Two Good Shows This Weekend

Another 1,000 mile odyssey is completed, this time to go see the college girl's Christmas concert. Here's how the trip went.

As usual, we departed Saturday morning at 5am and although it was cool and wet when we left, it was nothing like the cold we ran into when we got the San Joaquin Valley. At our first gas stop in Buttonwillow it was 28 degrees at 7:15 am. That's pretty cold for a Southern Californian like me. It was only 34 degrees by the time we reached our second gas stop at Westley around 9:45 am. Rohnert Park, our destination, was warmer but not by much. I don't think the temperature ever got above 53 all day and a cold wind was blowing.

We had some time to kill so the three of us hit the theater and saw Enchanted. It's a good movie, pretty entertaining, and full of lots of references to Disney princesses past. My daughter and I especially enjoyed the scenes around Times Square and Central Park. The manhole cover that turns out to be the portal to the cartoon world where the prince and princess came from is located right in front of the McDonalds where my daughter and her friend ran to find a restroom during a night of sightseeing last June. Another scene is shot at the point in Central Park where it empties onto Columbus Circle, the same spot we walked out after walking from the Natural History Museum back to our hotel on 7th Ave.

The movies corny, has some very romantic moments that will surely bring a tear to your lady friends' eyes, and is good fun.

Saturday night we attended the Christmas Pops concert at Sonoma State University. Our daughter was playing picollo and flute with the Symphonic Band in a concert that was modeled after a Boston Pops event. The first two pieces were some pretty serious holiday music, including a Russian carol medley and a collection of Hannukah songs. After a brief break they brought on the Three Trumpets (sort of a takeoff on the Three Tenors). They were three local and very outstanding trumpet player who each played a solo piece and then combined on three others. They played one of my favorite Boston Pops numbers, Bugler's Holiday, and another Leroy Anderson favorite, Trumpeters Lullaby.

After a second break the band played a collection of holiday favorites directed by some of the seniors in the music education program. Included in this package were a couple more Leroy Anderson tunes, Sleigh Ride and Christmas Festival, along with a tribute to A Charlie Brown Christmas. Charles Schultz (the creator of Peanuts) lived not to far from the school and he and his wife contributed a significant amount of money to the university over the years. Their presence can be found throughout the campus.

We made the long drive back today, with a stop to visit my father-in-law in Santa Paula. Total trip time today was 10 1/2 hours. I could use a little less driving, and I'll get a bit of a break next weekend but will have to go back up the following weekend to bring the girl home for the Christmas break. That will be a good trip.