A word from the director ...

Mr. Fettig, waiting in the Denver airport, reflected back on the tour. He expressed how proud of the group he was and what a success their first Madrigal tour was. He was genuinely pleased with the entire experience.

A word from our sponsors ...

Drew, Julie, John, Jim, and Nikki had a blast traveling with this group. I would say that we had as much fun as the kids if not more. We would like to thank all the parents for sharing their kids with us for this special tour. They were very respectful and perfectly behaved. We couldn't have asked for a better group.

Thank you to our hosts

Thank you to Matt and Deborah for making this trip possible. They took great care of our group and made sure all the arrangements were made and things went smoothly. It was a wonderfrul experience.

I was able to catch up with a few of the kids on their way out the door to go skiing. A few of us elected not to go skiiing and I wound up shopping with Jayne Ann and Miranda. We found a great little shop that had hand-made cosmetics. We had a blast watching the bath balms, and trying out the solid body lotion.Those of us left behind boarded the bus at 11:00 when we checked out of the lodge. We went to Buttermilk ski area to meet up with the skiers. We all loaded onto the bus and left shortly after 1:00. We made it to Denver International Airport just after 5:30. PERFECT timing. We got checked in and began the wait at the gate for the plane.

These are a couple of shots looking up the ski slopes at Buttermilk.

Some Lighter Moments

One of the sponsors - we won't mention any names - took the opportunity for a power nap during the afternoon practice at Harris Hall and I couldn't resist snapping this picture.I'm not sure what was going on during Kalinka, but Ellen and Levi seemed to have the giggles!

It was nice to take a silly picture after all the seriousness of the concert. This was the sign that we saw as we went down the stairs leaving Boogie's Diner. The walls were covered with memorabilia.

Tuesday's Activities

As we approached Aspen it became more clear why school was cancelled. They don't appear to be able to handle the snow as well as we do in our neck of the woods. The roads were ice packed as you can see from the pictures, but the view was spectacular.

We checked into our new digs and explored them for a short time before heading out exploring and finding lunch in Aspen. We had a little time to shop before we got on the bus.

We arrived at Harris Hall at 3:00 for the afternoon rehearsal. It was a fabulous place for a concert. They also have a tent-top concert hall and both had great accoustics. The group sang one song under the tent just to hear what it sounded like even though it was cold. There was even a magpie that "laughed" at us. We were told they like to imitate people and of course, the kids were laughing.

We had a green room and dressing rooms so we all changed for the concert which began at 6:30. It was absolutely wonderful. It went by much too quickly for me as I love listening to their beautiful voices blend. After the concert we went downtown to Boogie's, a local favorite. We ate a big meal, enjoyed visiting with each other, and then headed back to the lodge for a much-needed night of sleep.

There's Snow in Them Thar Hills!

This was the view from our rooms when we woke up Tuesday morning. You will never believe this, but school was cancelled in Aspen so our schedule changed. Stay tuned for more information and enjoy the snow in Bemidji!

The Springs are HOT!

After a long day the kids needed a break. After the concert they grabbed their swim suits and we headed for Glenwood Hot Springs. The pool was HUGE and HOT!

It is 405 feet long and 100 feet wide at the widest point. It contains 1,071,000 gallons of water. If you would like to read more about it you can visit their website at www.hotspringspool.com

or if you prefer you can take at peak at this link

http://www.hotspringspool.com/y.php?p=WebcamLive for a live shot from their web cam.

They say the water has healing powers, but I have to warn you ...

Look what it did to Amos' hair!!

It felt good anyway.

Back on the bus at 10:00 p.m. Leftover brats and burgers in Jim & Nikki's room and ordering pizza to go along with it!

It started raining about 10:30 then, you guessed it ... SNOW! We just thought we had one up on you when we were eating outside in our t-shirts.

Grilling Time!

Yes, the guys actually hiked across the street from the motel and bought groceries. Jim was the grillmaster. He cooked brats and burgers for everyone ... and yes, we were outside in short sleeved shirts! It was wonderful. Especially after the news we have been getting about the snow that Bemidji is receiving. I understand we are in for snow tomorrow.

