Day 20: Making a Run for the Border

Get THIS!  We come home tomorrow!  We haven’t told the boys yet, so don’t spill the beans in any of your letters.  We’re just going to have “Code Green” first thing in the morning.  Since they never look-up from their games, we will just surprise them by saying “bathroom break” when we are pulling into the parking lot tomorrow at 1:00.  I can’t wait to see the look on their faces!  (I told them we are headed to Ottawa tomorrow…we’ll see how many catch-on!)

Okay, Okay, Okay….The boys have indeed actually figured-out we are pretty close to home.  One of them saw the word “bathroom” on a door and another one noticed all the people stopped saying “aboot” and together they figured-out we weren’t in Manitoba anymore.  It’s been “hold back the reins” time for these ponies.  For some reason they are excited to go home…

This morning was another great morning filled with praise and adoration of your boys.  It is soooo annoying hearing all the great things about these boys all the time.  “These boys were so delightful”, “I didn’t know kids had manners like this anymore” and “Can we keep them so they can teach my kids how to eat at a dinner table” are becoming so commonplace that I have standard responses to each one of them now.  How terrible is that?  Or wonderful, I can’t tell anymore.  After twenty days with these stinky angels, my perception of the world has changed a little. 

So this morning, after we loaded the bus and navigated our way out of the city, we took a few minutes to update the journals and make sure everyone knew how much spending money they had left.  Today, we had a very important task ahead of us:  spending every last nickel of mom and dad’s money at the Duty Free store so we didn’t have to give it back to them.  Unfortunately, good old Prefect PJ forgot to tell the boys what “Duty Free” meant, so the smart and responsible young men left some cushion room in their spending for sales tax.  Luckily, I had a money bag full of Canadian coins and a choir full of coin-collecting boys.  You’d be amazed how many boys are right at zero in their spending money accounts after this stop!

After the task of shopping, it was onto the border.  Getting into Canada was a cinch, so an American boy choir coming back home should be a piece of cake, right?  You would’ve thought we were the Hell’s Angels the way they were questioning every single one of the boys.  I get that there is a point where you need to ensure the safety of America’s borders, but give me a break!  Questioning an eight-year-old with all the proper documentation, dressed in a neat uniform and in need of a bathroom is not a good use of our resources, America.  One of our foreign-born boys had some trouble getting through as well, which is absolute “hog-wash” if you ask me.  It doesn’t get much more innocent than a boy choir…but enough about that.  After about 30 minutes we were back on the bus and rolling…all of us, together.

Lunch was at a neat little museum/picnic area just inside North Dakota before a good, long rest period on the bus, which brought us right up to our arrival in Grand Forks.  The boys are currently singing very well on stage – making the final adjustments before their biggest concert of the year for you, tomorrow afternoon.  I sure hope we have a good crowd for this FULL concert in FULL CONCERT UNIFORM and is AIR CONDINTIONED!  Boo-yeah!  Chalk-one up for planning this time boys and girls!

We are all excited to see everyone!  This has been a tremendous journey for these young men and I am so excited to show them off to you.  I hope the manners stick for a few days, at least.  We’ve been across two of the largest countries in the world,  managed a postal strike, a clogged fuel filter on the bus and a flying fish or two, sung 16 times in the past 20 days and have made friends as ambassadors of Minnesota and the United States everywhere we’ve gone.  (Except for that one crabby lady at the gas station yesterday…She probably won’t be following us on Facebook anytime soon…)  Start blowing-up those balloons and prepping those signs…WE’RE COMING HOME!

One last thing while I have everyone’s attention for one last time.  I would like to thank Nick & Madeleine Griffin, Maria and Belle Carpenter, the Misiura Family, Rodney’s “Sweetie” and my amazing wife Jessica for allowing us to go on these trips with these boys.  The days get long, the time zones mess-up everything, the time to talk is usually short and I’m sure we get moody for things that have nothing to do with whatever is going on back home.  Trust me:  If you had boys asking to go to the bathroom 15 minutes after you JUST left a rest stop, you’d be moody too!  J 

…and of course, the biggest “thank you” of all is for Mary Jo, for putting-up with our terrible schedules, our forgetfulness, keeping the parents calm and reassured that “yes, the blog will be updated as soon as they can find an internet signal” and holding the fort down while we get to go out and play around the world.  You are the best and we could not possibly do as much as we are able to do for these boys without you.

