The bus driver really earned his wages today as we pulled away from Taylorsville High School and traveled for a whopping twelve hours to Buena Park, California  on the Lakeshore Motor Coach. A slow start, but after the tedious task stowing luggage bags and the instruments underneath, the coaches pulled away from the parking lot full of waving parents.
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​During this rigorous and long drive (with plenty of rest stops of course), many of us have come to realize that the back of the bus seems to be the promised land of tour group travel among a few students. This distant positioning of a student away from the music directors' watchful eyes is alive and kicking within any community of coach-riding touring high school musicians.

There seemed to be a certain energy and excitement in the air during the first few hours of the bus ride; however, as we progressed through the sunbaked deserts of Southern Utah, the orchestra began to settle down. A few members were even lucky enough to fall asleep.

The members of Musicians Anonymous (MA)  passed out  party hats, crayons, and hello books full of pictures and fun information about the different members and directors of the orchestra. There were also coloring pages, a word search, and a Disney trivia page to keep everyone occupied during the long journey to Buena Park, California.

It was a fairly quiet and peaceful ride for most of the drive until we reached the second rest stop and ambushed each other with an epic water balloon attack.  As Amber called everyone  in for a group photo and said "Three, two, WATERMELON!!!" As soon as she said the code word watermelon, all of MA began to diabolically throw water balloons that were carefully hidden in pockets, shirts, and "man bras"  at their fellow musicians.

The orchestra had several options for lunch, including Jack 'N The Box, In 'N Out, Little Caesers, El Pollo Loco, and the usual suspects including Burger King, McDonalds, and Del Taco.

We passed through the infamous Las Vegas, notoriously known as "Sin City". We also passed through  several other interesting locations, including "Ghost Town Rd."

As we pulled into Beuna Park, California, the energy and excitement that was in the orchestra's eyes earlier had returned.  We ate dinner in a shopping plaza just a few minutes drive from our beautiful hotel.

The orchestra was relieved to get to the hotel. We unloaded the bus quickly and rushed to our rooms. It was so nice to relax after the long bus ride. Some of us took off towards the pool, while others stayed up in their hotel room writing tour logs...

The orchestra is very excited for the West Coast Youth Orchestra Festival that is looming so close. Thanks for reading this entry for day one of the Granite Youth Symphony Summer 2012 Tour Log!

~Justin