The Kuranda Rainforest (and Koalas!)

On our second day in Cairns, we went on an expedition to the rainforest to see a village called Kuranda (which literally means "village in the rainforest" in the aboriginal language).  We rode the skyrail up the mountain to the village and at the midway point we were able to have a tour of the rainforest with a guide.  It was so interesting, except when the guide talked about the giant python that lived under the boardwalk!  After I had a complete meltdown he told me that pythons don't move around very much in the winter!

Once we got to the village, we were able to see (and hold) koalas!  They are so cuddly and I had to resist the urge to squeeze them!

The village was really charming with lots of cute shops and restaurants. After some free time, we took a vintage train back down the mountain which was a lot of fun.

It was another amazing day in Australia!

The Eccles Theater

Over the weekend I was invited to an open house to get a sneak peek at the brand-new, state-of-the-art George S. and Dolores Dore Eccles Theater in downtown SLC.  It is absolutely gorgeous and I can hardly wait for the Broadway at the Eccles (formerly known as Broadway in Utah) 2016-2017 season to start!

The theater is located in the heart of downtown SLC right on Main Street.  Locating the theater here has done quite a bit to revitalize Main Street and I'm looking forward to going to many of my favorite downtown restaurants before shows.

I love the reflection of the city in the glass doors and windows.

The lobby is very sleek and modern with different colored glass on every level.  My favorite is the purple on the third tier.  There is also a restaurant in the lobby called the Encore Bistro and I can vouch for the caprese sandwich with orzo salad.  Yummy!

The third tier also boasts a terrace with an amazing view of downtown SLC.  I imagine this will be a lovely place for a drink during intermission!

The Delta Performance Hall inside the theater.  The lights are absolutely dazzling, especially on the ceiling.

As part of the open house, season ticket holders were able to "meet" their seats!  I met my seat and I think we are going to get along just fine.  It is really comfortable and there is a lot of leg room!  Hooray!

The view of the stage from my seat!  The shows coming to the Eccles Theater this season are Beautiful - The Carol King Musical, Irving Berlin's White Christmas, Kinky Boots, Matilda, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, and Dirty Dancing.  There are quite a few special engagements to add to a season ticket as well.  I added The Lion King, Mamma Mia, and The Book of Mormon.  If this little tour of the beautiful Eccles Theater has convinced you to get season tickets, go here for more information.  Another incentive: having season tickets for the 2016-2017 season guarantees you tickets for Hamilton which is coming to SLC for the 2017-2018 season!  I can't believe this will be my view for Hamilton!  It is a little bit better than the view I had at the Richard Rodgers Theatre (although I did see the original cast in my nosebleed seat!).

Sean the Bomb

Watching Sean play football is becoming one of my favorite things to do!  Yesterday the Bountiful Braves played the Bingham Miners and, even though they lost 21-7, it was a great game.  Bingham is a tough team and the Braves had some great plays, including another spectacular tackle by number 98!  Here are some pictures from the game.

Beethoven & Tchaikovsky

I have been looking forward to the opening weekend of the Utah Symphony 2016-2017 season for quite a while.  It has been too long since I've seen the orchestra perform in Abravanel Hall!  Much too long!  However, it was worth the wait because the opening concert last night featured one of my favorite composers and it was a wonderful performance!  The orchestra began with Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks.  This piece was commissioned  by George II to celebrate the end of the War of the Austrian Succession and I really enjoyed it, especially the brass fanfares throughout.  It was very dignified and majestic.  Then pianist Jonathan Biss joined the orchestra for Beethoven's Concerto No. 1.  This piece reminded me a lot of Mozart (at intermission I read in the program that many of Beethoven's earliest works were influenced by Mozart) and I loved it.  Biss was absolutely incredible and I enjoyed watching his fingers literally fly across the keyboard.  Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 5, the piece I had been waiting for, came after the intermission and it certainly didn't disappoint!  I love Tchaikovsky because his music is so emotional and it is so quintessentially Russian.  The orchestra played with so much passion that they almost blew the roof off Abravanel Hall!  I loved the plaintive theme played by the woodwinds in the first movement and the horn solo in the second movement was amazing!  The final movement is incredibly stirring and, even though this piece is filled with melancholy and yearning, I think that the ending is, ultimately, triumphant.  This concert is being performed again tonight and I highly recommend getting a ticket (go here).

Note:  This concert was our first chance to see Madeline Adkins, the new Concertmaster.  I really like the fact that both the Concertmaster and the Associate Concertmaster (Kathryn Eberle) are women.  Girl power!

Sully

I have been on hundreds of flights which means that I have heard the safety briefing hundreds of times.  You know the one.  "In the unlikely event of a water landing, life jackets are located under your seat and your seat cushion can be used as a flotation device."  I never really think about the fact that the plane could actually crash into the water and that I might actually need to locate my nearest exit and jump into an inflated raft.  I bet the passengers aboard US Airways Flight 1549 never thought about it, either.  Watching what happens when a plane is forced to land in the water in the movie Sully last night was very disconcerting, to say the least, and I don't think I will take that safety briefing for granted any more!  Sully focuses on the NTSB investigation of the landing of Flight 1549 in the Hudson River and calls into question the actions of Captain Chesley "Sully" Sullenberger (Tom Hanks) and First Officer Jeff Skiles (Aaron Eckhart).  The board members suggest that the plane could have returned to LaGuardia unharmed and Sully is forced to defend his actions in the midst of PTSD and the bewildering onslaught of media adulation.  I have said it before and I will say it again:  I think Tom Hanks excels at playing the Everyman character.  He gives an incredible performance as the calm professional who is secretly tormented by what could have happened (I actually had to look away from the screen in the opening sequence when the plane crashes into a building during one of his nightmares).  Hanks quietly portrays the dignity of the man and I especially loved the scene when he learns that all 155 passengers survived because he is not overly dramatic but simply shows his emotion through his eyes.  Clint Eastwood puts the audience right inside the cockpit during the re-creations of the flight and the rescue scenes (I loved that the heroism of all of the rescue workers involved was emphasized) are intense but the true drama is played out in an NSTB hearing.  The audience in my screening actually cheered at the end of it.  I walked out of this movie reminded that there are still good people in the world and for that I highly recommend it!