Los Angeles ? Seventy children. Twenty-two adults. Six days. Five nights. Two flights. Eleven bus rides. Three concerts. And 16 meals.

“It was a blast,” Hilary Janney said, summing up the Lawrence Children’s Choir spring break tour March 19-24 to Los Angeles. “I’d never been to L.A. before, but now I want to go back.”

“I saw the Grand Canyon, and flying was more fun than I’d thought,” choir member Melodie Miller said after her first plane ride. With clear skies, views of the snow-capped mountains were spectacular.

“For this tour, we wanted to provide choir members (with) quality musical experiences, but also enough fun and free time that it would feel like a spring break trip,” said Janeal Krehbiel, artistic director of the choir.

The choir had originally been scheduled for a London tour, with performances at the Academy of St. Martin in the Field and St. Paul’s Cathedral. But after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the choir’s board of directors postponed London and looked for domestic options.

When the Los Angeles Children’s Choir extended an invitation and other concerts fell into place, the tour committee had just two months to pull it all together.

The group got lucky. The weather was truly “California” with ample sunshine and soft breezes.

The traffic also was very L.A., with 10 lanes across and bumper-to-bumper at 2 p.m. “Every hour is rush hour out here,” said Charles, one of our drivers.

The choir stayed at the Doubletree Suites in Santa Monica, just a few blocks from the Pacific Ocean, the pier and the promenade. The location made exploring easy. During free time, small groups strolled the beach and shopped on the promenade or the mall. The first night, we had an informal pool party under the stars, with palm trees outlined in the moonlight.

There were three performances: California State University in Northridge; in Pasadena with the Los Angeles Children’s Chorale; and at an American Choral Directors Assn. festival at El Camino College, where the Lawrence Children’s Choir was the featured guest choir.

At Northridge, the audience was primarily music students from the university, and the concert took a shift when Krehbiel asked Paul Smith, nationally recognized for his work in the field of gospel music and composer Johannes Bach and our host for the concert, to “work with the choir” on a gospel piece. An ordinary concert turned into an unforgettable musical experience for both the choir and the audience.

Nonmusical experiences included a March 20 visit to the Getty Museum and a bus tour of Beverly Hills, Hollywood, Rodeo Drive, etc., and a March 21 walk around Mann’s Chinese Theatre. It was just days before the Oscars ceremony on March 24, and Hollywood Boulevard was already closed off. The red carpet and tents were laid out, and the area was buzzing with television crews. Also that day we went to Universal Studios, where sunshine and short lines prevailed.

The youngsters performed March 22 with the Los Angeles Children’s Chorale, who also welcomes the choir for a joint supper.

The morning of March 23, we chartered a whale-watching boat out of Redondo Beach. We didn’t see any whales, but choir members got to steer the boat. We saw sea lions, and views of the coast were awesome.

Some of the choir members are experienced travelers, but for others the trip presented some firsts  first time flying, first time seeing an ocean, first time staying in a hotel with other youths, first time away from family.

“Touring is a growth experience for the children,” said Marilyn Epp, choir accompanist. “They bond as a group. They face challenges. They make memories as well as music.”

 Susan Kraus is a Lawrence Children’s Choir mom and volunteer tour coordinator

for the choir.