P.J.

PS – There will be no Nordic Choir video this year, I am afraid to say.  The photos just haven’t turned-out the way I needed them to and the video just isn’t coming together at the level I want it to.  We will still have the photo cd available sometime next week for all the boys, but it just won’t contain the usual video.  If you’d like a video next year, please help me convince my wife to get a new camera!  J

Day 19: When in Winnipeg…

Hey everyone!  The boys are resting comfortably after another great day in Canada, our home and (not so) native land for the past 9 days.  You can almost feel the United States getting closer, as the hours and minutes tick by.  Canada has been wonderful to us, and I know the boys are bringing home many new memories back with them. 

Today started with the boys meeting us at the church to load the bus and head-oot for the day.  There was quite a bit of anxiousness in the air as to who the two would be that get to assist with the leadership tasks of the day.   I picked Jeffrey Williams, a long-time veteran and member of the Leadership Development Program to team-up with his tour partner, Section Leader Michael Schrupp.  Their jobs for the day would be to assist Noah and Steven with carrying-out all the responsibilities of the day.  They did a great job filling the enormous shoes the previous leaders left behind. 

After saying our “goodbyes” and waving to the crowd of people on the sidewalk, we left Regina and found it to be very much like the drive to Regina:  Flat, with not a lot of towns along the way.  The first order of business was to find fuel for the bus, which is trickier than it sounds.  Canada doesn’t have a lot of the truck stops like we are fortunate to have here, so often times we are stuck with the slow-pumping hoses normally meant for cars and trucks.  When you are pumping 120+ gallons at a time, that can take a few minutes.  We managed to find a station that sold diesel, but the stall wasn’t made for a bus, by any means.  If we happen to receive any unhappy mail from an older lady about a bus being on the sidewalk, let me handle it.  She just needs to find a better sense of humor or learn how to be a better “morning person”. 

The rest of the drive that morning was fairly laid-back.  A few of the boys wrote some letters (which have since been mailed) to help me burn-up the remainder of the Canadian stamps.  The leaders put-on a few games of Bus Bingo to help burn-up some of the surplus Bingo Prizes.  Steven Kelly brought along some of his friends, Justin Beiber and Selena Gomez to help call some of the numbers.  Jeffrey Williams brought along Paris Hilton and Elmo.  I’m not sure who Jacob Gordon brought, but they were sure funny to listen to!  Noah did a wonderful job of keeping it all in perspective, letting us know every few seconds that we were the “Only Mobile Bingo Emporium West of Lake Winnipegosis”.  The boys did a very good job and we managed to get rid of several prizes.

Lunch was located at a rest stop somewhere along the way.  Lisa was in heaven, since this particular rest stop had Wi-Fi.  After lunch, the officers loaded the boys on the bus and we had a pretty great rest stop.  The boy have really had no issues getting rest now that they are in the routine of napping every day.  The other helpful fact is that after their first real good nap, they can’t wait for the next rest period.  Sometimes they resist napping for the first few days and don’t realize the great benefits of taking a snooze.  With the officers in charge, I can tell you I haven’t been skipping the opportunity! 

With Winnipeg “aboot” 45 minutes away, Aaron and I chatted a little and decided to relieve our tired leaders.  Noah and Steven were starting to show the effects of being constantly responsible for 26 other boys for 2.5 days, so took our spots back on the bus and allowed them to step-back a little.  With two big concerts coming-up, it was imperative our two top guys were sharp and ready.  Watching all the leaders grow over the past few days has been nothing short of amazing.  They have really taken huge steps at growing as leaders. 

