American Band College (ABC)

We've been in Ashland for a week now. It's been fun and lots of work at the same time! During the day, we sit in lectures on instruments, rehearsal techniques, etc. and also play in a 100 member band for three hours a day. Because we are in our final year, we both had a chance to rehearse the bands to prepare for this concert.

After a full day of school we get home around 5:30pm and we work on our thesis projects and study for the many final exams at the end of next week.

Last night we performed in a fantastic concert in Medford, Oregon. The concert featured New Orleans trombone soloist Harry Watters with the band accompaning him. Harry is a member of the US Army Brass Quintet and an amazing jazz player. As soon as I have time, I hope to give you a sample of him playing "Flight of the Bumblebee". A few days after Harry performed with us, he showed up on the Emeril Live cooking show performing with his quintet!

Below is a photo of one of our two bands practing for the big concert.

We are now in the "in-between" session which is classes from 8am-10pm for two days. Tomorrow is our last day, so I'd better get some sleep!

Bend, Oregon and ABC

We are lucky enough to have some friends in Bend, Oregon to stay with on our way down. We can see why so many people are moving to Bend; there are some really nice aspects of the city.

Our friend's neighborhood in Bend, OR.

We were very excited to meet and hold their 2 month old girl! When it was Kent's turn to hold her, she really responded to him by giving him big smiles!

We are enrolled in our third summer at the American Band College at Southern Oregon University. This year we will be graduating with our Master's degrees in conducting. We are really looking forward to having our family join us for our final ABC 4th of July concert.

After a relaxing evening and morning, we headed down to Ashland. Around 4pm and 95* we arrived at our dormitory. After packing our luggage and instruments up to the third floor we took this photo.

That night we went over to the music building to check in. Annie found her photo that will be displayed in the walls of SOU music department every year.

On our way to college...

On Tuesday we headed south towards Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon. On the way, we stopped north of Madras, Oregon at a point where you can view 8-10 volcanoes. It's a pretty amazing spot!
Annie standing in front of Mount Hood.

A little further down the road we stopped to view the 300 foot cliff that lookes down on the Crooked River. If you are not one for heights, this is not the place for you or your dog (look at the sign above!).

This photo was taken from the bridge you are allowed to walk out on. Can you imagine those bridge builders working over this 300 foot clif in the early 1900's!

Sherman Pass Hike

On Sunday we took a hike from Sherman Pass to Jungle Hill by Kettle Falls. This was a nice 3.5 hike mostly downhill. On the way, Britta collected a bunch of wildflowers and found a very special flower vase!

Indian Paintbrush

Visit to Kettle Falls, WA

This weekend we drove up to Kettle Falls to spend the weekend with Kent's parents. On Saturday we drove to Elbow Lake and went fishing. The fishing was pretty slow, Bing and Annie each caught one fish. Even though the fishing wasn't great, we enjoyed watching to beavers swim about checking us out. They would make a big splash in the water when they went under.

On the drive back we came up to a group of cattle mothers and calves on the road. They did not want to get off the road, so they started running! We tried everything to get them off the road. Finally they found a side street to go down so we could continue our drive!

Beehive Reservoir

Today we took the canoe up to the Beehive Reservoir which is up by the Mission Ridge ski area. It was really windy and cold so we tried fishing, but ended up hiding under the blanket most of the time.

An Osprey was flying over our heads and diving for fish in the water.

Caitlin and Annie sharing the blanket.

Pirate Float

Sunday was the third annual pirate float organized by our music teacher friend Sherry Krebs. A group of 14 "pirates" came together for a very easy raft down the Wenatchee River in Leavenworth. We sang pirates songs, drank pirate drinks, surprised/harrassed fisherman, and had a great time!

Kent had a sword fight with Sherry during our lunch break.

Arrrrrrg!

Peshastin Pet Parade

On Saturday, members of Annie's middle school band marched in the Peshastin Pet Parade. If you think your town is small, then you should see this parade!

The band was the first group followed by dogs... chickens...

and kids!

Longs Pass

Today we drove over Blewett Pass to a trailhead located at the top of the Teanaway River Valley. The trail to Longs Pass was about 2000' over 1 1/2 miles. The hike was not very hard but a little tricky in the areas where we lost the trail because of the five feet of snow. It took us no time to get down from the top, we just "skied" with our shoes to the bottom!



At the top of the ridge we enjoyed lunch and the amazing views of Mount Stuart. As you can see, Kent was very happy to be hiking (see below)!




Kent and Annie with the amazing view of Mount Stuart.

Lilac Festival and Silverwood

Caitlin came along with Annie's band on their end of the year trip to Spokane and Idaho. The first spot was one of the student's favorite parts about the trip... Laser Tag. After three rounds of running around the maze shooting lasers at each other, we ate dinner and then drove to the staging area of the parade. The parade starts at 8pm so it's really unique. That night we stayed the night at Post Falls High School.Sunday morning we went to IHOP for breakfast and then headed to Silverwood Theme Park in Athol, Idaho. The weather was on the cool side with some light rain; but it didn't stop the students and us from taking advantage of all the rides (even the water rides!). We had a great time going on the two big roller coasters and having fun with the hydro-cars. I accidentally dropped the school's cell phone and ran over it... woops.
Overall, it was one of the best trips with student behavior so it was very enjoyable. Kent stayed home because he had two gigs with his band. He was glad he got a chance to hike up a mountain near Lake Wenatchee on Sunday with some of his friends.