Tour 2009 Day 1 Huntington, WV; June 17

Another successful first day!  We dodged the raindrops all day.  In addition to loading the bus between raindrops and while there

was rain on our trip north, it was dry for our picnic lunch.  The rain threatened as it was time to unload at Trinity Episcopal Church, but once again it stayed dry.  Let’s hope our luck continues.

Our activity for the day was a tour of the Blenko glass blowing factory in Milton, WV, just east of Huntington.  Blenko is the only factory in America that blows sheet glass and the only other factory in the world is in France. They are the sole supplier of glass to Colonial Williamsburg in Va.  Today, we watched as they blew “art” glass.  They made several pieces of glass while we were there that appeared to be destined to be some type of vase in lovely colors.  It was interesting how the team of men each had their job in the production from furnace to finished piece- all in a matter of seconds.  They also demonstrated how they put finishing touches on pieces- for instance handles on pitchers.  They made one especially for us to watch.

One interesting event at the glass blowing area- just as a craftsman finished blowing this gorgeous vase, he transferred it to another man to carry with a tool to another location. At the transfer, the vase fell to the floor with a large crash!—but did NOT break- much to our surprise!  We were told that because the vase was still so hot, the material was more like plastic. Had it had time to cool, it would have shattered to small pieces.  We assume the shape was altered with the fall, but it was still lovely from the observation deck.

We found the glass blowing area very hot so were happy to return to the museum portion of the visitor center to look at stained glass windows, art pieces, etc. and then on to the gift shop.  All 74 of us made it through the gift shop, amazed at the colors and shapes of all the beautiful glass pieces without anyone becoming “the bull in the china shop”!

On to Trinity and our first stop of unloading the buses, finding our storage and changing rooms, rehearsing and remembering our music, practicing when to stand and where to sit!  The nave of the church was perfect for our kids to sing- lots of room for everyone.

Our spaghetti dinner was enjoyed by all.  Lots of options to make everyone happy.  The homemade spaghetti by the group of chefs was much appreciated.

The kids did a great job on the concert and of course they will get better and better with practice and repetition each night.  The audience was very and good size, too!  After the concert, we met our host families and we went home for the night.  Many of the kids went home in groups of 6 or more!  We look forward to hearing their stories tomorrow.