The Chattanooga Girls Choir

Thursday, June 29, 2006
Day 5: Rehearsal, Golden Gate, Muir Woods, and Church Performance

(Click on underlined links for more information.)

By Schyler Osborne (and LuAnn Holden)

Each day after our hearty breakfast from Burger King, we travel on an Eastshore Charter Line bus to the Latter Day Saints Interstake Center for rehearsal. We share transportation with the Minnesota choir, Partners in Praise. This has given us an opportunity to get acquainted.

While at our rehearsal I went back and forth between singing and then talking to my friends "Jie-een" and "Suey-Yoon" about the pros and cons of communism in modern China. Apparently, there are not very many Christians, or "Jesus Believers" as my friends call them in their country. We also talked about their school; it seems that the classes in China are rigorous even for middle school students.

After our daily rehearsal we had some sweet, sweet Domino's Pizza for lunch. After we ate the Italian Cuisine, we loaded on the bus and headed towards the Golden Gate Bridge. I was amazed by the size and beauty of the famous American landmark. I was even more amazed by the "crisis counseling emergency phones" that were scattered along the sidewalk on the bridge. With a desperate and weary expression on my face, I pretended to talk on one of the phones. After the 1.4-mile walk across the bridge (and a much needed potty break) we returned to the bus and drove to Muir Woods Cedar Park. I'm here to tell you, that place is beautiful! The forest is preserved so that the natural order in the park isn't disturbed. Not only did we see 1000-year-old trees, we got to walk through the most beautiful outdoors I've ever seen. Everything smelled so good and fresh! There was soft moss everywhere and no bugs! Some of the other girls and I saw a baby deer. It even walked towards us!

Our driver delivered us to a Mexican restaurant where we had dinner and met back up with the Partners in Praise Choir. After dinner we headed for the community concert venue, St. Joseph's Basilica in Alameda. We were on the program with the Piedmont Concert Choir, the Kinder Jungensingakamie Graz (the Austrian choir), and Partners in Praise. For the closing piece all of the choirs performed the festival theme song, "Sing All Ye Joyful". The concert was well-received by the appreciative audience. On the bus ride home with the Minnesota girls, we all sang pop music, some rap, and classic 80's and 90's. That was a fun closing to a great day.

The 2006 Tour Choir in front of the Latter-Day Saints (Mormon) Temple.

Enjoying a gorgeous day and a beautiful view on the Golden Gate Bridge.

The Golden Gate bridge was amazing, but soooooo looooooong!

Cool and green and shady in Muir Woods Cedar Park.

These redwoods seem to go up forever!

The Kinder and Jugendsingakademie Graz choir from Austria.

The Chattanooga Girls Choir performs in St. Joseph's Basilica.

Return to 2006 Tour page

Main Page | History | Directors | Auditions | Tours | Calendar | Choir News