Senior travelers take time to explore, enjoy
A troop of travelers at the Tanglewood Center has it all figured out.
They attend plays in distant towns. They're fed homemade snacks and sweets made by strangers. Their adventures never require a phone call, an appointment or an itinerary booking.
And best of all?
“Somebody else drives,” said Carol Kramer, a member of the group.
Regular bus trips conducted as an informal travel club at Tanglewood Senior Center offer seniors in Butler County an easy way to get away. Dawn Bucci, Tanglewood's fundraising manager, runs the club.
Before starting the trips, Bucci admits she was never much into traveling. Now, however, she is becoming an expert.
“I travel a lot now,” Bucci said. “It's always fun with this group.”
Two types of bus trips run out of Tanglewood. The first is a regular trip to casinos in the region for gaming and gambling.
The other is more tourism-orientated. They've taken several trips to Amish towns in Ohio. Bucci takes the group to Lancaster each year for a play.Bucci talked excitedly about a newer type of trip they've been hosting, where participants don't know where they're going until they're on the way. Those journeys are known as “mystery trips.” The latest one took travelers to the Lucille Ball Desi Arnaz Museum in Jamestown, N.Y.Kramer, one of the club's regulars, said she goes as often as possible, “especially if they're going somewhere exciting that I've never been before.”Kramer said she enjoyed letting someone else take the wheel, both literally and figuratively. Typically, the club visits places she doesn't know about before hand, she said.Scherri Grazier, another club regular, said the trips are perfect for seniors looking for a sense of community.“It's kind of nice because I'm a senior citizen and I live alone,” Grazier said. “It gives you someone to travel with. And you don't have to worry about the driving.”
She's taken both the casino and traveling trips. Grazier said she enjoys both.“It's just a really nice group that we travel with,” Grazier said. “Everybody is very friendly. It's just very fun, very relaxing.”The trips aren't limited to senior citizens, but that's predominantly the crowd. Some trips include age limits, such as one that included a stop at a winery.The buses are typically full for the trip. They collect passengers at two locations: Tanglewood in Lyndora and the parking lot of the Home Depot in Cranberry Township.Bucci said she's had members asking for larger, more extended trips. She hopes to keep the club growing in the coming years.
This year's schedule includes about eight casino trips, she said, and four or five day trips.Two travel-orientated trips remain on the calendar for 2019.The first is an Oct. 18 trip to West Virginia. Participants will tour Adaland Mansion and be served breakfast. After that, they'll wander through the Barbour County Historical Museum and across the bridge believed to be where the first shot of the Civil war was fired.That trip wraps up with a tour of the Trans-Allegheny Lunatic Asylum.In November, this year's overnight tour to Lancaster will deliver Butler County residents to a Christmas celebration.Travelers will catch a double theatrical feature: first the play “Miracle of Christmas” followed by the musical “A Christmas to Remember.”Those interested in the club should contact Bucci at Tanglewood by calling 724-287-0021.
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