...the city that never sleeps...

Hello. I can't believe the last time I wrote was in November. Of course we have been busy since then...isn't everyone?

Over Valentine's weekend, I got to mark off one of the things on my Bucket List (which is still not complete and probably never will be)! I sang in Carnegie Hall. What an incredible experience! The Prairie Winds Chorus received an invitation about a year ago to travel to New York City and sing at Carnegie Hall. We decided to participate in this extraordinary opportunity and began raising funds. At that time, February 2009 seemed forever far away. Suddenly, it got here!

Friday, Feb. 13 - flew from Lubbock to Dallas to New York. Our hotel, the Grand Hyatt, is connected to Grand Central Station. It is beautiful and looks just like it does on TV and in the movies. Sara Yancey's husband paid for 4 of us to receive facials that evening as his Valentine gift to her. Thanks Charles!

Saturday, Feb. 14 - Got up bright and early to go on the Downtown Loop Gray Line Bus Tour. (Side note: If you are ever traveling and have the opportunity to use the Gray Line "hop-on/hop-off" tours, I highly recommend them. Included in the price of your ticket is a seat on the bus, a tour guide, and several stops along the way. As the name implies, when you are ready to see something, you "hop-off" the bus and stay as long as you like. When you are ready to continue, hop-on another bus and ride until you are ready to hop-off again.) We started our tour quite early, and many places were not open yet. We got off the bus and looked at Ground Zero. There was not very much to see, as the area is fenced all the way around, and they are starting to build.

Looking into the "hole" from the American Express Building across the street.

We walked from there to Battery Park, where we looked out and saw the Statue of Liberty. The sun was shining brightly, and it looked like the top of the torch was aflame.

The Statue of Liberty (top). Connie and the Statue of Liberty (bottom) just over my right shoulder.

From Battery Park, we rode the Gray Line around to the East River and South Side Seaport for lunch where we saw the Brooklyn Bridge (below). After lunch we went to the Gershwin Theater for "Wicked" (Broadway musical) which was incredible! If you ever have the opportunity to see it...DO IT! I like "The Wizard of Oz", but it always seemed strange to me and didn't make much sense. Well, after seeing "Wicked", the story makes every so much more sense. I loved it!

That evening we had a rehearsal with the 6 other choruses that were there to sing at Carnegie Hall, had dinner at Grand Central Station, and rode the Subway back to Times Square to look around and do a little souvenir shopping. We were looking for one shop in particular, but alas, we could not find it, even after walking several blocks.

Sunday, Feb. 15 - Morning rehearsal for just our chorus. Some of us gathered for a worship service. I walked with a group of friends to Tiffany's to see the Tiffany diamond. WOW! 128.5 carat yellow cushion cut diamond. Very brilliant! We had lunch at Trump Grill in Trump Tower and then hurried to Carnegie Hall for the first 4 chorus performances.

Carnegie Hall and marquee poster announcing our performance

After the performance, a couple of friends and I walked to Central Park It was beautiful, even though everything is brown and dry. I would love to see it in the spring when it is green and there are leaves on the trees.

We walked back to Times Square and saw the enormous billboards and the ball that fell on New Year's Eve.

From there we walked to City Lobster, which took us a while to find, where we met several friends for dinner. Restaurant Week had been extended, so we were able to eat a 3 course meal for about $35, plus tax and tip, instead of $75-100 for the same meal, which was EXCELLENT!

Monday, Feb. 16 - Lisa and I went to the top of the Empire State Building. Even though it was very cold and windy, the view was breathtaking! I could not get over the number of windows in the buildings around us.

View of Brooklyn across the East River

(We finally found the souvenir shop we had looked for on Saturday. It was close to the Empire State Building, not Times Square.) We had lunch in Grand Central Station, where some of our members encountered Jillian, from TVs The Biggest Loser. She informed them of the nutritional value, or lack thereof, of their lunches. While I did not see her, I heard she was just a prickly in person as she is on TV.

Soon it was time to board buses leaving for Carnegie Hall and our rehearsal there. It was more beautiful than I could imagine. Between rehearsal and preparing for the show, we went down the street and ate at Carnegie Deli.

The LARGEST sandwich I have ever seen!

The performance on the Carnegie Hall stage was incredible. The house lights were up enough for us to see the audience, which lends itself to a special connection that can be difficult to establish when the spotlights are really bright. At the end of the concert, the 3 choruses from Monday night, along with the 4 choruses from Sunday afternoon, all sang together (about 350 singers in all) under the direction of the Conductor-in-Residence at Carnegie Hall. The 4 choruses from Sunday were not on the stage, but we in the the two balcony levels that start at one side of the stage, go around the back of the auditorium, and come back around to the other side of the stage. At the end of the performance, we received a standing ovation. A STANDING OVATION in Carnegie Hall!! I can now cross that off my "Bucket List"!

To round out a wonderful performance, day, and trip, we rode the buses down to the pier where we boarded a ship for a lovely dinner cruise out to see the Statue of Liberty. The captain stopped the ship directly in front of her, and she was beautiful! (The photos I took there were terrible!)

Tuesday, Feb. 17 - We traveled back to Lubbock. When we arrived, several people in our group said, "Look, you can see the sky!" I said, "You could see the sky in New York, you just had to look straight UP!"

It was an amazing trip. I fully intend to return to New York and spend more time seeing and doing. If you would like to see more pictures, visit http://photos.walmart.com/thumbnailshare/AlbumID=45036774/a=18911582/t_=18911582 where all of the pictures from the trip are uploaded. Well, thanks for reading!

The next big step is Region 25 competition, which takes place in Richardson, TX, at the Eisemann Center March 27-28. Very exciting!