22/08 So far the trip has been fantastic. We arrived on Sunday morning at LAX and after about an hour’s bus ride, we arrived at the Corona del Mar beach near Newport Beach. The students piled out of the bus and put on their swimsuits. It was about 92 degrees and the sand got incredibly hot. Easter Sunday set a record for a high temperature in Anaheim. Most of the kids played Frisbee and dug a huge hole in the sand. Pretty much all of them went swimming even thought the water was about 50 degrees. Someone had brought plastic Easter eggs and they were playing with them on the sand. No chocolate today. The heat would have melted any chocolate or marshmallow bunnies. We had a great BBQ on the beach. There was lots of cold pop, hamburgers, hot dogs, chips, and cookies. After about 4.5 hours on the beach, we piled back on to the buses to go to the hotel. We have a couple of minor sunburns and the “tub of love” sunscreen bucket is getting a lot of use. The hotel is great. The rooms are really large and there’s an unlimited supply of towels at the pool. Sunday night we had a pool party with pizza and pop. I think the kids were starving from being at the beach all day. They ate about 45 pizzas. The different ensembles had rehearsals for most of the evening. Students were transitioning between rehearsals, loading and unloading the truck, going to the pool, 7-11 to stock up their room with goodies (with a chaperone in tow!). Most of the kids were in bed long before the lights out at 10PM. 3/23/08 Monday morning arrived with a clear blue sky and warm temperatures but not as warm as the day before. It was about 77 degrees as we took the Catalina Express to Avalon on Catalina Island. The ferry ride was about an hour long. We saw dolphins off the port side as Los Angeles faded in the distance. We arrived at Catalina Island about 11AM. Everyone was a trooper and grabbed all of the equipment that we needed to perform that day. We had clothespins to keep the music from blowing away in the breeze. The ensembles played so well. We had a large crowd that stayed to listen and applaud. The ensembles played on a small stage at the center of town with their backs to the harbor. As they were playing you could see the palm trees sway behind them and the sailboat masts rocking in the breeze. The music was fantastic. We had a composer stop by after the performance to tell us that the ensembles were one of the best high school groups he’d ever heard. After the performances, the kids changed into street clothes and spent the rest of the afternoon shopping, eating, playing in the sand, and generally enjoying the atmosphere of Avalon. The town of Avalon basically consists of a small harbor with houses stacked on the hillside above it. It’s incredibly picturesque and had a lot of fun little shops and restaurants in the harbor area. After a ferry ride back to the mainland, everyone got an hour or so to get ready for our evening at Medieval Times. Lakewood HS was welcomed personally by the King as we entered the grounds of the Kingdom. Everyone got their paper crown. There were so many of us that we to had to split our loyalties between the red knight and the black and white knight. Mr. Harris was knighted by the King so from now on he may be addressed as Sir Harris. Everyone had a fun evening eating dinner with their hands and cheering their knight at the tournament. Lights out was at 11PM!
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