What a week!!! Started out with a “day off” on Monday that turned out to be really action-filled and at mid-week, granddaughter Taylor Bera let me tag along with her school class for a day at the Minnesota Science Museum.
The tour is wrapping up two weeks in St. Paul, MN, this weekend with matinees today and Sunday and evening performances both days.
At 8 a.m. on Monday, we’ll load up with the cast and head for a week in Nashville, TN. Thank God—they can stop making fun of my accent (somewhat Southern, they say, left over from my days in the hills of Southern Illinois). Pretty soon, everyone will have a southern twang and mine will be forgotten.
But we can’t leave Minnesota without recapping our last week here.
While on location for more than a week, Mondays are a “real day off” for the cast. There’s no school, no travel and no practices.
So we headed for the Mall of America that I wrote about earlier. This time Taylor and Carly Sonenclar from the cast and one of her schoolmates, headed for the MOA “bright and early”—well I have to admit that 11 a.m. is bright and early for “theater-folk.” Helen and Carly’s mother, Terri (not to be confused with Taylor’s aunt, Terri, our daughter) went too.
I’ve heard the aquarium at the Mall was good but I was really more interested in tackling the amusement park rides that I spotted during an expedition there the previous week.
But, I was talked into going to the aquarium first and as it turned out I was glad that they did. You’ll see in the pictures accompanying this blog that we saw some really interesting fish and the setup of the place is really fantastic. You don’t just walk by and look into fish tanks. The fish literally swim over, under and around you as you walk through the exhibit.
Taylor said it was really, real cool and it wasn’t long before I wore out the battery on my camera and had to rely my phone’s camera the rest of the day. Tip for future visitors—“Always recharge your camera the night before!”
The aquarium was so good that Taylor and I visited it a second time to see if we missed anything the first time through.
It was a great day to be at the mall. Most of the school age children in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area were in school, so we had the place to ourselves for most of the day.
Taylor and Carly’s enjoyed many of the roller coasters and I have to admit that I did too except I got soaked on the Log Flume ride. Helen and Terri meanwhile looked on or shopped.
Around 4 p.m., we left the MOA and headed for a cast party a nearby condo hosted by the parents of one of the cast members.
All of the “”kids (and I’ll include the cast members in that group) had a great time playing Beatles’ Rock Band. Taylor was right in the middle playing the drums or the guitar or singing.
Helen and I just ate and sat and talked with the parents and the rest of the chaperones.
The host then surprised us all by giving us all the opportunity to sit in the pilot’s seat controlling an Airbus 320 aircraft on takeoff and landing. That’s the same plane that landed safely in the Hudson River a few months ago. Of course, we only were in a flight simulator, but, it was amazing. Taylor’s a real pro and if theater doesn’t work out, maybe she can be the next Amelia Earhart. I didn’t see her in action directly because I was in a different simulator, but I’m told she landed right on line at San Francisco Airport after flying over the Golden Gate Bridge.
I, on the other hand, landed a little rougher at the Minneapolis airport after veering off onto the grass for a bit. I thought I did pretty well but the navigator sitting behind me said she’d had enough and got off before trying her hand on the joystick control.
Wednesday was a bit more controlled excitement for Taylor and her classmates and teacher. We all went to the Science Museum, saw a film on the IMAX dome screen about a Russian crew who explored the Titanic that sank in 1912 and then toured the Titanic exhibit. Besides the artifacts from the sunken pleasure ship, everyone gets assigned the name of a passenger who sailed on that fatal voyage. There were three classes of passengers on the ship and during the tour you get the see and hear about the types of accommodations and experiences your passenger experienced onboard.
At the end, you learn whether your passenger survived or perished. Taylor and her teacher, Carolyn, both had first class passengers. Carly’s passenger traveled in 3rd class. All three survived the sinking. Michael Boxleitner, Melissa Gilbert’s 14 year old son who in the cast and goes to school with Taylor and Carly, and I also had 3rd class passengers who didn’t make through the ordeal. We surmised that they spent their last moments together in the bar having a beer.
Here are some pictures from the MOA, Aquarium and the Science Museum (we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Titanic exhibit:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=513096058703%3A1416684581
So far, so good. Next stop is Nashville for a week of performances.
