Featured Destination: San Francisco, CA with the Eastlake High School Band

San Francisco, CA with the Eastlake High School Band

Featured Destination: San Francisco, CA with the Eastlake High School Band

Featuring perfect postcard views of “The City by the Bay” everywhere you turn, San Francisco welcomes you with international and diverse cultures, Chinatown, the soaring sounds of the San Francisco Symphony, clanging cable cars, Alcatraz Island and much more! Join us for a San Francisco band trip as we follow Eastlake H.S. Band from Sammamish, Washington, as it explores this magnificent city with Music Travel Consultants.


Eastlake H.S. Band at the Palace of Fine Arts, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.
Eastlake H.S. Band at the Palace of Fine Arts, built for the 1915 Panama-Pacific Exposition.

Long before the sun came up Wednesday morning, 107 travelers with the Eastlake H.S. Band checked in with Southwest Air Lines for its flight to Oakland International Airport, across the bay from San Francisco. Driving right into San Francisco after arrival, the group grabbed a quick lunch before boarding charter motor coaches for a guided tour of the city. Sights included Ocean Beach and its three-mile stretch of sand and dunes facing the blue Pacific, the Golden Gate Bridge, 1,000 -feet high cityscapes from atop Twin Peaks, the iconic neighborhoods of Haight-Ashbury and Alamo Square, fabled Chinatown and historic Union Square. Dinner at Hard Rock Café finished off the day in style, before the band checked in to its hotel for the night.


Eastlake Band visited beautiful Stanford University before its music workshop with Dr. Russell Gavin.
Eastlake Band visited beautiful Stanford University before its music workshop with Dr. Russell Gavin.

Thursday morning, the band packed up its instruments after breakfast and journeyed to Stanford University’s Braun Music Center for its workshop with Director of Bands, Dr. Russell Gavin. The energetic clinic was inspirational and fun! Next stop, historic Union Square, for shopping and lunch. The beautiful glass dome of Westfield San Francisco Centre is modeled after the Galleria Vittorio Emmanuelle in Milan, Italy. Westfield Centre houses Nordstrom’s and Bloomingdale’s along with other shops and restaurants. After a bit of shopping and eating, the band was off to the Cable Car Museum, followed by a cultural walk through San Francisco’s Chinatown, the largest outside of Asia. Overflowing with sights and smells of fish, spices, meat, pastries, sweets and almost anything you would like to eat or wear or buy, it’s a treat for the senses! After a tasty supper at Hunan Homes in Chinatown, the day ended with a joyous concert by the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra!


Dr. Gavin kept the band engaged during its clinic at Stanford!
Dr. Gavin kept the band engaged during its clinic at Stanford!

The stunning San Francisco Symphony Hall -- a beautiful venue for beautiful music.
The stunning San Francisco Symphony Hall — a beautiful venue for beautiful music.

Packed with rollercoaster thrills and a spotlight Eastlake Band performance for the crowds at California’s Great America Park, Friday arrived quickly and went out with a huge bang! The latter was an incredible Broadway performance of Disney’s “Aladdin.”

On Saturday, the Band checked out of its hotel and drove to Pier 33 for an eerie, scary boat ride to Alcatraz Island, clinging to a rock in San Francisco Bay. This former maximum-security federal penitentiary housed Chicago’s Al Capone and many other notorious criminals. Its damp, nearly windowless cells speak silently of the hopelessness of its inmates. Returning to San Francisco’s Fisherman’s Wharf, the Eastlake Band group found lunch, markets, and shopping before returning to Oakland International Airport for its flight home. It was a perfect ending to an awesome trip!

“As a parent, I was SOOO impressed by the organization – – no glitches in traveling with 95+ kids! Although my husband and I went on this trip, I would trust my daughter to take another Music Travel Consultants trip in a minute (although we’d probably want to come too!). Super impressed!”

Jennifer Hahn Parent and Chaperone

“Music Travel Consultants provided us with an amazing trip! MTC was on top of everything and handled the small issues that popped up really well! I thought the itinerary was well paced… Loved every minute of it. The app was also really nice to have.”

Chelsee Moe Eastlake HS Band Director

Eastlake High School Band’s “Performance on The Plaza” in front of the amazing, two-story, “Carousel Columbia” at Great America Park.
Eastlake High School Band’s “Performance on The Plaza” in front of the amazing, two-story, “Carousel Columbia” at Great America Park.

Is your performance group ready for the challenge of San Francisco?

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