california part three

Where were we? Ahh, yes. That first afternoon in California. Well, we began by taking a short bus tour of various areas of the city including Chinatown and Fisherman's Wharf, which we found out is the third most popular tourist attraction in the United States after Disney World and Disney Land. Cool! Also, that was the most beautiful Chinatown I have ever seen and I wish I'd had the time to visit it. Some folks did later in the week, but that was the day I went to Alcatraz, which is an entirely different story.

After the speedy tour we were dropped off for lunch and my friends Bethany, Tim, Johanna and I went to this cute place called Lori's Diner. We returned to our meeting place, the rehearsal hall for Chanticleer. If you don't know about Chanticleer, let me tell ya. They are THE premier men's a capella group in the country, if not the world. They are currently on a tour of the states, but are also popular in other areas of the globe. Made of twelve members, the group cycles men in and out but the men do generally stay for a while--the touring and rehearsal schedule is demanding, but to have that beautiful glowing time in Chanticleer dancing about on one's resume is well worth the effort.

Back to the rehearsal hall. We were here for one purpose and one purpose only--to have a master class with Joe Jennings!! AHHH! He is the music director for Chanticleer and he agreed to give us a master class because he is friends with Rollo Dilworth (our beloved and fantastic choir director). This was more awesome to the men in the group--as I cannot be in Chanticleer, I am automatically less excited---but it was still a great experience.

The rest of the evening was relatively uneventful--we had exactly twenty minutes to run out of the bus to the nearest eatery and grab whatever we could for dinner and run back to the bus!! Upon our arrival at Peninsula Covenant Church that evening, we were all mightily exhausted and quite whiny (at least I was!). It was nice to get to bed at our host family's houses that night. My roommates and I had especially nice beds, too...

There was morning, and there was evening, the first day. =)

Peace