Day 1: 4:45 AM call time - twice the fun with half the sun

After an early morning flight, we arrived in sunny San Diego. Our fantastic luggage crew did a great job loading and unloading the bus. We took a brief snack break at our hotel before walking to First Lutheran for rehearsal.

It’s the same church where they will perform their first concert on Friday. We met Bill Engel, music director, and the kids sightread a hymn tune for the church service they will sing on Sunday. 

We had lunch out front of the church, where singers shared snacks, stories, and played a raucous “pony game,” a singing game that is a longtime PEBCC tour tradition. We then returned to the waterfront for some shopping time at Seaport Village. Singers had free time there and enjoyed the sunshine. Trinkets and ice cream were a big hit. 

Singers then took a tour of the maritime museum. We learned all kinds of fun facts thanks to our wonderful tour guides, John and Paul. We toured a ferry boat originally from our own backyard called the Berkeley. We learned that some structures built on top of landfills in SF often have shipwrecks underneath! We toured 4 ships and a research submarine with an antenna that sent the first underwater email. They even got a chance to sit in the captain’s chair and look through a real periscope. We also toured the ship that captain Barbosa used in the 4th Pirates of the Caribbean movie.

Then we returned to check into the hotel - singers were thrilled to finally know their roommates and take a short break. And finally, we walked across the street for a delicious dinner from Carnitas Tacos Shack. Not even a little rain could bring us down. A rainbow formed over us as we ate and wrapped up our long day.