From Seattle to LA

What a week for travel! In the last seven days, I have traveled over 2,000 miles all the way up and down the west coast. Little sleep, but lots of amazing things to see. It started with the choir tour to Seattle. We were at the school all night the night before, but were able to catch a few winks of sleep on the plane. Our first appointment was at Skagit Adventist Academy, where they served us a good lunch before we performed for them. Their choir, who was studying two of the same songs as ours, joined us for those numbers. Afterwards, we went to the incredibly cool Boeing Flight Museum, where I actually got to sit in a pilot's cockpit. After a quick supper, we returned to Skagit for their vespers, a service which deeply touched us.On Sabbath morning, we performed at the Chehalis SDA church, with its stone floors and glorious stained glass of the Orion nebula. They fed us an incredible potluck afterwards, which made us cheery as we visited the Washington state capital in Tacoma. We sang inside the building under the third largest masonry dome in the country. The echo was amazing, lasting almost two seconds. Then, the pianists in our group got to play the century-old instrument in the State reception room, which was gorgeous. Our next stop was the Bridge of Glass, where a famous glassblower had displayed colorful sculptures of cherubs and sea creatures. We then had a snack stop at a park in Seattle to end the Sabbath. Saturday night was spent at Gameworks, where I had a great time on all the racing games.Our Sunday morning concert was at a church with a glorious organ. We then went to the Chittendem Locks and saw the botanical gardens next to it, which featured a mysterious black tulip. We had lunch at the Old Spaghetti Factory, then spent a good deal of the rest of the day at Pike Place Market, famous for its fish vendors. After purchasing some tea there, we took the Seattle Underground Tour. This was fascinating--Seattle is built on a tide flat, and to avoid the problem of people swimming to work, they raised the street level by a story. What was left was a vast network of underground tunnels all over downtown Seattle. We finished up our day at St. Mark's Cathedral, where we heard Compline, a choir specializing in plain chant, performed. The sound was so beautiful, it nearly lulled me to sleep.The last day's appearance was at the conference office, where I was overjoyed to see my former principal Mrs. White again. We went to the Experience Music Project after that, where my friends and I got to pretend we were a rock 'n' roll band. Inside the same building was the Science Fiction Museum, which I found fascinating. Then, we had lunch in the Space Needle, dining in grand style (portobello mushrooms and butternut squash, o my!) looking out at the skyline of Seattle. We took one last group photo, then flew back to Oakland.The next day, my family flew down to LA for the funeral of our dear friend Joyce Gutche. She passed away a week ago, on the morning of the largest fundraiser of the year for us. She gave me my start writing articles, and she had a newsletter, "HSD," very similar to my Jillian's Journeys. It encouraged us to see so many people come to honor her memory. Unfortunately, we missed the flight back to Oakland, and had to drive back in the rental car. We arrived at home around 3:30 AM, leaving my father and I barely functioning as we went to the BART station to go into San Francisco to hear the symphony. I was in charge of a small group of 6th graders, which was fun. The San Francisco Symphony is considered one of the top ten in the world, and they were having a good musical day. Their playing was nearly perfect, incredible to hear.