Grand Rapids

I wish we could have stayed one more day in Grand Rapids. Like Peoria, we were also in this city less then 48 hours, it all went by too quickly. The arena and our hotel were right in the center of downtown, so it was great because there were beautiful buildings, shops and great restaurants all in walking distance. Our hotel was AMAZING! I think its by far the nicest hotel yet. We stayed at the Amway Plaza, and I lucked out on my room because I got a junior suite!! My room was very fancy- I felt like I was royalty in European country or something. And my bathtub....wow....it was huge! I enjoyed a nice lavender bubble bath one night fit for a princess! The two bad things I didn't like in Grand Rapids was; first- it was freezing cold!! Like ice beating wind on your face! And second- a very stupid, but important thing- I couldn't find an egg and cheese breakfast bagel for breakfast the morning we left town!! I searched 4 different coffee/ cafe places, running around town like a crazy eyed breakfast bagel girl, and nothing!! I was craving one so bad! :) After the fourth place I gave up and settled for oatmeal. I did do some shopping in between shows on the second day. My friend, Kathleen, and I ended up getting the same pair of purple rounded toe pumps! That is one of the things I'll really miss about being on this tour...it's so fun to shop in big packs of girls, everyone in the store shopping you know because the whole dressing room migrated on the break to the boutique around the corner.

I did my first real PR gig in Grand Rapids. I had to talk to and take pictures with this girl who won a walk on role in the Nativity scene in the show. It was silly, but super easy and it was fun to talk to someone about being on stage who had never been! I guess this girl won a radio contest for tickets to the show and a walk on part....funny huh?

I also had my first baton visitor come to see the show in Grand Rapids. I was telling some of the girls that day that I had someone coming to see the show that night. They had asked who and I casually mentioned that someone I worked with in baton.....and I couldn't even finish my sentence before all sorts of questions came up! They wanted me to demonstrate (even though clearly I had NO baton) and they were asking me all these crazy questions. Anyway, now the cat is out of the bag and the girls are bugging me to load a video on you tube. Anyway, Kyle Kieser, came with a good friend and watched the show.....it was great to catch up on what was going on in the baton world. It's going to be so nice to see people along the way in all different parts of the country- Kyle was the first of many baton visitors. It's nice to know that you so many different friends all over the place! :)

This view is outside the the hotel....there are actually rapids in Grand Rapids,

who would have thought!

My friend, Kathleen, and I out in front of the Van Andel Arena....we waiting for many minutes in the freezing cold wind to wait till the light-up board got to our sign!!

Peoria

We were in Peoria for less then 48 hours. We did three shows then we drove away to Grand Rapids. Our hotel wasn't fantastic, however there wasn't really a whole lot to choose from. We preformed at the Civic Center that was right across the street from our hotel. Most people didn't like Peoria, and it wasn't had to know why, because on the surface it was a boring town. However, I did my research and found a few fun historical sites and other things to see. The people in Peoria was truly the best part of being there. They loved us! At lunch my friends and I got a free plate of chocolate chip cookies because they were so happy to have us in town. Many times we got stopped on the street and people raved about the show and how wonderful it was. We also got a total standing ovation for all 3 shows!! One city has yet to beat Peoria's record!

A couple fun facts about Peoria...

1. Abraham Lincoln delivered his famous Peoria speech a few blocks from the hotel. His 3 hour speech was the first major address on slavery, setting in motion his run for Presidency.

2. Peoria was huge in the Vaudeville circuit, they even had a phrase "Will it play in Peoria?" coined in the 1920's because how well shows did in the city. Peoria people must still love show business because they LOVED our show!

3. The current site of the Peoria Civic Center (where we preformed) was once a prominent stop on the Underground Railroad.

Here are some fun pics of my adventures in Peoria.....Here I am in front of the Civic Center in Peoria.

We walked down to the river front, this is the Illinois River with the Spirit of Peoria riverboat....the river boat is very similar to the one that I just was on in Cincinnati for Thanksgiving.

Abe Lincoln statue....it's kinda funny because this is just right outside of a bank, a big historical thing is just hanging on a street corner outside a bank!

Apparently they named a restaurant and lounge after ME!!! haha! This was right across the street from the arena.

on the road...

