Leaf Peepin’

Greetings from Boston, Massachusetts! We have given up on fall’s arrival to Oklahoma and have headed east to cool off. We hope to wear our fleece jackets. We will wrap scarves around our necks and carry cups of hot beverages. And IF Mother Nature and the caterpillar’s fur and the pine needles dropping are all in agreement… then we will also see fall foliage.
 

I’ve made fall foliage trips many times in all directions. Hitting the peak color for a tour is a bit like going to the casino. Everything can be in place, but there’s no payoff. But coming to the New England states is a winner with the history, the food, and the scenery that is beautiful no matter its color.

Folks usually have this tour on their “someday” list. (Where are you?) The much-older-sister is my running buddy on this week tour. We were given the option of walking the Freedom Trail or taking a bus tour of Boston. Both will be guided and have all sorts of points of interest. One you walk, one you ride. Sister leaned over to me and asked “Which one should we do?”

And my auto-reply quipped, if you think we will be healthier, more able to walk it next time, then let’s wait. If we can’t promise ourselves that, we better walk this time.

She rolled her eyes; she should have guessed I would have some sort of come back. We will eat Scrod, which isn’t even a real fish. We will shout “One if by land, two if by sea!”, when we ride by Paul Revere’s house. We will wish we had paid more attention during history class, and then wish more we could have been on a field trip like this to learn it. We will find out why they bake beans in Boston, and consider buying a Red Sox t-shirt. And we will do all this because we can TODAY and because we can’t promise ourselves tomorrow.

Keep up-to-date of our adventures by following us at www.facebook.com/G2GwithPB. The “much older sister” will be posting photos at this location as tours, times, meals and WIFI permits. Better yet, next time make plans to join us so you can experience it first-hand. Regardless of how you chose to go, get out there and experience this wonderful world in which we live!

Happy 50th HarBer Village

Last week, I wrote about all the things to do in our area if one is willing to get up and out and enjoy it! This week, I’d like to brag on an event that if you missed it, well, you missed it. Tucked away on the shores of Grand Lake is the treasure of HarBer Village. Most locals know about it, and probably have been there once or twice. If so, give yourself two points. HarBer Village is celebrating its 50^th year of preserving the past. This private collection was started by Harvey and Bernice Jones, owners of Jones Truck  Lines. Their little project of a log cabin, then a church, then, then, then... grew to the  120 buildings that exist today.

If you haven’t been to HarBer Village in the last 6 years, you lose 5 points. The Village has drawn tourists from all over the USA and the world, even when there was  no admission as long as guests “conducted themselves as ladies and gentlemen.”  The collection has continued to grow and the grounds continue to be kept beautiful. There is a small entrance fee, but that has actually made the place more popular because of the mentality, if it’s free, it must not be much. There is newly completed, paved walking trail to be enjoyed, even if you don’t pay an admission fee. If you knew that, give yourself a point. 

There are all sorts of activities throughout the season. You could take a cast iron cooking class, a weaving class, and participate in special themed weekends. Give yourself 10 points if you mark your calendar and take advantage of these opportunities. Don’t forget the neat gift shop in the Visitors Center. It’s Cracker Barrel meets museum gift shop and a fun place for unusual gifts. If you didn’t know there was a gift shop, lose 2 points.

Last week was a fun-raiser, whoops, fund-raiser for HBV. Murder Comes a Courtin’, a murder mystery and dinner all served up on the Village grounds. A team of workers under the driving force of Ms. Sandy Coaly, organized, prepared, created, decorated, sold, gathered, begged, borrowed, arranged, reserved, and celebrated two sold out nights of the show and dinner. Oh, yes, we perspired. Make that- sweat. We will call it a success even before the books are closed on the financials. If you were there, give yourself 10 points. If you donated or sponsored or volunteered, give yourself 10.

 
What I will remember about the event was having fun with a cast of 80 folks from the area. Sure, there were costumes, and scripts but it really was like a small village. The actors came from all sorts of occupations but slowed down to be residents of this “town” for a couple of days. They laughed together, got to know each other, and were part of something much bigger. Memories were made.  They deserve 100 points. 
 

 We  have a treasure here in Northeast Oklahoma and we need to support it. Things like this can go away if we don’t invest in them.  And if you missed it, you really missed it.

Share the News!

I have worn a lot of hats these past couple of weeks. I’m not looking for a pat on the back, (more likely you would just circle your temple with your index finger). But my quest this week is to remind our readers that there are many things to do in our own backyard. Tourism isn’t just fishing tournaments and casinos, tourism is people from other towns visiting our town, spending their money here and helping our economy through the sales tax revenue and income to our local merchants. These visitors are tourists, whether they come in for the casinos, tournaments, a visit to Har-Ber Village, shop in a store, or attend a church service and go to lunch afterwards.

