Region 5 All Star team- Montreal!

Blog for Region 5 All Star 2017

Writer: Coach Anna Li

And just like that, another All Star trip is in the books! What a different trip this was compared to all the other 10 trips I’ve been on. This year I got the privilege to take Ella Cesario who was a first year level 10, and my sister Andrea Li, where this was her 3rd All Star trip. This is the first time there were no flights involved. We drove from Chicago to Detroit and met up with the rest of the entire group to get on a big bus. This bus was so much fun because we could all hang out together during the drive to Montreal! I brought movies and played them on the bus ride, the girls played games, and there were plenty of snacks for everyone! First stop was Niagara falls in Ontario, Canada. We spent two nights there and it was so beautiful and so amazing to go on 4 different tours. Everyone took so many pictures, and we had on 3 different ponchos throughout the day! From Ontario, we got in our bus and drove back to America through New York and into Montreal. We took a little hike to Mount Royal and overlooked the entire beautiful city! We took many handstand pictures, group pictures, and ran away from many bees! I had the most fun swinging trapeze for the first time thanks to Chateau de Cirque! I had auditioned for cirque shows right after college, but never followed through because I got into stunt work in LA, and then moved back home to Legacy Elite to make my comeback in the elite world in 2011 and 2012. So finally getting to play on a trapeze was the best day ever! I even did flying trapeze where I caught the instructor on the other trapeze! It was so much fun and I could have spent the entire day there. However the main reason for going to Montreal was to watch World Championships. I got to watch 5 sessions of prelims and it was so much fun to cheer for TEAM USA!! The following day we went to the cirque du soleil headquarters, which made me realize how much I wanted to do cirque. It was so incredible seeing how they make their costumes, including their own fabrics, and putting together their shows around the world. What a great company it is and inside the building, it was beautifully artistic and creative. We had a Region 5 team watch party in the hotel to watch All Around Finals of Worlds where we cheered loud and proud for Morgan Hurd, our 2017 World Champion! The very last day consisted of shopping and walking around Old Montreal, where I bought out the entire store of Roots. Roots is Canada’s athletic apparel company, that had sponsored team USA in the 2004 Olympics. I was so excited and bought everyone back home some new clothes, including an entire outfit for my sister, Andi, and I! The road trip back to Detroit in the bus with the team was the ending to our All Star trip with more movies I brought, such as Mrs. Doubtfire! Too bad we had another 5 hour drive to get home from Detroit, but the road trip was worth it! Being an avid photographer, I couldn’t help but take hundreds of pictures this trip! It helps that the Niagara Falls in Ontario and Montreal Canada was so beautiful! I had so much fun going to the Olympic Stadium to “Root” for Team USA! Congrats to Ella and Andi for making it on the top 12 of the entire Region 5! Thank you Region 5 for another amazing All Star trip... and GO LEGACY ELITE!!