Choir Tour Part 4

At this point we're headed into the home stretch...we've made it to our final home-away-from-home in Washington, D.C. Friday was a sightseeing day and performance evening. We walked from our hotel to the nearest metro station, planning to use our all-day passes to ride into the museum area. Come to find out, our passes weren't valid until 9:30 a.m., and it was only 8:30, so we ended up having to pay an additional fare to ride. There had been heavy rains all week, and some of the museums were still closed as workers continued to pump water from the basements. All along the street we saw trucks parked curbside with huge pumps, hoses, and dryers connected to buildings. With the guidance of our dear friend, Curt Mooney, we walked quite a bit, visiting the World War II monument, the Vietnam Wall, and the Korean War Memorial, none of which was there the last time Ben and I visited D.C. (1979!). Then we took Curt & SuEllen to the Bureau of Engraving and Printing Visitors' Center (we were too late to get tour tickets), and we ate lunch in the cafeteria of the USDA---when's the last time you had to pass through a metal detector to get into a cafeteria?!!

We left D.C. around 4:00 to go to Springfield, VA for a concert in the chapel of the Greenspring retirement community. This is a community of about 2,000 residents, and it is just beautiful. The place was packed, a real change from the small crowds we'd had earlier on the tour. The chaplain there is the retired pastor with whom our music minister served in Falls Church, VA. Everybody was very friendly and gracious to us, and they really seemed to enjoy the music we shared with them.

Saturday we had more time for sightseeing. Our bus driver had offered to drive us to Mount Vernon, so we chose to go there in an attempt to avoid the huge weekend crowds on the Mall in D.C. (there was a big festival that weekend because of the July 4 holiday).
Mt. Vernon, the home of George Washington, was lovely. We enjoyed walking all over the estate and gardens and breathing the fresh, country air.

Our Saturday evening event was a fellowship at the Vienna Baptist Church in Vienna, VA. Their music director is a former SMBC choir member, Diane Gardner. After rehearsing for Sunday morning's service, we were treated to a hearty Baptist potluck dinner, after which we shared some songs and instrumental music, thanks to our fabulous marimba player, Lovie Smith-Schenk.
On Sunday morning, we sang several numbers during the service and provided music for communion, as our organist, Daryl Robinson, was once again asked to play the entire service. After eating lunch at the church, we boarded the bus for the last time and went to Reagan International Airport for our flight home to Houston. About half of the tour group went home that day, and the rest stayed to enjoy being in D.C. for the July 4 celebration.

One of the really neat things about this tour was the fact that it was intergenerational. We had some young people with us--here's one of our members, Odelia, in what became a familiar pose, holding 5-month old Elaina. Of course, we all took turns holding the baby, but Odelia seemed to have a magic touch with her!


And here's Brenda Coker with her 2-yr. old granddaughter, Elaina's sister, Caroline.

Two other families also brought their kids along, and everybody enjoyed having them. All in all, the tour was a great success, and we're glad we decided to go!