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Elderhostel Notebook August 1997
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Elderhostel Notebook is a production of The Senior Group, an
informal group of older netizens who produce three e-mail
newsletters:
Silver Threads - general senior interest-
Silver Feathers - birding and nature related items
Elderhostel Notebook - elderhosteling
To subscribe to any of these, e-mail to Jim Olson, at
olsonjam@uwec.edu
All three newsletters are archived at
http://bcn.boulder.co.us/community/senior-citizens/center.html
Silver Threads also has a World Wide Web edition located at
http://www.winnipeg.freenet.mb.ca/sthreads
Elderhostel Notebook is independent of and not associated with the
Elderhostel organization
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Contents
From the Editors Notebook
Elderhostel Potpourri
Elderhostel Reviews
Personals
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Editor's Notebook
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We welcome Victor Schlich as an assistant editor to the notebook.
He has done the lead story for this issue and will be
contributing to future issues as well drawing on his experience
as a newspaper editor in Maine.
One of the problems we have faced from the start is how to index
our volumes and reports to make past reports available for those
planning specific elderhostels.
With the thousands of programs out there we barely scratch the
surface with our reports. And our 20k limit on each issue cuts
down what we can handle in the notebook. Inspired by Victor's
article I am going to try an experiment
We do have some material from Jerry Tyree's earlier collection of
elderhostel reports (the Senior Group precursor to the Notebook)
and from logs of various forum sites related to elderhosteling.
I have discovered that I have a search program in my MAC that
will quickly search and identify selected text folders and files
on my hard disk using a simple key word (no ands ors or that
other fancy Boolean stuff - just one word or phrase to look for.)
Accordingly if any of you want to know if I have information on a
specific program or topic you can e-mail me at olsonjam@uwec.edu
with the word "search"or "SEARCH" in the subject line (nothing
else). My mail sorter will put your message in a special mail box
that I will look at weekly and perform a search of my files for
any key words or topics you suggest in the body of the e-mail and get back
to you with the information I have.
If this works I can invite more reports that you might want to have in the
search base but not necessarily reported to all subscribers in the
newsletter. Some people are shy I have found but don't mind person to
person e-mail.
We'll give it a try and see how it works.
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Potpourri
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Using the Online Catalog
-Victor A. Schlich vschlich@ime.net
Is there a special subject you'd like to pursue at an
Elderhostel? Are you put off by the size of the 130+ page
catalog? Fret no more. The Elderhostel home page on the internet
makes it easy.
www.elderhostel.org
Interested in humor?
A key click takes you from the home page to the Catalog section.
Another key click activates the search engine. Results depend on
how you cast your net.
We punched in "humor," using the Fall '97 Catalog as a test. The
result was 49 different courses in 20 states and two Canadian
provinces, at 35 institutions.
A word of warning here. As with any search engine, no matter how
sophisticated, you get a lot of dross. But there's an answer for
that. Narrow your search down by asking for "humor+politics." The
answer is far different.
This time, we got 10 courses in five states and eight different
institutions.
Using the search engine is like slicing bologna. There are many
ways to cut it. You can narrow the search down by becoming more
specific. You can narrow it down by combining the subject and a
state or province.
When we looked for "Texas humor," we got five courses at four
institutions. Contrast that number with the figures produced by
our original search for "humor." If you don't like what you get,
try again, matching humor with other descriptive phrases.
There is another convenient feature. Each course is linked to
both course and site descriptions. It's so handy.
Sorry, but the Service and International Catalogs are not yet
searchable.
(biographical note)
Victor Schlich is a retired newspaper reporter and editor in
southern Maine. An active volunteer with AARP in Maine, he serves
as newsletter editor and state communications
coordinator.
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Elderhostel Reviews
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BREWSTER ACADEMY Wolfeboro, N. H July l996
BAHamm@webtv.net (Billie A. Hamm)
Program content: Canoeing, Forensics, and the JFK assasination
theory.
Lodging: Good ( Shared baths , no sink in room but only 3-5
rooms to large bath (no tubs)
Food: Cafeteria style-plentiful, good selecton, a little
insutionalized-fresh salad bar and a wok bar( you do your own
stir fry) and you do your own belgin waffles at breakfast.
Brewsster acadent is a posh secondary prep school for harvard and
yale types. Tution is very expensive and they have a lot of
foreign studeent preparing for college . Housing is like a
duplex with the house parent in an apartment on one side and only
around 8 rooms for students on the other side. Our dorm was
almost directly on the lake. Great view. no air conditioning
was needed as nights were cool bu days were warm.( we were only
in rooms at nite)
Wolfeboro is the oldest known resort town in the U.S. Pop. 4000
in winter and 40000 in summer. It is located directly on Lake
Winnipesaukee which has the bluest water i have ever seen and is
the largest lake in NH. The academy sits directly on the lake,
has its own boat house etc. We canoed each day . Golden Pond
like atmosphere. really hard to describe. Had canoe classes in
am and classroom in the afternoon. Only one block down to the
dock downtown. They have old fashion band stand there and have
concerts at night.