In Winnipeg, we were hosted by the Winnipeg Children’s Chorus.  They have a long and great history of being a very good organization, touring all over the world and performing at very prestigious places like Carnegie Hall and The Kennedy Center.  They greeted us with dinner and some socialization before we joined the stage to sing “What Wondrous Love is This” at warm-ups.  They are a very nice little choir that was very prepared on this song.

The concert went very well, with the boys singing the first and second halves and the Winnipeg Children’s Chorus singing in the middle, as well as the joint song.  The boys are really sounding great, with audiences everywhere commenting more on the boys sound than their manners.  (And as a Prefect, I can assure you their manners are first-rate.)  I can’t wait to bring this crew home to you...they have really become one of the finest choirs we have had in the past 17 years that I have been here.  The raw talent and potential we left with is now polished and experienced.  This group grows on you, like a fungus. 

After the concert, the boys shook hands and finished-up their jobs.  Then, as quickly as we came, the boys escaped to their host homes for some spoilage and hopefully sleep.  They will need it over the next few days.  These will go by very quickly….

P.J.

Day 18: The Exact Geographic Middle of Nowhere

Hello!  Steven finally let me have my laptop back, so I can type an update again.  As you may have read in the last post, Aaron and I gave the keys to the tour to the Officers and members of the Leadership Development Program.  Literally, they have the keys to the bus, the money, the tour books, the laptop (on occasion), the GPS and anything else we can find to put on their plates.  They’ve been doing a pretty good job of it, with some predictable bumps along the way.

                Our goal is to give them a little more “ownership” of the tour while also giving them some practical leadership opportunities.  The concept is pretty simple:  we handed them our things and said, “get to it”.  The toughest part has really been on us, trying to teach them how to manage the tour without actually doing it for them.

                Yesterday was the first day of it.  Aaron and I dreamt this up the night before, trying to find something that would engage all of them and keep their interest during the last week of the tour.  It is always the toughest week, as they have “been there and done that” for much of the tour, making their focus a little harder to keep.  As we were leaving our wonderful hosts in Edmonton, we brought Head Chorister Noah Carpenter and Assistant Head Chorister Steven Kelly up to the front of the bus and we told them our plan. 

                At first, they were a bit excited about it that was, until they saw how much we were actually giving them to do.  I can never remember giving this much responsibility or freedom to the boys before.  They literally had to find the rest stops, plan the lunch locations, keep tabs of all the boys, 100% of the time, set-up all the hotel arrangements and room assignments, get the boys to the pool, provide lifeguards (don’t worry, we were still lifeguarding as well…), buy necessary supplies at the local Wal-Mart, find a dinner location, arrange to have the bus ready, clean the bus (including mopping the floors and wiping the windows) and get all the boys to bed with their lights-out.  They did a tremendous job.

                Throughout yesterday, Jacob Gordon and Allexzander Sanders did a very good job of assisting with the tasks, as they were the tour partners of Noah and Steven.  (One of the biggest things I have been trying to teach Steven and Noah is the art of delegation.  We are really trying to get them to utilize the rest of the officers as they complete their tasks.)  In an effort to give some other boys the chance to be that close to the action, I have asked Landon Owens and Isaac Volker to be partners for the day with Noah and Steven.  Since they sit in Aaron and my seats in the front, it makes it easier if they are together up there.  (In case you are wondering, Aaron and I now sit in the middle of the bus, hogging four seats, instead of just two now.)  Tomorrow, we will probably allow two other members of the leadership team to have their shot, assuming all goes well today.  It’s been a good test for them and they are really responding well to the challenge to watching-out for others and their needs.

                So when Steven last left you, we were on our way to Joey’s Seafood Restaurant for dinner.  It was a very nice dinner and the boys did very well.  Many of the boys tried various types of seafood, including crab legs.  They enjoyed it very much.  After dinner, the boys headed back to the hotel for some time in the awesome pool at the hotel, complete with a water slide.  Boys love those things!  This hotel was only opened in November, so it had that “new hotel smell” to it still. The pool towels were also very soft…I liked that.

