Cost Guards and long torsos

Austyn and Dustin went on their honeymoon to the Oregon Coast. I have my whole life wondered WHY!!?. Austyn always seemed like the Hawai'i or Paris type to me, but now I understand.

The BYU Chamber Orchestra went to the Oregon Coast as part of professional concert series. This means the orchestra was sponsored and was paid (yay for BYU getting out of debt). The only bad thing was that we were on the bus a total of some 53 hours in the course of Tuesday-Sunday. It was awful and I probably slept a total of 40 minutes during that time. Needless to say I felt really sick Monday morning.

We started off in Caldwell, ID where we played at University of Idaho or whatever Albertson's turned into. It was nice to see ShaNae, Krista's friend. Um then we went to Medford, OR. Did you know there is a temple there? I was shocked. We played at the highschool there. Let me tell you about how lame High Schools are in El Paso. This theatre could have fit a broadway show. Nice... The dressing rooms were wicked sweet too. The guy's was Moulin Rouge themed with everything red and black. The giant Moulin Rouge fan was painted on the wall. It was like my bedroom in El Paso on crack.

Then we finally made it to the "Oregon Coast," and landed in Astoria. Nice quaint little town. We played in a beautifully rennovated movie theatre like most in LA/NYC. It was a really great and the accoustics were fab. That night I stayed at a Coast Guard's house (due to the Host Families plan ya know), and that was way interesting. I saw his guns and swords and played games with him and his friends. Needless to say, I swamped them in Clue. In three rounds I proved that it was Lisa in Krustylu Studios with the Plutnonium Rod.

Astoria is located on the river right by the delta. You could see Washington across the way and that was pretty cool. It apparently is the first West Coast city to have a hurricane. The winds were 140 MPH. Another cool thing is that the Goonies, Free Willy and such were filmed her.

Then we drove to Florence, OR. The drive was breathtaking. We were driving on cliffs that jetted over the ocean and just saw blue everywhere. We stopped at that famous lighthouse and played in the water, on the beach and with anemone for an hour. The water was SO cold. I thought it was interesting to note that I was in British Columbia last june and it was not as windy, frigid and the water was not as cold....weird.

The next day we went to Bandon. The coast here was beautiful as well.

We were so appreciated everywhere we went and everyone loved us. Much different then past tours...It is nice to have people excited to have you there instead of alright we will find a school for you to play at. It was nice to always play in concert halls too (except for Medford where it was the "alright" version).

The bus ride back was 21 hours long and awful. It was fun though, but awful. Imagine me in a chair where my limbs and butt keep falling asleep...wonderful.

That was the last time I played with Gina...I will miss her and I hope she loves NEC. -- Blake, Andrew, Carrie, Angela, Noelle and Gina. I love the Viola Section!!