San Diego Children's Choir, San Francisco Tour
June 12-15, 2004

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The SDCC tour to San Francisco was a wonderful experience! Everyday was planned with fun activities and everyday was an enjoyment.

Our trip began early in the morning at the airport on June 12th, as everyone tried to wake up with a cup of Starbuck's coffee. We boarded the flight and made our way to Oakland Airport where we boarded an Air Bart Bus that took us to the train station. We took the train underground to San Francisco and headed to the Renaissance Parc Hotel. After dropping off our luggage, we took a trolley into China Town. Everyone looked at the shops and walked down to the Fortune Cookie Factory where we were able to see fortune cookies being made and the machines and techniques used to make them.

We ate dinner at a classy Chinese restaurant and trekked back to the hotel for a choir rehearsal. We met all the other choir members, the conductor Rebecca Rottsolk, and had a good first rehearsal.

We woke up the next morning bright and early and headed for breakfast at Lori's Diner. After a three-hour rehearsal, everyone had lunch in his or her chaperone groups. Some groups stayed at the hotel or went shopping at a nearby mall. Our group (Jordana, Meagan, Erica, Dan and Chelsea), with Mrs. Reynard, took the bus down to the wharf, ate lunch at a cool restaurant with all different types of foods and drinks, and went to Ripley's Believe it or Not Museum. All the groups met at Pier 41 where we had an evening cruise dinner party with tons of dancing and fun with all the choir groups.

After the cruise we all partied over to Ghiradeli Square to feed on delicious chocolate and tasty sundaes-yum :.

Performance Day! We woke up tired and very early to hurry and eat breakfast at Lori's Diner before our private rehearsal with conductor Rebecca Rottsolk.

That evening, we had a beautiful performance at Grace Cathedral. SDCC was the first group on the program and gave the concert an amazing opening act.

The other choirs were great too, and mass choir was also amazing with 150 people all joined in song. We all said goodbye to Mrs. Shirley as she left to meet the youth choir for Australia. After a long day, we all headed back to the hotel.

On our last day in San Francisco, we ate breakfast in the hotel. Then, we were off to Alcatraz for a tour of the old prison. Some groups ate lunch and shopped at Pier 39, while some of us ate at the Rain Forest Café amongst the great scenery, thunderstorms and animals. We all left Oakland that evening and returned to San Diego, welcomed by our families. We said goodbye and thank you to our cool chaperones: Mrs. Reynard, Mrs. Seener, and Mrs. Dray, and to our great accompanist Mrs. Cannon.

Our tour to San Francisco was so much fun. We all had a great time sightseeing, singing, and meeting new people and friends. This truly was a wonderful experience.

Respectfully submitted by Chelsea Seener