The tour is wrapping up two weeks in St. Paul, MN, this weekend with matinees today and Sunday and evening performances both days.
At 8 a.m. on Monday, we’ll load up with the cast and head for a week in Nashville, TN. Thank God—they can stop making fun of my accent (somewhat Southern, they say, left over from my days in the hills of Southern Illinois). Pretty soon, everyone will have a southern twang and mine will be forgotten.
But we can’t leave Minnesota without recapping our last week here.
While on location for more than a week, Mondays are a “real day off” for the cast. There’s no school, no travel and no practices.
So we headed for the Mall of America that I wrote about earlier. This time Taylor and Carly Sonenclar from the cast and one of her schoolmates, headed for the MOA “bright and early”—well I have to admit that 11 a.m. is bright and early for “theater-folk.” Helen and Carly’s mother, Terri (not to be confused with Taylor’s aunt, Terri, our daughter) went too.
I’ve heard the aquarium at the Mall was good but I was really more interested in tackling the amusement park rides that I spotted during an expedition there the previous week.
But, I was talked into going to the aquarium first and as it turned out I was glad that they did. You’ll see in the pictures accompanying this blog that we saw some really interesting fish and the setup of the place is really fantastic. You don’t just walk by and look into fish tanks. The fish literally swim over, under and around you as you walk through the exhibit.
Taylor said it was really, real cool and it wasn’t long before I wore out the battery on my camera and had to rely my phone’s camera the rest of the day. Tip for future visitors—“Always recharge your camera the night before!”
The aquarium was so good that Taylor and I visited it a second time to see if we missed anything the first time through.
It was a great day to be at the mall. Most of the school age children in Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington area were in school, so we had the place to ourselves for most of the day.
Taylor and Carly’s enjoyed many of the roller coasters and I have to admit that I did too except I got soaked on the Log Flume ride. Helen and Terri meanwhile looked on or shopped.
Around 4 p.m., we left the MOA and headed for a cast party a nearby condo hosted by the parents of one of the cast members.
All of the “”kids (and I’ll include the cast members in that group) had a great time playing Beatles’ Rock Band. Taylor was right in the middle playing the drums or the guitar or singing.
Helen and I just ate and sat and talked with the parents and the rest of the chaperones.
The host then surprised us all by giving us all the opportunity to sit in the pilot’s seat controlling an Airbus 320 aircraft on takeoff and landing. That’s the same plane that landed safely in the Hudson River a few months ago. Of course, we only were in a flight simulator, but, it was amazing. Taylor’s a real pro and if theater doesn’t work out, maybe she can be the next Amelia Earhart. I didn’t see her in action directly because I was in a different simulator, but I’m told she landed right on line at San Francisco Airport after flying over the Golden Gate Bridge.
I, on the other hand, landed a little rougher at the Minneapolis airport after veering off onto the grass for a bit. I thought I did pretty well but the navigator sitting behind me said she’d had enough and got off before trying her hand on the joystick control.
Wednesday was a bit more controlled excitement for Taylor and her classmates and teacher. We all went to the Science Museum, saw a film on the IMAX dome screen about a Russian crew who explored the Titanic that sank in 1912 and then toured the Titanic exhibit. Besides the artifacts from the sunken pleasure ship, everyone gets assigned the name of a passenger who sailed on that fatal voyage. There were three classes of passengers on the ship and during the tour you get the see and hear about the types of accommodations and experiences your passenger experienced onboard.
At the end, you learn whether your passenger survived or perished. Taylor and her teacher, Carolyn, both had first class passengers. Carly’s passenger traveled in 3rd class. All three survived the sinking. Michael Boxleitner, Melissa Gilbert’s 14 year old son who in the cast and goes to school with Taylor and Carly, and I also had 3rd class passengers who didn’t make through the ordeal. We surmised that they spent their last moments together in the bar having a beer.
Here are some pictures from the MOA, Aquarium and the Science Museum (we were not allowed to take pictures inside the Titanic exhibit:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/gallery/creativeapps/slideShow/Main.jsp?token=513096058703%3A1416684581
So far, so good. Next stop is Nashville for a week of performances.
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