California Here I come! 1978 MYSC Trip

So, in keeping with my going-along-for-the-ride with my lovely wife in her choir activities, I really got to go along with her as Mormon Youth traveled to California to sing at Disney Land and The Hollywood Bowl. It was a great trip filled with music and some mayhem. We travelled on chartered buses in the hottest part of the summer. Our bus, the one with hamsters & a wheel for an engine, would pretty much shut down when it over-heated, and it always over-heated. That meant that someone had to push the override switch. But it always had to be pushed so someone had to sit/stand/kneel next to the driver where the switch was so the driver could actually drive.

Our first stop was a chapel on the outskirts of Las Vegas, where we stopped for food. There were more than 300 and their spouses. We were so many, and it was 115 in the shade! Enough said!

On to Disneyland, where MYSC sang in the Space Mountain Amphitheater, which became Space Mountain the Ride. We also got and E-Ticket pass. I liked the music best! They sang many of the Disney Greats.

We were lucky enough to stay with LDS Member Families. There was a drought at the time and people were painting their lawns in the nicer neighborhoods to keep them green (I guess it was more of a food coloring than a paint)!

MYSC performed at the Hollywood Bowl, to a packed house. Elder Paul Dunn was the keynote speaker and members were asked to bring non-members as admission.

The return trip went without a snag. On the way back we stopped in downtown Las Vegas, and my wife set foot in her first casino ever! We were on a lunch break and in the middle of the day only the very addicted were in the casino we wandered into. This was long before non-smoking regulations. The haze was thick, but not thick enough to hide the people, mostly women it seemed, with one hand on their drink and one hand on the slot machine, a cigarette barely hanging on to one side of the mouth. No need to worry about my wife wanting to be a gambler after seeing this.

We made great friends, MYSC made great music, and memories worth sharing to this day.