So, we have failed at updating you all...and much has happened. This should be the last behemoth blog entry. The rest we will try to keep in easily digestible tidbits that can take you along on our adventure. Pictures should be coming too; we warn you, though, we are rather amateur photographers. All hints and tips are welcome.
Well, our first drive was a few short hours and I got us the whole way. Just a bit over six hours brought us to Grafton, WI--Keaton's home town. I must admit that I am the one on this trip who will have most of his stereotypes of the county shattered. My narrow Orange County mind has been forced to admit that beauty is all over the United States. Grafton, WI is no exception. A cute little town (yes, I just admitted it was cute) with quite a history in the jazz era, and a good swing club which we'll hopefully hit up on the way back. We stopped by a Kohl's and Target to pick up everything we had forgotten to get in Hillsdale and met up with sophomore Lauren Moroder. Lauren and I hung out and we saw Port Washington--proof that Wisconsin can be truly BEAUTIFUL. Watching the sunset from a pier on Lake Michigan is an experience I will not soon forget. Later that night, we sang for a family friend of the Christiansens. It was fun to sing for an experienced ear; Mrs. Schwartz had an ear trained for barbershop and many helpful comments. We also sang Disney songs as Allen accompanied on the piano. Needless to say, I had a good time. We didn't end up getting much sleep that night; the Christiansens know have a good time. :)
At about 3:30am the next morning, Nathaniel and I went to the airport in Milwaukee so that I could fly to Washington, D.C. for an interview. I'll let Keaton tell you how the drive from Grafton, WI to Minneapolis-St. Paul went and the stay they had there. When I landed Tuesday morning, returning from my whirlwind interview in D.C., we headed straight out for Billings, MT. Quite a long drive through all of Minnesota, North Dakota, and a large chunk of Montana. The drive was mostly uneventful; that's what happens when you drive through some of the least populated states in the Union. The places we stopped to eat were...umm...experiences. Nathaniel and Keaton had fleischkuchle, a large patty of hamburger meat, breaded, folded in half, and deep fried. It was good with ranch. We approximated that between Pete's Place (where we ate Lunch in St. Cloud) and Dakota Diner (dinner) we had as much grease as actual food. We pulled into Billings about 1am and went straight to bed. Thankfully, the hospitality of the Pullmann's was completely ready for us and we were asleep about 15 minutes after we had arrived. The next morning (Wednesday) we awoke and adjusted to our new surroundings. Pullmann's home church, St. John's, was right across the street. We were at about 3000 feet above sea level and the climate was much drier. The first day I just proved to the entire family the fullest extent of my awkwardness and became fast friends with Nathaniel's younger sister, Amanda. Their family worked well with sarcasm and handled puns quite well...they could even handle Keaton's. We began to rehearse in earnest and set ourselves up for two concerts on Friday.
Friday morning we performed first at Billings Public High School for two large choir groups. The mixed choir seemed pleased with what we had to sing, a very eclectic mix of secular, sacred, and barbershop. Some of them even came later to the concert we offered that night at St. John's. After leaving a bit of Hillsdale information with the high school students, we went home for lunch (all meals generously provided by the Pullmann family) and then rehearsed for the concert that evening. In the meantime, we also attended Zach's (Nathan's older brother) wedding rehearsal. We were scheduled to sing at the wedding the next day. Immediately following the wedding rehearsal, we started the concert. Our crowd was small, but we will gladly sing for any number. The concert is thankfully much improved from the one we put on in Hillsdale, and we are excited to hear ourselves improve. We drummed up some interest for the college and then packed up and went to the rehearsal dinner. After a long day, we finished with practicing Bohemian Rhapsody so that we could sing it at Zach and Rebecca's reception. In some ways I feel busier after college with all the planning that goes into this road trip. It involves contacting a lot of people and keeping up with a lot of information in our heads. We sleep WELL at night.
Saturday I woke up and ran around Laurel, the suburb in which the Pullmann's actually live slightly outside of Billings. It was another glorious spring day with the dry weather I prefer. The wedding was simply beautiful and we sang a four-part setting of a hymn as well as our barbershop version of the Lord's Prayer. We sang through Bohemian Rhapsody at the reception and...well...it's getting there. :) Hopefully it will improve with everything else we work on. We celebrated for a while longer with Zach and Rebecca, enjoyed the last sunset in Montana with the whole family (grandparents included), exchanged stories (embarrassing, funny, frequently both), and then the quartet tried to get to bed early. Such a fun family was tough to leave, but we were up at four and out the door long before sunrise.
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