                After the pool, the leadership team made the rounds and put the tired travelers to bed before getting a little shut-eye themselves.  We didn’t have to be out of the hotel until 11:00 the next morning, so we decided to continue with this experiment further and had the older guys get the boys up at 8:00 so they could do some more swimming before breakfast.  This was only a quick little dip in the pool, but the boys loved the idea of getting right up and in the pool.

                Breakfast followed right afterwards in the hotel breakfast lounge.  Of any meal to date so far on this tour, I think the boys did the best at this one, and hardly any staff was there.  (Maybe they don’t need us anymore…L)  The officers took special care to help the younger ones and remind the older ones to leave the area better than we found it, which they did.  They even did a great job of staggering the boys to the line from their rooms so it wasn’t as chaotic down there.  Each room packed their things after breakfast and loaded the bus.

                The rest of the drive to Regina was relatively “Iowaish”.  Not really a lot of scenery to observe compared to the view outside our window only a few short days ago.  The boys did a nice job with their games and their rest period.  Our arrival to Regina was a little early, so I was able to find some internet and catch-up on some purchase orders and email printing.  (This was probably the best email day of the tour, thus far – thank you!) For those parents that were able to attend the informal parent gathering at Russell’s in Big Lake, I was able to chat with them for a while and bring them in for a sneak-peak at the boys warming-up before the concert.  These things are a crap-shoot sometimes, as you never know what kind of internet signal you are going to have at these sites.  I’m glad it all worked-out and I hope you all had a good evening.

                The concert went wonderfully, with the audience very happy with the boys performance.  After some hand-shaking and “little old lady hugs” afterwards, it was off to the host homes for some much deserved rest.  Many of the boys, dare I say “most” of the boys, were witnessed heading across the street to this little ice cream parlor they had there.  Lots of smiles on the boys faces this evening.

P.J.

Day 17: The Officer Chronicles

Well, we are 17 days into tour, and we are on our last free day. As the land of 10,000 lakes approaches, PJ and Aaron take a day off.  That’s right folks, this is coming straight from the mouth of me, Steven Kelly.  With the Leadership Development people running the show and keeping the boys in line, we still needed people to replace PJ and Aaron and take over their main responsibilities.  The Head Chorister (Noah), his partner Jacob, Allexzander Sanders, and I have split the staffers responsibilities between us, and it already seems that stress induced insanity is taking over.  Even with the boys doing what they’re told (well, most of the time), new responsibilities are popping out of thin air, and we are certainly kept on our toes.  I am writing this in what would’ve been code green for me, and my poor games are sitting cold and alone.  Oh well, just another sacrifice.  But at least I can occupy myself with journal checking.  Yippee.  If you can see the sarcasm dripping through the screen, then leave a comment below filled with your pity.

                Ok, well, here are some examples of the questions that stood out as being… interesting that have been asked today.  “What do we change into?”  “When we’re in code blue, can we walk around the bus?”  “Are we having lunch today?”  No anonymous, we are skipping lunch today.  Anyways, I’m being honest, this job is hard.  Boys and or gentleman whenever you are going to laugh at PJ’s face, think about his feelings.  Let’s go to a quiet place.  Enough jokes, or…well, maybe there will be a couple. 

                Let’s go into the jobs we’ve been given.  If this post is a little all over the place, cut me some slack, it’s my first time.  Okay, here it goes.  As far as jobs go, we’ve checked all the journals, kept all the boys safe and inline.  All of them, too!  We scouted out a lunch stop, bought all the staff lunches (with the Choirboy’s money, of course) and I have full responsibility of PJ’s wallet, and that just scratched the surface.  We also have full responsibility of yesterday’s merchandise tabulation, and keeping PJ and Aaron in line.  They seem very pleased with themselves for reciting all of the classic questions boys usually ask.

                Movie or no movie, that is the question.  With lunch behind us and rest period in site, we have to figure out where to draw the line.  We have acted pretty well, but still, these are hard decisions.  With my pillow beckoning, it is only logical that I shall answer it.  ZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz…..

                We woke-up from rest period and they were all begging to use the “facilities”, so Noah and I found a spot to stop about 30 minutes ahead of us.  Unfortunately, our “oh-so-good” GPS “Sally Sue” led us to trees, trees, and more trees.  We took a “nature walk” into he forest and the boys came out feeling relieved.

