Today we loaded the bus at 9 am and headed into Seattle to see what adventures we could find. Most of us wandered through the Pike Place Market, enjoying the incredible flowers that were for sale, tasting any free food samples that were offered (the fruit was remarkable) looking at all the beautiful and interesting wares that were for sale, and watching men toss around large dead fish. We’re not sure what the point of the latter was, but they did do it well. We only had 90 minutes, and then we were back on the bus again to ride to the University of Washington.
Tulips
T 
We found the university with no trouble, having natives with us for directions, and unusual luck with traffic.
UW School of Music
After conferring, Dr. Staheli and Dr. Geoffrey Paul Boers decided to have Dr. Boers warm-up the two choirs together, then have each choir perform a couple of numbers for the other. His approach with the warm-up was quite new to us, and interesting. The UW Chamber Singers are a fine choir, and Singers enjoyed listening to them as well as performing. Singers ended the exchange with Ryan Murphy’s “Pilgrim Song,” and it was moving.
Warm-ups with Dr. Boers
Dr. Boers with BYU Singers
Then we headed back to the waterfront for more free time. Everyone split into groups and headed in many directions, so I cannot speak for them all. Lunch was eaten, the Ferris wheel had a few riders for the view (it rained for us), the market beckoned, and there was a large aquarium in the area. Once we were together again we compared notes.
The Seattle Great Wheel
Steam rising off the decking as the sun emerged after a rainstorm.
Attention-seeking fire-ship with tall arcs of water.
Next we drove to the Redmond Stake Center, in one of the most beautiful settings ever. It’s almost hard to believe how beautiful it is here.
Brother Lee Hilton has been in charge of us since Saturday afternoon, and he has been fantastic. He not only arranged our clinic, concert, devotional and tonight’s Family Home Evening activity, he has been the chef for our two group dinners! We are so very grateful to him for such hard work that made this weekend so successful! The choir serenaded him with Frank Loesser’s “The Music of Home” as a thank you.
Singing to Bro. Hilton
BYU Singers sing their thanks.
BYU Singers were then in charge of a family home evening with the stake Young Adult Singles group. Those of us who didn’t qualify disappeared, while the Singers ran the evening. It sounds like they had a very successful evening with the YSAs.
After our very long two-day break, the choir has the first of the final 5 concerts tomorrow night. As a note–my attempts at a video haven’t worked well yet, and may not. If you see something here, then something went right.
3 comments
I am so glad you were able to have some tourist experiences. The flying fish of Pike Place Market are rather odd, but very famous! It seems you had a great time despite our weather.
We spent the afternoon opening and closing our umbrellas, and taking off/putting on our jackets. But it was beautiful even with rain, and we had a good day. We ducked every time a fish flew by our heads…
From the bottom of our hearts, thank you for the FHE that you were able to bring together. Your music and testimonies touched our hearts and the Spirit was felt! I enjoyed so much being able to listen to you all over the last three days and consider my life blessed and better because of it! I hope the rest of your tour is fantastic and that you are all blessed! Thanks again for sharing your wonderful talents and gifts from Heavenly Father!