Julie and Miranda decorated their burgers in style.

After a short time around the picnic table the kids changed into their formalwear and loaded the bus for another rehearsal before the concert at the Methodist Church.

We had a very small audience for the concert, but it was wonderful. As usual, the group brought tears to our eyes. It was really great to hear them perform an entire concert by themselves and not just 3 songs at a high school concert. They were all very professional.

It was a long day for them as they stood in rehearsal and 3 concerts.

Water, water everywhere

Water has become our word of the day. Voices are tired and some are almost gone so we are pushing water.

We had a nice lunch of nachos piled high and salad in the school cafeteria which has a lovely view of the surrounding mountains. Glenwood Springs is nestled in a canyon with mountains all around.

Glenwood Springs High School

This is the first of two concerts at Glenwood Springs High School. There is an audience of 29 - this includes the chaperones and Deborah, our host from the Aspen Music Festival. There are 680 students enrolled at this school. They have been in their new building for only two years. The auditorium is very pretty, but the sound is a little "dead" as far as acoustics go.

Methodist Church Rehearsal

We had our very own "church lady", Fran. She is around 80, but quite spry. She met us at the Methodist church this morning and let us in so the group could rehearse.

Starting the Fun

Everyone enjoyed the pool, hot tub, and sauna at our "MOTEL". I'm not sure all of them had ever stayed overnight where the doors all opened to the outside. They walked across the street and grabbed dinner at Wendy's and Arby's. Here are pictures of where we are staying.

Our bus is REALLY nice. It looks to be quite new and we are really enjoying the ride. Our bus driver is Bernie. He is staying with us at the motel and hanging out. He has a cute sense of humor. He says he has duck tape if we need it so I know he must have been a show choir techie in a previous life.

In and out of airports

We met at the breakfast bar of the hotel at 9:00 a.m. this morning and prepared to load all the luggage. Drew Parker arrived with the 4 students that were not already in the cities for the show choir competition and we headed for the airport.

We have managed to check all our luggage and make it through security - although Ellen continued to set the alarm off and had to go through a more thorough search. Darn those bobby pins!!

As we sat at our gate waiting for our 12:09 boarding time we heard an announcement that our plane which is coming out of Chicago is going to be delayed because of thunderstorms and rain. Never mind the delay - Stephen, Aaron, and Tim managed to pass the time on Aaron’s computer while waiting. We don’t know how long it will be delayed, But as you can see, Tanner is cool with that. Amos, Becky, Mallary, Luke, and Levi will be experiencing their VERY FIRST commercial flight. They are excited to get going. We will be arriving in Denver about an hour later than scheduled because of the delay out of Chicago.
We did a little seat-swapping and settled in for the long-awaited flight. How exciting! Becky’s face was PRICELESS during take-off, but I didn’t manage to get a picture of it.

The flight was pretty uneventful until it came time to land. It was pretty turbulant and made a few of the kids a little queasy. Unfortunately, John Pugleasa lost his cell phone on the plane and the couldn't seem to find it after they were cleaning. I'm still hoping they will have found it and have it waiting for him when we get back to the Denver airport on Wednesday.

The Grand Championship title at the 14th annual Totino-Grace Showchoir Spectacular was the perfect start of the Madrigals Colorado Tour! As we pulled into the parking lot at Perkins we saw 2 police cars with flashing lights blocking a car with occupants blurred by a haze of thick smoke. Jayne Ann informed me they were surely smoking something 'funny'.

We were hoping the Madrigals kids would get served quickly and we would be on our way to the hotel. Of course that didn't happen. At least 4 of the Mads kids were served LAST. We got all the luggage transferred to Pugleasa's car, Jim's truck, and my car and were ready to head out at 1:00 a.m. Not too bad, right? WRONG!! Daylight Saving's Time quickly turned that into 2:00 a.m. It was only a 20-minute drive to the Fairfield Inn in Eden Prairie, or so Jim said. By the time we missed the first turn, went around in a big circle and finally pulled up to the hotel it was 3:00 a.m. We split up into our 4 rooms and I think everyone is mostly settled in for the night. I really wanted to at least get a start on setting up this blog before I went to bed.