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San Diego Children's Choir, Alaskan Choral Cruise Tour Please click on any thumbnail to view a larger image; see journal below |
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Today started with blissful silence- we were thankfully spared from a wakeup call. Once ready for the day, we headed out to the Lido deck, anticipating the sight of icebergs. And sure enough, in the aptly named sea-green waters, were blue-and-white chunks of ice of varying sizes. Although it was literally freezing, we all stood outside taking pictures of the beautiful bergs. It was the perfect opportunity for photo-ops, and in fact a man dressed in a moose suit came outside just to take pictures with us tourists. Following breakfast and lunch, we headed out to the state’s capitol, Juneau. We were given a bus tour of the city, and headed to our first major tourist destination of the trip, the Mendenhall Glacier. It was an amazing sight- an enormous expanse of ice wedged between two mountains, leading into a small lake. We were allowed to explore the visitor’s center and look at the exhibit explaining some of the science of the glacier. Then we watched a short film which talked about some aspects of the glacier, such as the tourism of the place, and how the glacier is, sadly, slowly shrinking. It was shocking to learn that while in 1999 the glacier would lose around 6 feet of ice a year, and now in 2006 it loses around 300 feet a year. This is a result of global warming, and it was amazing to see its effects first-hand. Afterwards, we ventured to the Eagle River Methodist Church for a joint concert with the Central Carolina Children’s Choir, who all are also on the cruise, the Alaskan Children’s Choir, which was from Juneau, and the Chautauqua Children’s Chorus. After a short rehearsal, dinner and changing, we had our very first performance of the tour! We sang two pieces by ourselves as a choir, “Roses I send to you” and “The Water is Wide”. After a while we joined the CCCC and sang “Simple Gifts”. Then we all lined up on the risers together and the four choirs all sang “Sound the Trumpet”, directed by Sir David Willcocks. It was greeted with tumultuous applause and we sang it once more as an encore at the suggestion of the ACC’s director. We were extremely tired by this point and rather un-energetic, but being true performers we put on our smiles and sang it just as beautifully as the first time. Right after the concert, not even having enough time to change out of our concert dresses, we rushed to the buses and went straight back to the ship, which was setting sail shortly for Skagway. Respectfully Submitted by Mari Jacobson, Cami Felt and Ali Guth Return to Alaskan Choral Cruise Tour Itinerary |