back from the band trip! possibly the longest post ever...
we left home at around 2:00 pm from school. all of our instruments went on the band truck which also pulled this trailer full of our luggage. and we got to take snacks and cd players and cds on the bus with us in bookbags. the first hours on the bus went great. it was a lotta fun. and then after about 3 hours we reached the king of prussia mall. this is about 2 hours from our hotel. and we stopped at the mall for about 2 hours. well i'll tell ya that was the biggest mall i had ever been in yet. it seemed like we walked for miles in that place. it's one of the bigger malls of pennsylvania. and we also ate dinner there. we were delayed 30 minutes leaving because tyler swope (whom we call "swopey") and jonathan got the wrong time to report back at jc pennies. so that made us a little late.
and then we reached the hotel around 9 i think. and here's the twist. the hotel we stayed at (the comfort inn) was under complete construction! the outside "hallway" was still under construction and it was just dry wall and the floor was wooden planks that had cracks between them that you could see the floor below you on (we stayed on the 2nd floor). and to top it off, it was pouring rain and the parking lot was not paved and was a complete mud pit. there was also debris and stuff like cynder blocks and wooden beams laying around. there was not ceiling in the "hallways" there was just the tresses and metal and wiring showing. the rooms were just fine except that in one room the bathroom door was broken in 2 pieces. lol. and markie got locked in the bathroom accidently because the lock jammed lol. i roomed with my friends ronnie, derek, and markie. we had a blast playing all thse games on markie's x box. the room was small but at least it was well furnished. we were supposed to go to bed at 11 pm. we stayed up to around 2:00 am and we finally had to go to bed when there was an angry knock on the door. we were making too much noise lol. well the reason the hotel conditions were poor is because of the comfort inn reservations. mr. forney (our band director) made the reservations through comfort inn headquarters. the headquarters put us near where our adjudication would be held. they had no information that the hotel was under renovation. lol. so it was a poor lack of communication that cost us some moral but otherwise, we were happy to be resting. also, the band truck and trailer had previously broken down way back home so they had to rent a penske truck in the nick of time even though they were late in getting to the hotel with all of our luggage and instruments. lol.
and the next morning we had to wake up around 6 am. markie set the alarm but it didn't really wake any of us up at 6 and we ended up waking up around 7 am. that gave us 1 hour to get all of our stuff ready to leave (we were switching hotels after we would come back from 6 flags. so we're all scrambling to get ready. we leave at 8 am for adjudication which was held at this school about 40 minutes east. and i could see the atlantic ocean when we went over this bridge. well after that the driver realized we had taken a wrong turn and we had headed like 5 miles in the wrong direction so we turned around and stopped at the highscool that we were supposed to play at. only one more problem. we were at the wrong school! so we turned and went right across the street to the elementary school and that was where we played. we had to warm up in the cafeteria and we played for the judges in the gym of the school because they didn't have an auditorium. so that's the saga of all of that.
we left after like 20 minutes because all we had to do was play like 3 pieces that we had been working on. man weeks of practice all come down to just 20 minutes of crucial time. we played pretty good i thought. so we rushed back 40 minutes to the comfort inn and got all of our stuff packed and left. we would not be returning there but to a different motel. we headed for 6 flags great adventure theme park and that was like 30 minutes west. we got there and we all had a great time that day. i won't go into great detail. i didn't go on any rides because i am not a ride person. and i have a very sensitive inner ear. so after a ride i would feel lightheaded and dizzy for about 10 to 15 minutes. that is not a good sensation! so i didn't go on any rides. i've always had that problem anyhow. all i had to do was watch everyone's stuff when they went on rides lol. that was ok with me. and we just spent the day there until 4:00 pm when it was a check up time with your chaperones (we lost ronnie once in the park for 2 hours! lol). and then after that we had until 6:45 pm to be back there to the bandstand for awards. i won't go into great detail about that but we played hacky sack there and we also won 1st place in 2 categories with a rating of "superior" and a special award for our outstanding trombone section. a friend of mine named allison also won an award for this solo she had. so we did a good job after all! i bought this big hat with these donkey ears and that was a riot among the friends when we had to leave because the park closed at 8:30 pm. pictures all around!
we left the park around 9:00 pm because of heavy traffic. around 10 pm something we got to this ramada inn. it was WAY better. it had coffee and carpeting and big rooms. we stayed up late that night. i also visited laura and teresa in their room and we talked for a long time. and then i went back and played all these games on the game cube. we had traded caleb (a friend of a friend) our x box power cord for their gamecube and all their multi player gamecube games with 4 controllers. what a deal. so we had a blast that night. and then ronnie went to sleep and derek and markie and i played poker. we played 5 card stud, texas ultimate, and blackjack. man i was cleaning them out. we bet like things we found in our hotel rooms like napkins and coasters and coffee packets and stuff. lol. not for keeps though. but it was a great time.
the next day we woke up around 7:30 am and then had a free continental breakfast in the restaurant at 8:00 am (all you can eat eggs, potatoes, and cranberry juice). boy did that taste good. we needed the nourishment. and then we all had a few hours to kill so i visited laura and teresa and played on the x box. and then it was time to leave for home at 10 am. so that was pretty much the trip. the bus ride home was interesting because derek fell asleep and mama earl (which is brandon "earl"'s mom who was a chaperone) took this marker and wrote mama in big letters along with a heart on his leg. and adam who sat near me took the marker and scribbled a few lines. then ronnie took a pen and wrote something i forget what and then i took the pen and wrote 'poop' in big letters lol. then i attempted to tie his shoelaces together and then to his bookbag. but that didn't go very well because i didn't tie it tight enough. and then he woke up and then well lol. the marker rubs off with spit and the pen and he untied the shoestrings easily. lol. so that was my weekend.
