Our last day of tour in Seattle was Sunday, April 27. We were given free time that morning to wander around the Pier, and then were instructed to meet back up at noon at Pier 55. We waited a while for the entire group to arrive, and then began our long trek on foot (about 1.25 miles) to SafeCo field (or as John pronounces it: "Suh-Fay-Co"!).
The Mariners' stadium is right next to the reigning Superbowl Champion's Seahawks' field!
I started out in the middle of the pack, but by the time we arrived at the baseball field, I was at the end of our group with these cute girls and a few other chaperones!
We arrived at SafeCo Field on the left side, but we had to walk around to the opposite side of the stadium because that's where our tickets were. On the way there, these giant pictures of the baseball players were plastered on the walls. I have never watched a Pro Baseball game before, and I didn't know a single player on the Mariner's team before we went, so I just picked a random guy to take my picture with:
We all got seats in a section together in the 3rd level up behind right field. It was a gorgeous day, so they rolled open the roof. I loved the view from where we sat!
It was Celebrate Kids Day, so anyone that was 14 and under got a free T-shirt!
There were a ton of youth groups and schools there (because of the Celebrate Kids Day), so at one point, the marquis featured the names of all the kids' groups in attendance. Here we are on the giant scoreboard!
We had such a great time at the ball game. I loved that we were seated all together (unlike when we went to the play and everyone was seated in different sections), because it felt like a unified way to end our trip to Seattle. Everyone was in a good mood, and I could just feel the fun in the atmosphere!
The stadium served traditional baseball field like hot dogs, and popcorn, and cotton candy. But it also had specialty food items too, like chocolate strawberries on a stick! This is one of my favorite photos from our trip:
Since I'd never watched a professional baseball game before, I was quite enthralled with every detail. Watching it on TV is boring, because there's not a lot of action, but watching it live is actually quite fun and interesting! Even watching them groom the fields felt entertaining...
That day, the Mariners played against the Texas Rangers. The Rangers took on an early lead against the Mariners, and I was sure we would lose. Here's a photo of the scoreboard halfway through the game with my favorite player Robinson Cano stats on the board because he was up to bat.
Robinson is a hottie. I had never heard of him before that day, so I had no idea that he played for the New York Yankees, nor that he just recently transferred to the Mariners's team this year after signing a mega million contract. The day after we came home, he was on Jimmy Fallon, which was a delight for me to watch him after just seeing him play the previous day! Here's a funny clip of him pranking Yankee fans on the Tonight Show:
Even though we were losing a majority of the game, we still had a ton of fun. The section that was to the right of us kept trying to start the wave, so we played along, but the section to the left of us would never pick it up. We tried over and over again, but it didn't work, so finally WE started it, and had it move right, and it made it all the way to the Scoreboard a couple of times! Success!
And of course, every time music came on the sound system, video crews would capture groups in the audience that were dancing and feature them on the giant scoreboard. So, every time music came on, we danced and danced trying to be spotlighted on the board! One time, one of the camera men was right in front of us, but the music never came on while he was in our section. So...unfortunately, we never made it up on the board. BUT...we never stopped trying!!!
Finally, in the 8th inning, we took the lead!!! Then things got super exciting!
We were all hyped up and so happy!!! Being together as a large group at a sporting event was truly an awesome experience!
Here's the last pitch of the day: the Texans were up to bat, and struck out. We won the game 6-5, and the crowd went wild! What a great way to end the ball game!
We met up all tother again outside at the same place where we'd gotten our tickets...
...and we loaded the bus to head home. We kissed goodbye to Seattle!!!
We stopped to eat dinner about an hour east of Seattle, then we settled in for the super long drive home.
It was hard to fall asleep on the drive home. The bus was so uncomfortable, and since the A/C was broken, it got so hot and stuffy. Even though we drove all night long, and it was quiet and dark, it was another awful and long trip. We stopped multiple times to get out and stretch and use the bathroom. About 3:30am (at this point we were 2 hours away from Salmon), we were pulled over by a police officer. Apparently none of the rear lights were working on the bus. We were stopped for a while on the side of the road, trying to figure out what to do. Finally, he had us proceed on with our flashers on the rest of the way. We finally pulled into Salmon at 6:00am on Monday morning, and we were all super exhausted from our fun-filled trip.
I'm so glad I had the opportunity to travel with the choir and band as they went on tour to Seattle. I didn't go on choir tour with my high school group when I was a senior...and I've regretted it ever since. This felt so fulfilling to me, and I enjoyed spending time with the awesome kids that came. They were such a fabulous group! None of them ever strayed from the rules, or got in trouble, and it was a delight to go everywhere with them. Not only did I make some happy memories, but I got to know our students better and see Ammon experience it all, too!
This was a trip of epic proportions and an amazing opportunity for our students; it's also the first one that our local students have ever participated in. I wrote an article for the local newspaper about our trip, and I interviewed several people, including John (the choir and band director). I loved this statement that he provided: “Students have been working towards this trip for 2 years. They sacrificed activities in order to do this. One of the most humbling aspects of this trip was the support of parents, businesses, and community members in bringing this idea together. This community really believes in its youth and our students’ behavior really reflected that trust. It was by far the best group of students I’ve ever taken anywhere.”
Here's a music video that John made featuring the voices and starring the youth that went on tour while in Seattle:
And here's a link to an 8-minute video that one of our talented youth made about our trip as well:
Seattle Music Tour 2014
Thank you, John for making your vision and dreams to have this trip become a reality for our kids! It was a memorable experience that I will never forget!
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