Spring Break Report Parts 1 & 2

We're baaaack! And by "We", I mean Elizabeth, myself, five parent chaperones, and all 28 high school orchestra students who spent the last four days in Memphis.

That's right folks, we didn't lose a single kid. Not a one! Sure, cell phones might have been left on planes and ear rings may have been left on buses, but all of the kids made it back to Rupert last night, so we are counting the trip as a total success.

Even though we were only there for a few days, we managed to do and see a lot. For example, we spent some time on the banks of the Mississippi River... and not a single kid fell or jumped in! We met with researchers at St. Judes... where all of the questions the kids asked were intelligent and appropriate.

We visited the Civil Rights Museum... and not a single kid asked which door was the one where Martin Luther nailed up his paper about not buying your way into heaven.
We spent a lot of time listening to and creating beautiful music... all made by actual instruments instead of with armpits and/or various body parts expelling gasses.

We explored Beale Street... without the kids asking too many questions about some of the menu items posted on windows.
We visited a huge mall, experienced real southern cooking, and played laser tag... all without serious injury.

Oh, and we also spent a morning at a quaint little place called Graceland.

Our four days were so jam-packed, there is no way that a single post could contain all of the southern-fried goodness of our trip. Instead, I am putting together a few semi-massive posts about walking in Memphis.

Lets start with...

Part 1: Getting to Memphis

Our trip started out in the high school orchestra room at 11:00 Sunday night, where the kids practiced the pick-up lines that they were planning to use during the much anticipated giant mall excursion (for example: You must be from Tennessee 'cuase you are the only "ten" I see.)

Our plane was supposed to leave Salt Lake City at 6 a.m., which meant that our bus needed to be on the freeway hours earlier. The kids were too excited to do any sleeping on the drive down. They had been working towards this trip for two years, and they were bound and determined to enjoy every single minute of it.

Thanks to roads free of snow and traffic, we made it to the airport early...

... a bit too early. We had to wait for about an hour and a half for the airline folks to show up, but the kids didn't mind too much. They played Uno while the kids who had flown before passed on their wisdom to the kids who were new to the flight experience.

After three hours on a bus, three and a half hours in the airport, and four and a half hours on a plane, we touched down in Nashville. I thought that, since most of them had been awake for thirty hours or so, they would sleep on the bus during the three hour drive to Memphis.

But I was wrong.

So very, very wrong.

Instead, they talked and they sang and they practiced their southern accents. After the bus ride, there was dinner at an amazing BBQ place and a concert at the University of Memphis. Then there was the excitement of a hotel with...wait for it... an elevator AND vending machines. The kids drank it all in until late that night, which leads us to our next segment...

Part 2: Sleeping in Memphis

But the orchestra kids weren't the only folks in need of random naps. Even orchestra directors need a rest every now and then. And she earned it. Trust me.
Up Next: This was a school trip, so education was the number one priority. Stay tuned for what the kids learned... compared to what the chaperones learned.