Last week when we were traveling from Milwaukee to Peoria, we had to stop for one of our 15 minute breaks in the middle of nowhere at a gas station. And guess how much gas was?? $1.34 a gallon!! I couldn't believe it was so cheap, but we were definitely in the middle of nowhere because I even checked at this stop to see how far we were at that point to Peoria on my iPhone, and it couldn't even determine my current location on google maps! The cashier at this fine establishment also had 3 front teeth that I could tell. Classy!
Our bus driver is getting on every one's nerves. He wakes us up over the intercom with an annoying, "Ding dong- ding dong.....iiiiiiiitt's your morning wake up call! Wake up your neighbor, but before you do, snap a picture of them drooling!" EVERY TIME! This alone is annoying, but it's especially bad when it's about 15-20 minutes before our actual stop. He also has a bad habit of swerving when he talks on his radio/ cell phone to the other bus driver. (we travel together with another Rockette, little people and Santa's bus) They tell each other bad jokes and stupid stories, and then our bus swerves and we get woken up, then we are mad again!
Traveling on the day of a show has been rough. I don't like it at all. Sometimes we get on a bus at 8am, travel for 6-7 hours, check into the hotel and go right over to the arena for opening night festivities. By the time we actually preform the show at 7:30pm, I feel loopy like I'm in a weird dream or something. We had a same day travel and show today....at least I had my Twilight book to keep me company on the bus ride. I don't know if any of you have read any of the Twilight book series, but I love them! I'm about 45 pages from finishing the second one, New Moon. It took me a while to get through this one....actually I haven't even picked it up since Hershey. I didn't like where the story was going so I stopped, but I knew I had to read it if I wanted to get through the third and fourth books. Anyway, I started readin it again a couple nights ago and I didn't put the book down most of the day because it roped me back in! I have to go read the other 45 pages tonight...more on Peoria, Grand Rapids, and Detroit tomorrow.

We are already in city #5!!

Time is flying right by! I didn't have a good Internet connection in the last hotel I was at, so I couldn't blog! So, if Green Bay is where I left off, that would mean Milwaukee was next. I loved Milwaukee! The city was really fun, our hotel was beautiful and in a great downtown location. They had a river walk that was lined by cute shops and restaurants, and the Bronze Fonz!!! (Apparently I'm hitting all the Nick at Nite TV icon statue's on the tour!) We went out to this place called The Safe House, it is a "secret agent" themed bar/ restaurant that you have to give a password to get in. We gave them the password that we found online, however we made the mistake of telling the doorkeeper we'd never been there, so they made us dance around like chickens for 15 seconds just to get in! The funny thing is that inside this place there are video cameras and screens posted up all over, so people inside can actually watch the people outside doing the crazy things to get in! Once we were inside, we watched our musical director, drummer, and other band members give an outstanding performance doing the hula on the monitor. Also, when we were ready to leave, we went upstairs to a vacant phone booth- put in a quarter to dial the operator- she gave us a code to type in the phone- and presto, a secret door opened and we exited through a dark hallway! It was so fun! Fun theme idea!

I had my rotated day off in Milwaukee, so I went to see the show that night because I'd not seen it yet....it was so fun to watch my own cast and see how the show really looks! It was amazing! I loved it! It also snowed one night when we were in Milwaukee, just a really light flurry, but it was so beautiful the way it hit all the lights downtown. Here are some fun pics of my 4 days in Milwaukee.....

Thumbs up for Milwaukee and the Bronze Fonz!

Secret Agent Lindsay-calling for next assignment! In the phone booth at The Safe House.

This is from our last night in Milwaukee. We went out to dessert at The Capital Grill and this is what our waiter brought out for us! We were having a hard time deciding because everything sounded so yummy....so he brought us a whole spread. There are 2 coconut cream pies with wafer cookies, creme brulee, chocolate hazelnut cake, and the best cheesecake I've ever had!

Thumbs down for Green Bay

We only spent 2 days in Green Bay, but I think that was more than enough! There wasn't anything to do there, no cute restaurants or shopping, and our hotel we stayed at was all by it's self in the middle of nowhere. It was rainy and icky weather both days, so we had to make our fun inside.....we did take may photos in the hotel gift shop with anything cheese related! :) We preformed at the Resch Center which is next to Lambeau Field, home of the Packers! (Which is probably the only historical landmark worth mentioning in Green Bay.) People are crazy for the Packers here...we passed so many green and yellow painted fences, signs posted outside houses, and Packers blow up lawn decor...it was a little nuts, and tacky. The great thing about Green Bay was the audiences were fantastic! We had standing ovations, people crying in the front row, even an old lady tap group coming in full out costume to the show. Farewell Green Bay...2 down, 16 to go!

Pics from Minne....

Who can turn the world on with her smile....... I'm posing by my rack of costumes...my Shine costume kinda looks like a Vegas version of Xena the Warrior Princess?
Backstage tour with the fam....my Mom and sister, Kate, are to the left and my Aunt Michelle and Uncle Steve are to the left.

