I'm back everybody! Did you all miss me? :-D We had a great time. The trip was incredible, a completely new experience for me. I just don't know where to begin!

   I guess it's best to start at he beginning, so here it goes... Our first actual activity day was Thursday. That morning we went to the science museum and viewed an Imax movie about the Air Force's Operation Red Flag. The movie was excellent. There were times when it felt as if you were actually flying in the jets. After the movie we messed around at the museum for a few hours and then headed to the Hard Rock Café. Hard Rock was a lot of fun. The food was great and I even bout a tee shirt. We headed over to the Arch after lunch. It was amazing. The thing was HUGE. I'd passed by it before, but I'd never been so close. We went up inside, smapped a few photographs, then hung out at the museum underneath for a couple of hours. Around five we headed over to The Royal Dumpe, a dinner show similar to Medival Times. The food was great and so was the entertainment. The show was set in sixteenth century England. My favorite character was probably the jester. We all were bursting with laughter when Mr. Z was declared Knight of the Tavern.

   Friday morning we headed over to the St. Louis Zoo. Did you know that their zoo is one of the last free zoos in the country? It was a very nice and I managed to take quite a few pictures of the animals. I love the Penguins, they were my favorite. After the zoo, we headed over to the University of Missouri St. Louis (UMSL) to hear the Concert Band perform in the National Adjudicator's Invitational then we headed over to the St. Louis Arts Museum. The museum in itself was incredible. I couldn't believe I was actually seeing Monet and Van Gough. But that wasn't half of it. They had an exhibit going on that absolutely amazed me. A group of Buddhist monks from Tibet had come to do a Mandala, or sand painting. I was stunned. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. I've always had a fascination with Buddhism, but actually seeing the Mandala face to face was just breath taking. I must have stood there for close to an hour just watching them, lost in the meditation of it, tears welling up in my eyes frequently. I got to talk to one of the monks there. I wish I could have spoken with him longer, but we had to leave. We headed for UMSL for our cmpetition. We played incredibly. Our group recieved a superior rating, an outstanding woodwinds award, and two outstanding soloists awards. The concert band also recieved an outstanding soloist award. In fact, all the solo awards went to Stillwater High School. After the award's ceremony we head to the Gallaria Mall for a few hours, did some shopping, then went back to the hotel.

   Saturday was the day we went to Six Flags. That was a blast! I only rode two roller coasters (Batman and Mr. Freeze), but I rode some other rides. Zack, candle, and I rode the Scooby Doo ride (a litte stupid), Excaliber (a ride similar to the Tomohawk at Frontier City except you spin around and go upside down at the same time), Thunder River (a water ride in which we all got soaked from head to toe on and were freezing our butts off the rest of the day), and of course, the train. After our entertaining theme park experiernce, we left for the hotel to change to go to the St. Louis Symphony Orchestra concert. We got lost on the way there, resulting in us having ten minutes to unload and get to the concert, but we made it. The concert was absolutely incredible. I thoroughly enjoyed it. They played Brahms' Tragic Overture (my personal favorite of the evening), Strauss' Four Last Songs, and Sibelius' Symphony No. 5 in E-flat major.

   The return trip home was long, but enjoyable. This was a trip I will never forget. We had an amazing time and did so much. I'm extremely tired, so I will now go downstairs, finish my laundry, watch some of Kudun, and then go to bed. Goodnight everyone!