Our first stop was Sunday Morning worship at Our Lady, Queen of the Most High Rosary Cathedral. No lie. That is the name of the church. We sang early here on Sunday in Toledo, Ohio. What an incredible space it was! The pictures do not do it justice in the least.
Next on the list was the legendary Cedar Point amusement park. I have heard that it was the roller coaster capital of the world, but in all reality, it is like Mecca for thrill seekers. The Raptor was by far my favorite. Chickened out on the two tallest coasters, Millennium Force and Top Thrill Dragster - both had drops over 300 feet. Maybe next time...maybe not.
In Toronto, we stayed at Ryerson University in the dorms. One night we were lucky enough to be serenaded by some of our very own boys. The set list included "Ring of Fire" by Johnny Cash, and "Twist and Shout" by the Beatles. Some of the youth had a little too much sugar that same night.
We performed at 4 different retirement communities in the area. These proved to be both a blessing and challenge. The older folks had a tendency to be somewhat distracting as far as audiences go - especially for our choir tour first-timers. However, our director, Tim Ward, even got tickled a time or two.
We traveled to Stratford, Ontario, about 2 hours away from Toronto - the home of Justin Beiber. As you can imagine, some of the members were beside themselves. We bordered on hysteria a time or two. But we all survived. We attended a production of "You're A Good Man, Charlie Brown" at the Avon Theatre. The street performers outside of the theatre had the sign above hanging on their guitar case. You had to appreciate their creativity even if you didn't dig their jams.
On our last night in the city, we went to the top of the CN tower, which has an incredible view of the area. Lucky for us, we were there in the late evening, so we were able to see the sunset as well as the city lights. It was quite a sight. For those of you that are afraid of heights, I might not recommend this endeavor - it is by no means a short building.
I some how managed to get in and out of Niagra without any pictures, but that was our final stop on the tour. We road the Maid of the Mist, which was absolutely beautiful. The falls are stunning, especially from the boat. The rest of Niagra greatly resembles Pigeon Forge - not quite as stunning.
We attempted to sing "O, Canada" as we crossed the first half of Rainbow Bridge. Once we crossed over to the American side, a rousing rendition of the Star-Spangled Banner (in roughly 8 part harmony) ensued. This was followed by a group chant of "USA". The chant was a little bit of a let down [I was hoping for something similar to the chanting when the Americans beat the Soviets in the '80 Olympics] but we were all glad to be back on American soil, nonetheless.
After plenty of travel, pit stops, and meals on the road, we finally arrived back in East Tennessee. The mountains were a sight for sore eyes. I have to say, there really is no place like home.
Live with love,
-JD
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