Updates :) - Trip Blog

Heyy, I haven't posted on here in a longggg time and since then some things have happened! First off I have been on summer break for about a month now. 

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On June 7th, I got to see Sleeping with Sirens open for Pierce the Veil!!!! Beach Weather was the first opener and they were actually pretty good! I loved the concert and as I'm typing this it has officially been a month since that day. I spent about 2 weeks making a bunch of kandi single bracelets to trade, but ended up just giving them away through out the event as no one asked to trade ( T∀T). I would LOVE to see them again live! I was pretty close to the stage and had some semi close encounters with Jaime through out the concert!!! At the end of the concert he ran down to stage left and came supa close to the crowd (･д･)! click here for pics

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The next day I departed for Tennessee at around 9 pm for a school band trip. The drive down was a bit brutal as, for one, the drive is about 8 hours, and second, I was not used to sleeping on the bus X-<. We stayed for 5 days with each day being a new location. The first day we explored Graceland and performed at the entrance! Afterwards we traveled to Memphis and got to visit the Memphis Rock 'n' Soul Museum which was pretty cool! They let us explore Beale Street (the "Home of the Blues) for a bit which was also very cool as it offered a bunch of unique music shops and live music. 

     The next day we got to visit Union University for a small band clinic with the music director there and even got a tour of the school. We then got to eat at Brook Shaw's Old Country store which offered delicious food and a cool little souvenir shop. We then stopped for a bit to admire nature at Natchez Trace State Park. We ended the day at the Schermerhorn Symphony Center in Nashville for a spring recital with all student musicians! It was very cool to see the immense talent that these students have ♪.

      The following day we got to spend the day in Nashville by starting the day with the opportunity to record one of our songs from our progressions concert at the historic RCA Studio B!!! The studio has seen big names such as Elvis and Dolly Parton! We then headed for the Country Music Hall of Fame where we performed again at the entrance! The museum had so much info and items from many famous country artist. After spending some time there they let us walk around downtown Nashville for a bit. It was cool to see all the bars with the windows wide open and the live bands just there jamming out. After we left Nashville we got to experience a backstage tour for The Grand Ole Opry (well-known live country venue and radio show)!!! Right across from it is the Opry Mills mall. They let us burn time (and money) there before going back to The Grand Ole Opry. To be honest, if you have ever visited Gurnee Mills in Illinois then you can very easily picture how Opry Mills looks like lol. It even has the Bass Pro Shops and Rainforest café. We went back to The Grand Ole Opry to watch the famous radio show live!! It was honestly very entertaining and I would not mind at all watching it at home (^ー^).

     Second to last day we visited an retirement home. The chorus performed again but for band only certain people performed solos. After that we had a very long drive to Pigeon Forge where we got to see the beauty of the Smokey Mountains. We went to Dolly Parton's Stampede dinner and show, which is basically just Medieval Times but make it country lol. It was very fun and the food was surprisingly delicious and fiilling (^-^). We got to access the pool and the hotel we stayed at which was the most fun part. The hotel was pretty fancy not gonna lie so the pool area was pretty big. It even had a small lazy river (^o^).

     The final day we spent the whole day at Dollywood! Its like Six Flags, but make it Smokey Mountains themed and it less thrill park and more theme park. I'm not a big fan of roller coasters (╥﹏╥), but it was still really fun to explore the park. We rode the steam train that gives you a tour around the park which was cool. There was a birds of prey exhibit with a whole flock of bald eagles! The food there is amazing. I got fries at this 1950's theme diner which was tasty. The souvenir shops have a ton of cool merch to offer as well. After out long day, we headed back home with a stop at one of the largest Buccee's in the US which was very cool as I've always wanted to experience a Buccee's lol. I got a very round Buccee's mascot plushie. The drive back was so much better than the drive there as I have gotten used to sleeping on the bus. We arrived home around 6:30 am and had a great trip!! I spent way to much money on merch from all the spots and way too much camera roll space but it was def worth it! click here for pics 

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Anyways, enough yap for now lol. I hope to continue blogging more routinely so keep an eye out for that 👀. I hope everyone is enjoying their summer and have a good one (｡･ω･｡)ﾉ♡!

Thank you for reading!!!