                We continued the drive to the hotel and you could see that the rest period got these boys rejuvenated.  We had some vein attempts to keep them under control, but sometimes boys have to be boys.  We arrived at the hotel and Noah and I went into the hotel with Aaron and PJ to scope out the area and get all the key cards.  Once everyone was checked into their room, we were expecting “Code Green”, but obviously, things do not always go as planned.  Noah, Jacob, Allex and I have been given a huge list with all the tasks that need to be finished tonight.  When I saw that one of the tasks was “blog update”, my heart skipped a beat and I instantly volunteered.  We got all of the jobs done as fast as we could, then PJ came into the room to tell me it was time to update the blog.

                After I sign-off, we are going to a place called “Joey’s” for dinner.  Then we will come back to have some pool time!  Luckily for us, this Best Western has a slide in their pool!

                Before you leave the page, remember this one thing:  A Prefect’s job is harder than it looks, even if they do get Coke’s for lunch.

-Steven T. Kelly

Day 16: From the writings of Thomas Stewart

Today I work-up at 6:05 am and dozed-off until 7:00 am which is when I took a shower.  Then, I got dressed and woke-up Connor, who took a shower while I dressed and dozed-off again, until 7:55 am.  I woke-up and Alex as taking a shower.  After Ale got out, our host dad, “Paul”, came down and told us we were having buttermilk pancakes for breakfast.  When we got upstairs, we ate pancakes, eggs, strawberries, nectarines and juice.  After breakfast, we packed our bags and Christina took a picture of us and the girls.  Then, Sam and Micah came and we left because our host dad took them to the church and Christina took Connor, Alex, Chi and I to the church.  When we got there, we warmed-up and sang our intro song in the church service, which was “Ubi Caritas”.  We sang a total of 4 songs in the service.  After the service we ate lunch in the fellowship hall.  There were a ton of different choices for sandwiches.  I had a chicken salad sandwich, and an egg sandwich.  I also had some Doritos and watermelon.  Then we said “goodbye” to our host family and hopped on the bus headed Edmonton and the Maxfields.  Aaron told me I had a special gift of being able to change my face in a couple of seconds, (from very stoic to very happy.)  Then, we had a rest period.  It was about 1.5 hours long again. 

After rest period was over there was about 40 minutes left before we reached the church in Edmonton, Alberta.  During those 40 minutes or so, we voted and made our nominations for Choirboy of the Year.  There were eleven nominees.  They were:  Noah Carpenter, Tristan Christiaansen, Jacob Gordon, Trayton Howard, Steven Kelly, Landon Owens, Allexzander Sanders, Thomas Stewart , Andrew Olinger, Joey Leibig and John Paul Hudson.  Six of those eleven went on to the next round, which we will do tomorrow morning.  The six people were:  Noah Carpenter, Jacob Gordon, Steven Kelly, Allexzander Sanders, Thomas Stewart and Isaac Volker. 

                When we got to the church we did our jobs, practiced logistics and went to dinner, where Chi and I met our host.  Their last name is “Dorey”.  They have four kids, two boys and two girls.  The older boy sings in a choir also.  We ate dinner with them.   Dinner consisted of Hamburgers, Hot Dogs, Jello, Watermelon, fruit salad, five different kinds of pasta salad, lettuce salad and three different kinds of juice. 

                After we ate, we warmed-up and then went to get changed.  The concert went well.  This is where the Maxfields live.  After the concert, Andy helped me take-down the risers until Jacob R. for there.  After we got our jobs done, we met our host family (again).  Aaron gave his spiel about all the rules and regs to the host families.  Then we got our own suitcases and bags and hopped in the can and left.  When we got to our host home, Chi and I changed into our PJ’s and then one of the girls asked me to play a song on the piano.  So I played “Praise to the Lord Almighty”.  After that, we went outside to play.  They have a dog and I think it’s a sheep dog.  I jumped on the trampoline a bit and then we decided to go to a soccer field a block away with a soccer ball, where we played a quick game because it was 10:00 pm and bedtime was at 10:30.  When we got back, we had a glass of water and went to bed at 10:33 pm.

