Southern States Tour! Day 6: Asheville, NC

We had a lot of fun today. We really did. We started early, 6:45 am, to make sure we had enough time to visit our major sight-seeing stop for the day, the very picturesque and grandiose Biltmore House. It was giant! Check out a group photo on the Facebook page. We enjoyed touring the many many rooms in the mansion, as well as roaming the beautiful, well-manicured gardens on the property. It was an awesome experience!

We didn't have any outreaches or workshops today, which turned out to be a blessing. Our show tonight was as the University of North Carolina Asheville. The theatre was on a second story with now access for our truck, so basically, everything needed to be carried up a flight of stairs. It was all hands on deck for our load in, and our load out! It was almost comical. Well heck, it was comical.

Dinner was once again a heavenly experience. We are being fed very well. We are so grateful for all the members who have prepared for us, who have taken us in, who have served us dinner, or who have done anything at all in preparation for our arrival. Without them, we would have no tour! Tomorrow is the Atlanta, Georgia Temple re-dedication, and we have our second fireside on tour! It'll be a good one!

Pictures from today:

Ryan Stasell and Michael Milkanin in front of the beautiful country at the
Biltmore Estate

Our fun little venue at UNC Asheville!

24th show! Emily Van Bloem is very good at cross-eyes...

Southern States Tour! Day 5: Columbia, SC

South Carolina is a beautiful! It was a beautiful day today, with much less humidity than we've experienced so far. We left Charlotte, once again sad we couldn't stay longer, and headed straight to the heart of Columbia. We had an incredible tour of the Capital Building by one of the local members. His knowledge of the sites, monuments, and the civil war was simply staggering. The building and the historical monuments were so fascinating and we were truly lucky to have such a knowledgable tour guide.

After that we headed to Lower Richland High School to do a workshop with some of the most excited and animated students we've met! We did a music, dance, theatre workshop and we were blown away by their enthusiasm and willingness to work.

Our dinner was delicious; true Southern cooking. We had country-fried steak, chicken and dumplings, and delicious peach cobbler. We ate with some local Young Single Adults. It's so much fun to meet students at workshops, or YSA's at dinner, because we get to perform for people we know every time! The performance at Lower Richland High School was a great one. It was a great turnout and the energy from the audience was palpable! We are so lucky!

Stay tuned for tomorrow's trip to the Biltmore Mansion!

Photos from today:

The YA's infront of the Capital Building

South Carolina State House

The Senate Chamber

Whitley works with a student, Taz, from Lower Richland High School

Southern States Tour! Day 4: Charlotte, NC

We are so lucky to be on tour in South. Everyday is just better than the last, and as you can see from the blog, the first day was pretty great! We've met so many wonderful new friends, and experienced so many new things!

Much to our dismay, we had to leave our wonderful host families at 8:15 am. We've had so many wonderful host families, and having to pack up and move on has been hard! We got on the bus and headed straight for Charlotte, NC. Our first stop was at the Community School of Davidson. We did two 30 minutes shows, the first for middle school students, and the second for elementary students. I think it's safe to say that our workshops and outreaches are our favorite parts about touring. We had so much fun performing for and getting to know these kids.

After that, it was onto the show! The theatre was beautiful! It was at the North Carolina Blumenthal Performing Arts Center. It used to be an old church, but it was converted into a theatre in the 1970's. The stained glass remains intact, and special backlighting is used during performances to allow these beautiful windows to be seen. It was a beautiful space, but it required a little adjustment. The stage was a new shape for us, but we enjoyed working before the performance to make sure we delivered the same show that perform on all our stops. It was another wonderful, exciting day! I'm sure we'll never stop saying that!

Pictures from the day:

Ryan Stasell meeting some of the kids

Jacob Bromley and Danica Donaldson with a few of the students

A new friend! His brother goes to BYU and he is a Jimmer fan!

Josh, one of our best new friends. He fell in love with Summerisa,
and he was not ashamed to tell her.