More fun about Minneapolis

So I never finished all my fun stories about Minneapolis! I was actually really sad to leave Minneapolis, it was a really fun city and there were so many things that I didn't have a chance to do.....like go to the Mall of America!!! There was also a cool sculpture garden that was nearby that I heard was amazing, and many hip restaurants downtown I never ate at!! Not enough time! (However I can't say that about Green Bay....get me outta here!) The one fun touristy thing I did do in Minne was take a picture by the Mary Tyler Moore statue! This statue is outside of the building where Mary throws hat into the air at the end of the opening credits of The Mary Tyler Moore Show. Confession- I used to love watching The Mary Tyler Moore Show on Nick at Nite when I was younger. The building is now a Macy's....so that's kind of boring, but it is a beautiful building, just like I remember it! :) My family also came to see me in Minneapolis! My Mom, Sister, Aunt Michelle and Uncle Steve! It was great seeing familiar faces and having them there for all the excitement of the weekend! My mom and my sister actually got to see the show 3 times; once in dress rehearsal, opening night, plus one show on Saturday! Opening night was actually kind of a weird show- the bus in New York at Christmas lost power mid number and they had to stop the show due to the technical problems. We started up half way through NYAC, but skipped all bus choreography.....it definitely felt strange, but made the show a lot easier because we actually got a chance to breathe!! The bus had random little problems all weekend, but they must have fixed it because it's working seamlessly now. Another great thing about Minneapolis is that it's the Target headquarters, so they had the largest Target I've ever seen right downtown in walking distance to everything. Another confession- I love wasting time in Target and I always leave with stuff I don't need, but it;s okay because it's Target! The last thing I'll always remember about Minne were the AMAZING churros I had (twice) at this trendy Mexican restaurant called Masa. Seriously- if anyone is in the Minneapolis area- go straight to Masa on Nicollet Avenue and order yourselves the churros! The yummiest dessert I've had in a while, they just melted in your mouth...and it came with this bitter chocolate drizzle sauce...YUM! Okay, so that's the wrap up on Minneapolis, and possibly one of most embarrassing blogs I've posted yet! Haha!
It's my last night and Green Bay, tomorrow we head to Milwaukee. 2 cities down, 16 to go! I'll give you all the details about my adventures in Packer country soon.....
Also, I'm having trouble loading pictures....so the ones that go with this posting I'll try to post tomorrow.

World Premier of the Christmas Spectacular Arena Tour!

This weekend was so much fun! And so exciting! I can't even describe how amazing it is to preform in a huge arena with over 10,000 people cheering you on! I got actual chills during our curtain call on opening night as we were doing our final kickline because it was just such a surreal moment! All sorts of emotions hit me on opening night; relief, exhaustion, excitement, joy, pride- just to name a few. I'd love to ramble on about all the fun festivities of the weekend, but instead I'll give you some pics that do a better job.....I even have some pics of the show!!

This is us getting lined up to do our opening night event for publicity. We marched out as wooden soldiers in front of the Target Center, where the show preformed, and did a little salute and posed for pictures for a local charity, Tickets for Tots. Top of the show- Reindeer Rockettes! This is what you first see as the curtain rises.

This is end of 12 Days- the crazy 8 minute long tap number!! Look at that kick line! It's amazing we are still able to breathe let alone kick eye high!New York at Christmas! This is the beginning of the dance where we hop a ride on the New York City tour bus to see the sites of the city. Can you spot me?? I'll give you a hint, I'm not on the bus yet...Here we are as silly Ragdolls! The 6 tall girls are on the runway and everyone else is behind us on stage. This is one of my favorite numbers right now....this will probably change many times through the season....but its fun because we get to improve a little and be silly, plus this number goes by in a flash! My box has the "F" on the side, I'm in the second row.

More pics tomorrow....right now I've got to pack because tomorrow we are moving to Green Bay!

I'm in Minneapolis...finally!!!

Woohoo! We arrived in Minneapolis today! This means that finally we are in our opening city! Only 3 short days way until we are kicking to an audience of 14,000!!
We flew from Cincinnati this morning, and boy was that a production! The entire cast was on three different flights throughout the day, but the Rockettes got to travel all together. We literally took up the whole plane, with the exception to a few business men- and I don't think they minded.
I had a great day off yesterday shopping and going to the spa. I ventured into Saks, which I knew was dangerous territory, but had a blast shopping with some of the girls. The salesman was loving that we were there, and he picked out cute outfits for us to try on and model all afternoon. It was sooo much fun! The Saks man then arranged for the girls and I to have lunch at this yummy English tea room for lunch, and I had the most delicious pumpkin pie tea!

countdown continues....

Only 5 days and 3 dress rehearsals left till we officially kick off the Radio City Christmas Spectacular Inaugural Tour!!! Be there or be square!