Not much activities planned for nights, Had one game night. We
walked down to the dock or either played miniture golf or ate
best home ice cream in the world.
Played hookey one afternoon and took the big ferry up lake to
another town at the north end . and ate that night in a local
seafood place and had Lobester rolls, a local delicacy not to
miss if you are in the area!
Great place for a summer getaway. notice new program on health
related subjects. At our program we had quality instructors.
Even if canoeing not included in program, there would be time for
it and also they have their own private beach just a hop and jump
from the dorms.
We flew in to Manchester and rented a car. You can be picked up
at the airport but we wanted a car because we drove up to othe
white mountains and spent one afternoon riding horses, sight
seeing etc.
I would highly recommed this eldershostel and if you have any
more questions about it just e-mail me.
Billie BAHamm@webtv.net
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Feather River Community College- Calif
Just had to let all Elderhostelers know what a great place to
learn a variety of subjects, I'm referring to Feather River
Community College in Northern California. You are situated in a
beautiful area amongst the trees with a choice of living in your
RV if you have one or one of the apartments Elderhostel makes
available to the participants.
Our Elderhostel week covered "What makes jazz, jazz", "The making
of Lake Almanor" and "Nature studies in the Sierras". All three
subjects were very interesting and I for one learned quite a
bit. I recommend this Elderhostel to anyone who cares to get
away and into the high country, about 4500 ft. elevation. Makes
for a very relaxing week.
Del Acevedo DelAcev@aol.com
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Johnson Wales University ,Charleston, S. C.
We recently attended an Elderhostel at Johnson Wales University in
Charleston, S. C.
The July 13-18 Elderhostel at Johnson Wales was our second and
was not nearly as happy an experience as one we attended at
McNeese State University in Lake Charles, La., in April/May of
1996. The McNeese caper - featuring Cajun cooking, Loosiana
history and the history of the American musical theater - was a
standout. We had dedicated faculty staff who anticipated and met
our every whim. And all program costs were included in the
basic fee - there were no add-ons.
Our Johnson Wales group had so many aggressive folks in it
that we started calling it "Elderhostile." But we digress. The
cooking instructor - Steve Nogle - was effective in covering five
days of instruction in international cuisines. It took
suggestions from the class for him to structure the tasting part
of the class, which started off as milling herds of "hostiles"
attempting to get their shares of the goodies before they
disappeared. He did keep control once he had exercised it.
I understand that J will not be doing any more Elderhostels in
the near future and this is reflected in the level of support -
or rather the lack of it - from faculty members. They relied on
students to do things but gave them no authority to resolve
issues. And the optional morning activities were all additional
cost items such as tours of Charleston, a visit to a tea
plantation (a selling visit, really, not a tour), a boat tour of
Charleston Harbor and a visit to a nearby plantation. If you
took all of them, that added about $56 to each person's cost.
The student kids we had contact with were delights but they were
placed in untenable positions by a university management that
didn't really seem to give a damn. No one really appeared to be
in charge.
Living accommodations were satisfactory and the lunches prepared
by students at the school varied from satisfactory to good.
There were two off-campus eating excursions, neither of them what
might be called "fine dining."
I had thought that Elderhostel programs were supposed to consist
of three basic subjects. That did not happen on this one, unless
the extra cost morning excursions were supposed to provide the
additional courses.
Dick and Marcy Young DikYung@aol.com
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Elderhostel in Ireland
We stayed 30 miles from Dublin in a 200 year old Paladian house
that is now a convent. Our rooms were very simple, but clean and
the beds were comfortable. Baths down the hall, but no
problems.Our guide was a local lady who was fun and told us about
the history and the current life of the area. We visited her
favorite pubs, met local people, etc. We had an art historian and
a horticulturist. Very interesting people. Everyday we visited 3
or 4 houses and gardens. Some were open to the public, and some
were special arrangement. They were all lovely and varied from
formal French to very informal (even a few weeds).
One evening we had dinner in Dublin and attended the theatre.
Also had dinner at a country hotel and the finale was a 7 course
meal at a castle. Several lunches out and 2 box lunches.Food at
the convent was good, very healthy, but not exciting. Ireland is
absolutely beautiful and May was a wonderful time to be there. I
would repeat this trip. By the way, we did get in the France trip
(Languedoc) this Fall. Can't wait. We will spend one week in Nice
on our own, then two weeks with the Elderhostel.
Maretta maretta@vvm.com
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University of Alaska Southeast, July 20-26, 1997
"John Rothfuss"
The Elderhostel held July 20th through 26th of 1997 began with
lovely weather. We checked into University of Alaska Southeast
Student Housing early on the opening Sunday. Since we had already
been traveling for a week we needed to use the student
Laundromat. Part of the way back was up the side of the mountain
which may not slow down college age students but may take longer
for elderly bones. Switchbacks have been provided to reduce the
steepness of the climb, but it's still a climb. The university
provided a shuttle van for those reluctant or unable to attempt
the trek on foot. Despite the advertised long walk we had one
participant who used a wheeled walker. She was determined to
learn more about various lichens used in fabric dyeing and spent
much of her free time researching at the university library.