Thomas

Day 15: Gettin’ Jiggy with the RCMP

Greetings from Calgary, Home of the Calgary Stampede being held in two weeks.  This city is crazy excited about it too.  All throughout the city there are murals for the event and everyone is talking about how much fun it is.  From the sounds of it, I am kind of glad we are getting the boys out of here before the madness ensues.

Before I get into the details, I would like to make one note about The Great Canadian Postal Worker Strike of 2011.  Apparently, my sources are telling me that the government made the workers go back to work, but enough of a delay has occurred that our letters are probably too far behind to make it while we are at the locations.  PLEASE continue to send email to pjfanberg@lolcb.org . I print it out each day and hand it to the boys.  It’s free.  It’s easy.  It’s a limited-time opportunity! Tell everyone in your Rolodex to email the boys!  That being said, it would be really great to have actual mail again when we reach Grand Forks, North Dakota on June 30^th.  There is just no replacement for the hand-written note of a mother telling a son how proud of them you are.  (For what it’s worth, I’ve picked-up more strewn about emails on the floor in five days than letters the first ten.  Boys like emails, but cherish letters.)  If you can still remember to drop a letter in the old mailbox, that would be swell.

The boys are still writing letters on this end as well and I hope to get them out in the mail Monday morning.  (I stopped at a Post Office Saturday, but it was closed.)  This will be their fourth mandatory letter, leaving their last one to be sent sometime around Regina or Winnipeg.  I had one request for the boys to write emails back home, but since postage strike is not effecting the outgoing mail and I barely have enough battery life to get the things I need to do accomplished, there is no way that is going to happen. 

So – I suppose you’d like to hear about Calgary?  The boys were able to sleep in a little again today, marking a few times in the past week they have been able to do that.  (Surprise, surprise, they are doing much better in the behavior and performance aspects of the tour as well…)  At 10:00, we met at a nearby church and headed-off to Fort Calgary, home of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Museum.  Since Dudley Dooright is practically tour number 29 on this trip, the boys have been very anxious to learn more about the RCMP.  This museum was a great chance for them to soak-up facts and souvenirs on the real Mounties and what they were tasked with undertaking.  Our tour started with a short film about the history of the Mounties.  Our guide then brought-out 3 actual historical Mounty uniforms and randomly selected 3 volunteers to go up front and model them.  Zachary Parker, Austin Scott and Sam Strub were picked to go up front outfitting.  Then, the guide put them through a series of commands to march them around for photos. 

After about 200 photos were taken, it was everyone else’s turn to play dress-up.  Out in the museum were a stack of different sized (and eras) uniforms for the boys to try-on and get their picture taken.  While this was happening, the rest of the boys took a stroll around the exhibits to learn about life a Mounty a century or so ago.  It was quite a nice museum, even if I didn’t see a single mention of Snidely Whiplash, the Most Wanted Man in All of Canada.

After everyone had a chance to tour the museum and get their photo next to the fake horse, (which we named “Horse”), we took the tour “oot” und “aboot” the rest of the grounds of Fort Calgary.  They had a pair of replica barracks on the site, as well as a few more exhibits and statues marking some of the historical figures of the time.  Then, as with every good museum, we did our part to ensure they can keep the doors open for another century by buying everything in the gift store, including some Mounty Christmas ornament, which are sure to adorn some lucky tree for decades to come!

The boys made their way through the bathroom, back to the bus and onto Calaway Park, home of this afternoon’s amusement.  The boys were able to spilt into the group of their liking and spent a little more than two hours on rides and having a great time.  Nobody puked, but from what I heard, a few of the boys said they came close, with smiles on their faces.  In the parking lot of the park, we took a good hour-long nap before grabbing a quick bite to eat at the local McDonald’s. 

