Days 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, and 14: The Last Week and Last Day of the Best Western Tour!

Wednesday May 15:
Our last full day in Ashland was perhaps our most exciting! We were busy from 8 in the morning until at least 9 at night experiencing everything the city and the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has to offer.

At 8am we prepared for our early morning tour of the grounds of the OSF. Our alum Eduardo Placer, who is an 
actor at the festival in both My Fair Lady and in The Heart of Robin Hood. He took us around the Bowmer 
Theatre, the Green Stage, the Elizabethan Theatre, and the Thomas Theatre, along with the backstage area. 
Everyone loved to be behind the scenes of the magic of theater in a Tony-award winning place. You would 
not believe the kinds of costumes and sets they create for themselves there! We were all astounded by 
their authenticity. And everything they do is on such a tight schedule as well! If you spend a week in Ashland, 
you could see all 10 shows they perform, and you would see many actors playing multiple parts flawlessly.

After our tour, we spent an hour with 3 of the 4 writers of The Unfortunates and we all shared our music 
and jammed together.None of us will soon forget that experience. Also that day, we saw My Fair Lady, an
engaging, hilarious, and touching show, and we saw many of the same actors from The Unfortunates 
perform in MFL as well! 

My Fair Lady at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival was incredible! And these actors are all in 3 other shows simultaneously!

As soon as My Fair Lady was over, we quickly moved outside for a concert out on the Green Stage. Unfortunately, even our singing of "Blue Skies" and "I Can See Clearly Now" could not keep the clouds and the rain away, so we had to move to an indoor stage. Nevertheless, our audience stayed with us and was incredibly receptive and appreciative of our performance.

We had a wonderful dinner with our OSF-actor/alumnus, Eduardo Placer, at this restaurant!

Shortly thereafter, we went to the restaurant at the Standing Stone Brewery to spend some more quality time with Eduardo. Little did we know that we would end up performing several different times in that hour! It started when we sang happy birthday to a woman dining there. Then, before we ate, we sang our grace. An alumnus of Penn recognized us and the red and the blue we wear and asked that we sing Drink A Highball, which we happily did. Then, we concluded our time with a toast to the manager. If you're ever in Portland, we strongly recommend checking this place out!

That night, Clubbers split up and did separate things. Immediately following our dinner, Eduardo took some Clubbers to see King Lear, which was amazing, while the rest went back to our hotel a few miles away. After the party from King Lear returned, many of us took to the 24 hour pool to enjoy our last stay in the hotel, while others went out to see Eduardo again in town after he finished his tech rehearsal for The Heart of Robin Hood, which he graciously allowed some of us to watch. All in all, we now have come to love the city of Ashland, and were sad to be saying goodbye to it. We still had one performance the following day, though!

Not all of us saw this OSF production, but those who did were touched by the incredible performance

Thursday May 16:

Our last experience in Ashland was at the Ashland High School, where we were received much like The Beatles! We only performed very briefly thanks to Eduardo's connections there and the generosity of the principal, but you should have seen the cheers! During our final number, our Boy Band Medley, the upperclassmen all stepped down from the risers and took off their blazers to dance the choreo for the last song of the medley, It's Gonna Be Glee, and the crowd went wild. It was the perfect end to a wonderful stay.

Then we were off to Walmart to buy supplies for our night of camping in the Redwoods. Word of warning: never 
unleash a crowd of 40+ guys into a grocery store with money in hand- we could have fed an army with 
everything we bought.

Our 24 hours in the Redwoods was amazing. We arrived without dilemma and set up our tents rather efficiently (for a group of singers, at least!). While some Clubbers stayed at camp, most went out on a 3 mile hike which led to a beach across from our campsite. There, we ran into two older women who permitted us to use their kayak to ferry people across the river to camp. While waiting to be carried across, everyone took in the natural beauty of the park. And, of course, we allowed ourselves to be a little childish. Some people swam across the freezing river (one in his birthday suit!) while others stayed on shore and invented a game called Rock That Rock (you'll have to ask us about that one!).

Then, when we had made our way back to camp, we made a glorious fire and had a great night of food and song! We were in for a cold night, but it was all worth it.

You have not seen trees until you have been to the Redwood Forest! These put Philadelphia trees to shame!

We may look like campers in this picture, but the tent making process was quite the process...

