Sumner Singers NYDC Tour

How I spent my Memorial Day Weekend...
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My daughter's school choir went on tour to New York City and Washington, DC. Since I had never been to NY, I signed on several months ago to go along as a sponsor. We (35 kids and 8 adults) had a BLAST! I shared a room with three teenage girls (one was my own), but they were very pleasant young women. We left KC at 7:15 AM on Thursday, May 25, flying to LaGuardia. One kid missed the flight and had to catch up with us in NY. Scary, but it worked out. We had lunch Thursday at Grand Central Station, and spent a lot of time on a tour bus with a guide pointing things out to us. We stopped at Ground Zero, and spent a great deal of time at Trinity Church across the street while we waited for the lost boy to show up at the hotel across the street. We then went to Chinatown for shopping and dinner. The evening finished with a sunset visit to the Empire State Building. We checked into our hotel in New Jersey about 9:30 that night.

Friday morning, we performed at St. John the Divine Cathedral. A beautiful church, but there was a lot of construction going on as they are still cleaning up following a fire several years ago. The cathedral is 2/3 done. Construction noise and tour groups going through made it a very noisy place. The people that stopped to listen (and the sponsors who weren't singing) said we sounded wonderful, but we could not hear each other at all. I could hear the voices of my daughter on my right and a bass on my left, and that was all. After that we went to the Lincoln Center for a formal group photo while we were still dressed up, changed clothes there, and got back on the bus for more sight-seeing. We ended up in Times Square where we were turned loose in pairs to find lunch and run around. Eileen and I had a nice lunch and she bought some t-shirts. We went to the Hershey store and loaded up on chocolate. Back on the bus and on to the docks. The fleet was in that week, so we got to go on an aircraft carrier. Not really my thing, but it was okay. Dinner was pizza, then some running around in Central Park, then we went to see The Lion King on Broadway. The $60 seats were tiny. One kid from my church really didn't even fit in them, and I had to turn my boats for feet to the sides to fit. But the show was absolutely magnificent! Words cannot describe the incredible costuming and set design. It was absolutely thrilling. Back on the bus and return to hotel in Jersey.

Saturday morning we checked out and loaded the bus. Drove to Liberty park to board the ferry. Ferried by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We had to stay on the boat because of our tight time frame. Then back on the bus for the long ride to Washington DC. Barbecue dinner at 5 at a marina near the Pentagon, then on to a 7 PM performance at a retirement facility for retired military and their spouses. They were our best audience for the whole tour! Cookies and lemonade while we visited, then back to the new hotel where we had some late night pizza.

Sunday morning, we performed for two services at Christ Church Episcopal in Alexandria. A surprisingly small church, I thought. But they did have a gift shop, and I bought a pewter cross and an apron that said "Have you hugged an Episcopalian today?" which I gave to the seminary professor I work for since she is an Episcopalian priest who I thought would get a kick out of it. She was pleased. We were supposed to go to Smithsonian next, but because Rolling Thunder (100,000 Harley riding veterans) was in town, the guide feared the city would be too congested, and we went to a mall instead. I was very disappointed. I've now been to DC twice, and still haven't made it to the Smithsonian! Next was a LOT of walking in Arlington National Cemetery, where it was very hot! We participated in a wreath-laying at the tomb of the unknown at 3:15. I was somewhat disappointed in this, as well, because our wreath stayed there all of five minutes before the next ceremony. Seemed rather shallow. Dinner was at Buca di Beppo, and there was a birthday party group in the same dining room as we were. We did a lot of cheering each other on, and it got pretty silly. After dinner, many of the kids were whining so much about their feet hurting (poor shoe selections for Arlington) that we went back to the hotel, and those that wanted to see more got back on the bus and we went to the WWII Memorial, Lincoln Memorial, Vietnam War Memorial, and Korean War Memorial. I had not seen the WWII or Korean Memorials before. They are relatively new. We did find the name of one of my Uncle's friends/cousins in the wall. I had forgotten about him (I never knew him), but Eileen remembered us finding my uncle weeping in a cemetery and telling us the story, and I was able to pull up his name from the recesses of my brain. This tour was the best of the whole trip because there were only 8 kids and four adult sponsors plus the tour guide. Made it much easier to keep track of everyone.

Monday, we checked out and flew home.

Whooooo! I'm still tired!