Why am I bringing this up? Because it makes me sad when our locals say there isn’t anything to do. Just in these last few weeks, I’ve had the opportunity to perform, speak, educate and entertain for over 2,000 people at various events.  I know, the number surprised me, too, but I did the math. From performing comedy shows, to baby showers, to conferences, to murder mysteries: all of these events get people off their Lazy Boy to do something. There were locals, and there were those that drove a few hours to be here. They buy gasoline, meals, and out-of-towners pay for lodging. Ka-ching! goes the city coffers.

There were many other things going on that I wasn’t involved in, or perhaps I wasn’t aware.  More Ka-ching!  This certainly helps green-up Green Country.  Where do you find out about events? And then do you share that information with others that might be interested?   For these different presentations I have been involved with, there have been huge newspaper ads. There have been posters in businesses and store front windows. I went to Tulsa to do a TV interview to advertise an upcoming event here on Grand Lake. We have been on the local radio. We have blasted emails and Facebook.  A couple of events did a direct mail invitation. So you can understand my surprise when visiting with many individuals in our community, they knew nothing about these wonderful, fun opportunities in their own backyard!  Maybe there is too much to do, and things get lost in the bombardment of information.

I would like to encourage all of us to share information with others. Make it a habit to cut out notices from the paper and post on work place bulletin boards. Tell employees about activities happening in the area, especially if these people are in the position to greet out-of-town visitors. Make it a point to get the Chamber of Commerce Weekly happening. Be in the know and pass it on!

We don’t all have the same leisure time interests, but there are loads of us who would like to experience different things that might interest us. How do we attend your function if we don’t know about it? We might be surprised how all our affairs might benefit if we just make a tiny effort to share information with one another.

Marketing, another hat to wear.

Ground to Cover

I recently had a friend text me. He and his sweet wife were traveling and checked in with a cute picture, but it was his candid remark that left me in deep thought. He quipped “We are covering ground before it covers us.” Well... isn’t that just enough said? I told him I was going to steal that line.

That may become my mission statement. Or my mantra. Or my slogan. But for a person that is interested in seeing as much of this beautiful, crazy planet we live on before we are planted in it, that says it all. Who’s with me?

I understand not everyone is as “Good to Go” as I am. That’s OK. For those of you that travel from the comfort of your armchair, with a cup of coffee as you read this column, thank you for allowing me to share the world with you. For those of you who watch a movie or television program and think, “I’d love to go there someday,” it’s you I’m talking to today.

This week I spent some time with a traveler that lost his wife of many years. He fought back tears as talked about things they were going to do together. Luckily, they made lots of memories together, but they weren’t finished yet. There was still ground left to cover. 

My friends that enjoy my travel stories declare to me that SOMEDAY they want to go with me on a group adventure. I usually cite my saying from the soapbox which they feel doesn’t apply to them. I remind them that AARP sends us cards on a monthly basis, whether we are signed up or not. We are there... and not gaining ground if we expect to cover it. 

My mission, mantra, slogan, soapbox speech has always been “If you can guarantee that next year you will more healthy, more wealthy, more able to travel NEXT YEAR, then definitely wait. If you can’t guarantee yourself this, then travel NOW.”  In other words, you should cover ground… before it covers you.

If you think I’m being insensitive, then ask the person who was planning on going SOMEDAY and now they don’t have a partner to go with. If you think I’m being unfeeling, then ask the person that only takes trips to doctor’s appointments. If you think I’m being callous, then ask the person whose knees and hips and back keep them sitting in that armchair reading my articles instead of being able to travel with us. Those people may have insight on waiting to travel.

(Boy, Patti Beth, you are on a roll!) 

It doesn’t get easier to travel as we get older (there, I said the “O” word), it gets more challenging. It may be easier to find a hotel or flight online, but that doesn’t make standing in lines at the airport, or the size of coach seats any more comfortable. We may have more time, or more money, but will our eyes and our sense of adventure be as sharp SOMEDAY?

I’m stepping down from my soapbox now. I have trips to plan, pack for and write about. I have ground to cover.

I THINK I Understand

Travel makes the world smaller. It shrinks when we get to know someone from another side of the globe, and hear what their childhood was like, things that concern them as adults and share stories about our children. What makes this possible most of the time is the other side of the globe learns other languages like English, while Americans go hoping and expecting someone to speak our language. We fail our students by not insisting on language skills. 

