Day 1 - Green Mountain UMC, Lakewood, CO

June 14th

We hit some traffic when we got to Denver, so we arrived at the church about 20 minutes later than we planned (at about 5:20).  We knew were were in the right place when we saw the church from the street:

The kids, ever the professionals, wasted no time in getting everything set up and ready to go. 

We had a delicious lasagne dinner with about six or more different kinds of lasagne (most or all home-made), including a gluten-free variety.  

By the time I finished getting dressed, Kevin had already used a good portion of the first package of 200 programs.  Almost all the rows in the Sanctuary were full and there were people in chairs in a few places.  I counted about 250 people, which is a GREAT turnout.

We had some special guests at the concert, including:

Ron and Pat Hodges

Michelle (White) and Pat Brown (both WBR alumni) and family

Susan (Gabert) McIntosh and her mom Caroll Gabert (not pictured)

Dagney (Gold) and Christian Kelsey (both WBR alumni) and family (including Cassie)

Of course, I can't forget Pastor Jean (not pictured), who was the senior pastor at Green Mountain UMC for 10 years before she came to CUMC.

The choir will be playing for the church service tomorrow morning, so they didn't have to take everything down before going home with their host families.

Day 1 - SLC to Lakewood CO

June 14th

Tour is finally here! Today we loaded up the bus and drove to Lakewood Colorado.  It took a little while to get the bus loaded, but the loading crews figured out how to make everything fit.  Everyone took lots of pictures and we were on the road by 7:30 AM.

The parents are sad to see the kids go...

Darlene and Gina help Trudy prepare for the trip

The seniors and super-seniors

The WBR ready to leave on the 2014 tour

On the way to Lakewood, we stopped at the Summit rest stop and saw the Giant Head of Abraham Lincoln.

In the next post, I'll put up some pictures from the concert (which was great). 

Day 0 - Salt Lake City UT

June 13th

This is the first post for the 2014 Tour. Tomorrow is the big day. The choir will be leaving for Lakewood, Colorado bright and early (way too early). 

Keep watching for more posts!

Here is a picture of the 2014 choir from the Rose Dinner on Wednesday night:

Days 13-15 - New York City

Tuesday morning we boarded a commuter train from Sea Cliff, NY to NYC. This was a really nice train ride into the city. Once we got off the train (we were underground), we headed up the stairs right into downtown Manhattan. WOW!!! What a sight! We've enjoyed two days full of sightseeing. On Tuesday, we dropped our luggage at the hotel, took a subway to Ground Zero, and toured the 9/11 memorial. That night we went to dinner at Ellen's Stardust Diner and experienced Times Square at night! Then on Wednesday we took a back stage tour at Radio City Music Hall (very cool!) and then were able to go to the top of the Rockefeller Center (67th floor) where we had a 360 degree view of the city. We could see the Statue of Liberty, the Empire State Building and Central Park. After the tours, we walked some more, some groups had lunch from a street cart, and walked through Central Park. That night we went and saw Cinderella. This morning we are boarding a bus for a tour of other parts of the city. Tonight we fly home to get ready for the reunion weekend and home concert at Abravanel Hall on Saturday night, then the WBR Sunday Service.

Day 12 - Duxbury, MA to Sea Cliff, NY

On Monday morning, we left Duxbury and traveled to Sea Cliff, NY. We visited the Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island on the way. The Breakers was the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt. We took a walking audio tour where we were able to learn all about the Vanderbilts and the lifestyle of the rich and famous during that time. From there, we drove into Sea Cliff, NY where we were greeted by Steve and Susan Wood. Susan, Steve, Becca and Jeff (both WBR alumni) lived in Sea Cliff before moving to  SLC. The choir played in Sea Cliff 5 years ago. This was our last night in host homes.