The concert was a joint performance with the SuperSonic Men’s Chorus and the Calgary Boy Choir Alumnus.  There were probably about 200 people in the audience and the church was a terrific space to hold a concert.  Many of the boys enjoyed hearing some of the popular works of the choirs, including three very well-done Billy Joel pieces.  (Billy writes such great music for this sort of thing…)  Our boys took the stage and owned it, getting several standing ovations, despite it being a shortened performance.  Aaron gave the boys the very rare and highly coveted rating a “perfect 10” for their job well done.  Once the jobs were finished, the boys were brought back to their host homes for a second night.  I am sure plenty of ice cream, popcorn and rice krispie bars are being consumed tonight.

Until tomorrow…

P.J.

Day 14: Climb Ev’ry Mountain (again)

Today was one for the books!  Wow!  Never in my life have I seen mountains like this – amazing!

This morning, we took-off from Kamloops at a bright and early 8:00 in order to hit the mountains at full-speed and tackle this tremendous 380+ mile drive through some of the roughest terrain I can imagine exists on this planet.  As the bus door closed, the previous night’s host families sung “For he’s a jolly-good fellow” for the boys as they rolled away from the church.  It was very cool for the boys to see such appreciative hosts.

The first 2 hours or so were relatively calm, with looping drives around glacial lakes and streams coming down from the small (6,000 ft.) mountain peaks.  Having plenty of cushion time, we took an extended bathroom break at a rest stop marking the last spike placed in the TransCanadian Railroad.  It was a very nice (silver medal winning) rest stop, complete with a train caboose the boys were able to climb on and take pictures with.  There was also a section of railroad the boys could take their picture with, complete with a sledge hammer to pretend pounding stakes with.  And like any good tourist location, it had a great gift store for the boys to help the local economy with.  After about $300 and a bag full of memories later, we ventured back to the bus to continue our trek.

From here on, it was amazing.  Words cannot express how magnificent the peaks and cliffs around our drive.  To make things even better, our bus drive Rodney did an incredible job of navigating the slopes to ensure the safety of all the passengers.  He’s really a gem and I am so thankful we have had outstanding drivers like him (and Ralph Donais last year) to shuttle these boys around the continent.  Rodney is always the first one at the bus in the morning and the last one to lock it up and the end of the day to make sure everything is safe and sound before getting some rest himself.  He really does a great job of looking after the safety of these boys on tour.  I hope you each get a chance to thank him for taking three weeks out of his schedule to help your sons when we get home.

The spot we had for lunch was about as good as it gets, with mountains everywhere as far as you could see.  I tried to take some awesome pictures, but they just weren’t able to capture the true awesomeness of the Canadian Rockies. 

After lunch, I just couldn’t put the boys to sleep through this amazing countryside, so I asked Aaron if it was okay if we just did IPods and books so the boys could quietly look out the window, while still getting some rest.  We didn’t have a concert this night, so rest wasn’t as critical as it is other days.  Aaron wouldn’t let them, so I told him I would give him 3 “funniest staff member points” of mine, and he gladly accepted.  The rest of the drive was incredible.  I hope your son’s pictures turned-out better than mine.

With it being an especially long drive, we watched a couple of movies.  One was the “Dudley Dooright” full-length motion picture.  We had already exhausted all the episodes we had on DVD, so the movie was the next logical choice.  (The boys just love those things.  I was able to find some Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes as well, which are going over well also.)  With still about 2.5 hours to go on our trek, we threw the new Yogi Bear movie in to bring us as far as Banff.  With all the mountains we had seen through the day, it was kinda funny to see how desensitized the boys had gotten once we reached Banff, a place known around the world for its mountain peaks.  Just past Banff, as if someone flipped a switch, our scenery went from humongous mountains to rolling prairies.  And thus our voyage through the mountains was complete.  After 380 miles and nearly 12 hours of mountains, road construction and bathroom breaks, we reached Calgary.  Our hosts were ready for us, with juice and crackers for the boys that were hungry before dinner.  Then, after one of Aaron’s comedy-laced safety briefs, the boys were whisked-away to their host homes with the Calgary Boys Choir. 

If Rodney is still around in the morning, we will continue our tour tomorrow!  J

P.J.