Christine's orchestra from school was invited to compete in the Music in the Parks festival in Santa Clara, CA. I agreed to go as a chaperone. We left bright and early on Friday morning from the school.
We traveled on school busses. OH MY! It took us 11 hours to get there. No a/c, no seat belts. But we made it, a little rushed for time, but we made it. 
We stayed at the Marriott Hotel in Santa Clara. It was really nice. I actually had my own room and it was heaven during the down time. Fluffy bed and pillows, ihome, etc. Below: Alex, Maddie, Christine, and Meena. Good friends. 
Christine, Alex, Maddie, and Meena giving the #1 sign after the awards ceremony. There was a lot of jumping up and down and screaming going on. That's okay--they deserved it. They performed so well.
Here are a couple of the trophies. They won, 1st, 2nd, and Espirit de Corps (best spirit). They have prepared all year for this festival and did a GREAT job. We arrived so late on Friday and had to compete/perform at 9:30 and 9:50pm. That is really late after you've been on a bus for 11 hours!
We spent the day at Great America, which is like a Magic Mountain roller coaster park. I went on two rides and decided this was out of my league! I found a great park bench and read the book I brought and had the kids check in with me every couple of hours. I had a group of 20 kids and they were awesome! Really good kids--no problems at all, unlike some others. In the background is a double decker carousel. It is pretty cool. I've never seen anything like it.
This is called Invertigo. Yes, you are in 'vertigo' while you are on it. Christine LOVED it! Too much for me.
Here is another one. This ride is CRAZY! Some of them you are standing up. Some your feet are hanging out. I did take a Dramamine, but still got kind of woozy. Am I getting 'old'??? Sheesh.
This is the view as you go down the old wooden roller coaster. I did NOT go on this. Christine loved it. I got the picture off the internet.
The orchestra at the end of the day when the park closed. The carousel is in the background. We are tired, sunburned, and hot, but had a marvelous time. Everyone slept really good this night! No hotel hall problems.
Oh, the view of the bus before we left. What you don't see is all the cellos and basses each with their own seat at the front of the bus. On the one hand, we had less students and each chaperone had their own row. Once the 3rd bus broke down from over-heating in Bakersfield, we had to transfer all the instruments to it and all the students to our bus and we were 2 and 3 to a bench. That made for a long ride home in over 100* weather.We finally arrived at the school and were glad to be home. It took 13 hours to get home. Those awards and trophies made up for the crummy ride!
CONGRATULATIONS orchestra! Good Job!
