Charlestown	UPDATED: Tuesday, August 05, 2008
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When it comes to traveling, the more, the merrier

Posted on Friday, August 01, 2008

By Danielle Rexrode
THE ERICKSON TRIBUNE

As the summer travel season begins to wind down and kids prepare to head back to school, the folks at Charlestown and Oak Crest keep on traveling no matter what the season.

“We’ve been to the Canadian Rockies; Alaska; the Panama Canal; the Caribbean; Bermuda; Nova Scotia; Memphis, Tenn.; Myrtle Beach, S.C.; and many other places,” says Trip Coordinator Susanne Howard, who works for the special trips office at Oak Crest in a similar fashion to a travel agent.

“I put together an itinerary that I think people will enjoy and that suits this age group,” says Howard. “I try to factor in things like how much walking there will be, how readily available restrooms are, and how easily special diets can be accommodated. Then I notify my contacts in different parts of the country to help bring all of the details together.”

The trips are offered exclusively to Oak Crest residents and are advertised throughout the community with flyers and a DVD presentation. On average anywhere from 18 to 64 people travel with the group.

Bitten by the travel bug
Joseph Smith has become a seasoned traveler since moving to Oak Crest in 2004. He attended the Alaska trip along with Howard and several of his Oak Crest neighbors.

“It was awesome!” says Smith. “Without question, Alaska was my favorite trip. I would go again tomorrow!”

Before moving to Oak Crest, Smith and his late wife rarely traveled until after their children were grown.

“We had a big family and weren’t able to travel much,” says Smith. “Once my children were married off we started to take trips to places like Florida, Bermuda, and Colorado. Now that I’m here at Oak Crest I’ve traveled to so many more places. And I’ve really enjoyed traveling with friends and neighbors. I’ve met all kinds of different people on these trips and we’ve become lifelong friends from that point on. It’s great!”

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This June, Smith and 43 of his Oak Crest neighbors took off on a ten-day paddle boat cruise on the Queen of the West down the Columbia, Snake, and Willamette Rivers in Oregon. Peggy Leary of Oak Crest was among the travelers.

“Traveling with this group is wonderful because we don’t have to worry about any of the details,” says Leary. “Susanne takes care of all the arrangements with the travel companies. I’ve done trip planning myself, and it’s a lot of work. It’s great to have someone do all of that for you.”

Destination: everywhere
Charlestown, Oak Crest’s sister community in Catonsville, has its own travel group. Charlie Whitmore is the head of the Charlestown Travelers—25 to 30 men and women who travel throughout the country and abroad.

The group recently left town for a 14-day trip to the northern capitals of Europe including Copenhagen, Oslow, Stockholm, and Helsinki, with a final stop in St. Petersburg, Russia.

“Pretty much every month we go somewhere,” says Whitmore, who lives by the motto “learn to travel and travel to learn.”

“Some of them are local trips. For instance, in July we went to the Kennedy Center to see the Lion King; and in September we’re taking a C&O Canal boat from Georgetown up past Great Falls and then having dinner at Dutch’s Daughter in Frederick,” says Whitmore. “We try to plan trips to places people haven’t been before. And if we’re traveling by bus or motor coach, we’ll take the scenic route to our destination so people can see sights they don’t normally see.”

Howard and Whitmore are busy planning trips through 2009. For Oak Crest, the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt., is already booked for September; Myrtle Beach, S.C., is a sure thing for December. On September 16 the Charlestown Travelers set sail on the C&O Canal barge, and in late October they will spend four days and three nights in Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley.

“A lot of people who move to Charlestown think their traveling days are over, and that’s just not the case,” says Whitmore. “These group trips give people the opportunity to travel to places and do things they normally wouldn’t do on their own. I’m really glad to be part of it!”