Our time in Iceland had many highlights, but one was listening to the expressions our guide, Edda, used in her commentary. I grew up with a mother that used colorful phrases, and I never really knew how much tea there was in China, or just how tight Dick’s hatband was, or how far it was to kingdom come. Edda was just as colorful. Here’s some examples I jotted down of Edda’s take on:

• Government- “The prime minister has a bone in her nose.” She is a strong woman who won’t be pushed around.
• Weather- “It will be window weather.” A day better suited for looking out the window rather than being out in the weather.
• Visiting Oklahoma-“I’ll have to lay my head in the water.” She would have to think about it.
• Religion-“They are baptized and see a white penguin.” We think she might have meant white dove as a symbol for the Holy Spirit. We weren’t sure because we were…
• “just down from the mountains,” the phrase Icelanders used when they didn’t have any clue about the subject.  

We giggled and tried to figure out what some of her statements meant, whether it was an expression, or misuse of English, or mispronunciation of words. Edda was explaining how the milk cows graze the grassy meadows but then when it’s milking time they go to the rowboats. Are you getting the mental image we pictured? This one took us a while to figure out, but she was trying to tell us that they used automated milking machines, robots. The Icelandic language puts the emphasis on the first syllable, so she stressing the second syllable of ro-BOT and it sounded like rowboat. We all had a good laugh. 

Each day she taught us a new word and a common expression, such as “on with the butter.” This meant get on with it, keep going, keep working. But our favorite idiom had to be her saying for the best part or the highlight. Where we might say “it was the cherry on top.” she said it was “the raisin at the end of the hot dog.” Oh my.

Traveling fills our senses. This adventure to Iceland was natural beauty in the way of waterfalls, and rainbows, and geysers. There was smell of sulfur from geothermal pools. There were unfamiliar tastes with new foods. And there were sounds, Edda’s lovely melodic use of English  even when it was sprinkled with word combinations that left us scratching our heads, and lost as a goose. English isn’t always universal, but laughter is.

“How was Iceland?”

When our Good to Go Gang was on their way home from Iceland, I reminded them that they should prepare their three-minute “elevator speech” to answer the question “So, how was Iceland?” Some places just take a lot more than three minutes to explain and when we were planning our group tour, I was often asked what we would see. I could only say that Iceland is about natural beauty, the scenery and landscape. Now that we have discovered Iceland’s Hidden Beauty, I’m ready to answer.

Iceland has become a very popular destination, especially for the well-traveled. It’s another country to check off the Bucket List and with its reputation for being safe and fairly close makes it even more desirable. The banking collapse in 2008 was devastating to their economy, but it had the “silver lining” effect of sending tourists streaming in while the dollar was strong. It’s a country of contrasts and extremes. One doesn’t really travel there to enjoy the hotels and museums although there are some very nice and unusual ones to enjoy. You go to Iceland to be adventurous.

While cruise ships may stop in Reykjavik (pronounced “rake a vik”), this large capitol city doesn’t really begin to show off what this country looks like. Our trip allowed nine days to travel the Ring Road. This two-lane blacktop road runs an 860-mile loop around the island. We traveled coastlines where black lava sand make a soft beach that is glass-like. Glaciers break off into the waters and leave ice sculptures on the shore. The puffins glide swiftly in the air and in the water with their bright orange beaks flashing color. We took a boat ride where the white beaked dolphins jumped in unison like a Sea World act, and the Minke Whales made an appearance.

We traveled by miles and miles of grassy meadows. The intense green is a result of a sun that sets for only a few hours a day. Sheep, cattle and horses grazed the landscape. Oftentimes there wasn’t a fence to contain them. Other times there were wide trenches cut in the land to hold the livestock in and drain the water away. It was hay season, and the round bales dotted the landscape. The bales were completed wrapped in plastic to endure the long winter. Some bales were wrapped in black and looked like shiny black eight balls on a felt pool table. The bales wrapped in white looked like the farmer was growing miniature marshmallows.

We traveled miles and miles of landscape that looked more like the moon. Fields of lava rock, volcanic rock formations, and bubbling mud pools. We would catch a glimpse of steam vents sending a column of white into the air, while the view in another direction was white snow on the top of a mountain. The word “geyser” was coined here. Geysir is the name of the largest hot spring and blows every 7-10 minutes. They don’t set a clock like Old Faithful, but you can’t miss it as part of the “Golden Circle” tour which consists of three equally stunning locations in southwest Iceland: Þingvellir National Park, the Geysir Geothermal Area, and Gullfoss waterfall. These sites are the ‘don’t miss’ and are all as spectacular as they are unique.

Waterfalls and rainbows would be part of my description, as we began to lose count we saw so many. There were turquoise lagoons with thermal pools. Hikers pitched tents near the action, as it gave hot and cold running water. Trees were introduced to the country by the Danish and they are a small part of the scenery, so one really can see to the horizon. As late as 1950 only 1% of the entire island had trees.

We drove miles and miles without seeing a building, a billboard or body. The only thing manmade was the road we traveled. This really was natural beauty, serene and surreal at the same time. I may need more than three minutes to answer “How was Iceland?”