The apartment we were assigned was a nicely furnished married
student apartment consisting of living/dining room and full
kitchen downstairs. Apartments for individual Elderhostlers
were similar but had four separate bedrooms, each with its own
locked door. These may not have had a full kitchen but each unit
had at least a microwave. Some units were all on one level.
Several of these units with similar yet varied floor plans were
located in each of seven buildings surrounding the main Lodge.
Our housing building was set higher on the mountain than any of
the others and offered a beautiful view of the not so distant
mountains from its front porch. An even better view including a
hanging glacier could be obtained from the BBQ shelter up several
flights of steps behind the Lodge.
Each day included a lecture and a field trip, generally on the
same subject. Evenings were mostly free but optional tours and
entertainment^Òs were offered. There was plenty of opportunity to
explore Juneau. The school provided transportation to downtown
shopping on several occasions. For fishermen the salmon run was
on in Gastineau Channel and area streams. One of our class caught
a couple of salmon which the chef prepared for all 20
participants the last evening.
Probably the least expected wildlife sighting was during a visit
to St. Terese's shrine north of Auke Bay after our exploration of
tide pool marine life. A single path causeway leads out to a sort
of island containing the shrine. As our group advanced onto the
path from the parking area a hoary marmot was seen peering over a
rock to see what kind of beasties were invading its territory.
We stopped to watch it, apparently just outside its danger zone,
because it sat watching us for a long time before finally
disappearing down its hole. Looked pretty much like a big old
gray groundhog to me.
One afternoon we had a lecture by Mike Miller, former state senator,
speaking on Contemporary Alaska. In the evening a wonderful
slide presentation on Kayaking Southeast Alaska was held in the
Student Housing Lodge. Scott Foster, the presenter, has done
work for PBS and it shows in his slide presentation. At the
conclusion he thanked us all for allowing him to relive his kayak
trips.
All too soon the week in this gorgeous facility was ended with
our graduation at the Lodge on Friday evening.
Getting away from Juneau proved difficult. The only way to leave
is by air or water and we had chosen air. We made it home by a
rather round about route. Because of early morning fog Juneau's
ceiling was below minimum for most of the morning so our plane
sat in Sitka while we sat and stewed in Juneau. We were to have
had a two hour layover in Seattle but by the time we finally got
to Seattle our plane had long gone. We were put on an Alaska Air
flight to Las Vegas where, after another two hour layover, we
could catch a Northwest flight to Detroit. We finally arrived in
Detroit with the rising sun of the next day (assisted, of course,
by the four hour time differential). Vegas' 90+ degrees was a
real shocker after Juneau's constant 60 degree weather for two
weeks.
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Personals
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From: joy@shore.intercom.net
Have just been to the EH at Bently College at Waltham, Mass
outside of Boston and believe it to be about one of the best all
around EHs of the 19 I have attended. One bedroom apt for every
couple, plain but clean and comfortable, cafeteria food was good.
It was catered by Marriot, strong program with delightfully
informed retired profs and great field trips in a deluxe
motorcoach. This was a well organized and friendly program.
On a different subject, has it occurred to anyone else that the
EHs attended that were run by private, for profit concerns are
rather skimpy in accommadations, food, transport and weak in the
content and quality of classes? I am left wondering if EH isn't
aware of the tension that creates in the striving to realize a
profit at the same time as conducting adquate programs and what
"Boston" can do about weeding out those entrenpuerships that are
merely running EHs to survive.
On yet another subject, that is a wonderful idea re EHlike
touristing and I will try that. What several of us have done is
create seminars on a particular subject and revolve a whole week
of vacation on it with each of us presenting lectures, field trip
and activities. For example: one year we rented the home in
Vt.from the Historical Landmarks in England (this is the only
American holding they have) that Rudyard Kipling wrote much at to
study the man, his work and environment. It was a jolly week but
I must admit, we had had our fill of him!
Another time we rented a cabin in a state park on a beaver pond
and once again devided the research and preperation and had a
marvalously entertaining and educative time. From scientific
lectures to "pin the tail on the beaver" to visiting their "pull
out" site as they crossed over the bern to the river for their
nocturnal wanderings.
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From:
We have enjoyed getting the Elderhostel Notebook for some time
now (and have contributed a couple of reviews of programs). We
are registered for Peru: History and Culture beginning on January
5, 1998, and wonder if anyone else has been, or is planning to
go. Also, we would like to hear from people who have been on any
of the more "active" and "strenuous" programs. We are relatively
young and figure we'll do the most active ones while we are most
able, and save the less strenuous for later. Any
recommendations?
Bill and Kay Jones
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From: ERWB@aol.com
We just received confirmation on our next Elderhostel. It is
October 5 - 10 at Geneva Conference Center at Holland, Michigan.
I was wondering if anyone had been there and what the comments
are on the EH and the location. Also would like to know if any
e-mailers are planning to attend this Elderhostel.
ERWB(Evelyn Bauer)
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Nogales
Elders,
Old Roadrunners,
Gathering and gabbing,
Scratch and peck in mission courtyards
For truth.