Friday May 17

Little did we know when we woke up that we would be going straight from the campsite to a performance! We woke up at 8am, boarded the bus, and went straight to our first performance in San Francisco at the Wharton | West building just off the bay. It was a classic tour moment when we took all our luggage to the 6th floor of the building, just outside the room where we were to perform, and changed from our dirty and smelly camp clothes into khaki blaze, creating the illusion that we had been there ready to perform for hours. They truly appreciated the songs of Penn that we shared with them, and they reciprocated by allowing us free ice cream! All of us were delighted.

What better welcome to San Francisco than to perform for our home away from home, Wharton | SF

Then, we were off to where we would stay for the next few days. Most people stayed at a hostel in town, though some people stayed with alumnus Robert Croll (PGC President 2011-2012) and at the homes of current Clubbers Cam Cogan and Jackson Foster. It did not matter where we went, though- we were all just happy to shower.

After cleaning up from our night of camping and morning performance, we finally got to appreciate the beauty of the city

Although it is not everyone's cup of tea, some Clubbers chose to watch this ridiculous movie during one night of our stay

Saturday May 18

We started our first full day thinking that we would go to Mt Diablo for a very nice hike and a great view. Then we soon realized that the winding roads up the mountain were not bus-friendly... The result was a relaxing few hours exploring Berkeley and enjoying the beautiful campus and great shops there. Then we were off to see another one of our alums, Craig Pottruck, at a pool party and bbq he was hosting for us all. Some Clubbers were wondering how we could spend a full day in someone's backyard, but there was never a lack of things to do or people to talk to. Everyone had a great time and loved having a day to relax and have fun with one another.

Sunday May 19

Perhaps our favorite performance of the tour was singing the national anthem in front of tens of thousands for the SF Giants

The next day saw perhaps our favorite performance of the tour, when we sang the national anthem for the San Francisco Giants. All of our male members joined us in khaki blaze out on the field for the performance, in addition to both Rob Croll and Craig Pottruck, and we were happy to have shared the experience. One Penn alum in the audience sums it up better than any of us could:

Gentlemen:--

 Every now and then, a pleasant surprise changes an entire day. One such
surprise was yesterday at AT&T Park when you honored our Nation with a most
stunning and moving rendition of our National Anthem. Hearing the stadium
announcement that the Penn Men's Glee Club was about to sing was a surprise
. we don't hear at lot in San Francisco about much other than Cal or
Stanford. Seeing you  crisply dressed with dazzling red and blue neckties
was impressive. Hearing your magnificent delivery of our proud anthem was
utterly  indescribable. Not an easy anthem to sing in any event, your
straight-forward rendition, without any of the nonsense added by lesser
vocal groups, was something I, and many others who heard it that day, will
not soon forget. Many about me were clearly gripped with emotion. Tears were
shed. Pride was palpable. Thank you for so admirably honoring our Nation.
And thank you for reinforcing this alum's intense pride in being part of the
Penn Community. Bravo!

 Sincerely,

 Michael Metcalf

Towne School of Civil & Mechanical Engineering, 1964

Check us out in front of the huge crowd! We didn't even make it through the song before they started cheering!

Following that incredible time at AT&T Park, Clubbers broke off into groups and saw many sights of San Francisco, from the beautiful and winding Lombard Street, to the gorgeous waterfront, to the famous shops and restaurants (and delightful treats and chocolate!) at Ghiradelli Square, to Washington Square park in North Beach, the many stores surrounding Union Square, the many piers (including the wonderfully touristy Pier 39) and the Exploratorium science museum. It would take days to describe all the great times that have been had throughout the city.

That night, we went out to dinner with the family and friends of one of our tenors, Jackson Foster, at Chevy's Fresh Mex. Never can you see Club more happy than when we share stories and songs over an all-you-can-eat buffet!

Monday May 20

Our last full day of tour came with both sadness and excitement- we'll soon be saying goodbye to our seniors, but we'll also be sending them off to bigger and better things and simultaneously going off on our own adventures for the summer. Our first adventure for the day was a trip to Alcatraz, where we learned all about the islands history and its importance in American history. More than that, we also loved the sights we could see and the skyline, even if a lot was obscured by clouds. San Francisco truly is a beautiful city, which we could clearly see from the island turned prison turned landmark just a mile offshore.

Although it was cloudy, our visit to Alcatraz started off the last day of our tour spectacularly!

Now all that remains for us is our tour dinner at Boca di Beppo here in town. We'll be sure to let you know how wonderful that meal is and how the late night celebrations for our seniors go following our return home. For now, know that this tour could not have been better. There were unavoidable logistical issues as always, and the occasional drama, but the brotherhood is stronger than ever.