Oak Crest’s Travel Group Takes You Around the World on the Big Screen

By Danielle Rexrode
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

What if you could travel to Australia, China, or South America without ever leaving your seat? Travel enthusiasts at Oak Crest are doing just that as they explore the world together as members of an Arm Chair Travel Club.

“We typically show slides or a movie presentation of trips we’ve taken,” says Gene Crabtree, an avid traveler who organizes and oversees the presentations. Gene gave the very first presentation on Copper Canyon, Mexico back in October 2000, just one of the many trips she’s taken.

“It’s a very well traveled group living here,” says Gene. “I meet with the presenters beforehand to make sure the quality of photos or video is good enough for viewing. We put on nine shows a year and sometimes we have repeat presenters since many people have traveled to different places,” she says.

The group meets every second Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Oak Crest’s Town Hall. Their impressive list of travels includes the Grand Canyon, Seven Countries of South America, Journey to the North Pole, Two Views of China, New Glacier Express (Switzerland), African Adventure, Cambodia, Yemen, and Afghanistan, just to name a few, with a river boat cruise through France coming up.

Gene herself has traveled all over the globe after she retired from the NSA.

“My husband and I have traveled by boat, plane, train, a little bit of it all,” she says. “We went to Australia and took a weeklong train ride across the country from Perth to Sydney. But my favorite trip would have to be when we went to Northern Italy. It’s a charming place with small villages and lots of character and history,” she says.

Once a Bowie-Crofton Camera Club member, Gene had virtually her own library of travel slides, 35 carousels in all, from trips she had taken. She donated the slides to Anne Arundel Community College when she moved to Oak Crest.