Another great Bidfest in Austin has passed and 5 terrific TSC trips were chosen. Kayleen Kill has an excellent array of club trips in the works, many with short trip options. Be sure to see her article for more information on the upcoming trips. Jose Araujo and Ellen Eastham have a fun-packed summer planned to entertain us while the snow melts. Jose has a fabulous new meeting location that is both extremely functional and incredibly classy and affordable. Jose is still looking for an energetic Director of Programs to assist him. Please let him know ASAP if you are interested.

We just had our first Executive Committee (Excomm) meeting and I really enjoyed the synergy that the team is developing! A lot of new ideas and activities are in planning stage for this coming year. But the ideas that are being discussed need to be perfected and implemented and it is here where the Club needs your support. As Cindy indicates in her article, I urgently need a Director of  programs. Someone who has experience coordinating any SCSC trip or activity and is willing to work with me hand in hand, shoulder to shoulder in providing the club members an exciting year of activities.

At the same time, there are some activities that I would like to see on our calendar but need Activity Coordinators and Assistants to make it happen. Some of these activities include:

I am so excited about next year’s trips. I have been busy working on getting TCs and ATCs plus initial arrangements for all the trips. It has been hectic.

All the trips are special, but I want to mention a few great things to look forward to:

• Bring your children (grandchildren?) to Keystone at Thanksgiving for the Youth Camp. For only $152, they can have 4 days of lessons, lifts, rentals and lunch. Normally this package costs $502.
• Finland/Stockholm will be a truly exotic and unique trip. We will be  spending 5 days in Levi (see the northern lights, take a snowmobile ride to a husky farm or feast on reindeer) and 2 days in Stockholm (one of my favorite cities, where the beauty always astounds me).
• Big White/Kelowna brings the best of British Columbia skiing and fabulous wineries to the same trip. Again the trip will be split with 5 nights in Big White and 2 nights in Kelowna. Plus, we hope to offer a short trip that leaves Wednesday, returning Sunday, and staying in Kelowna the whole time.

Park City turned out to be...well a very unusual trip. Some of the group had police escorts while others had so much fun at a party that they didn’t even realize they left articles of clothing behind. One had a dog bobbing in water in the fridge, and another’s limp pole was useless at Snowbird (yes, Snowbird was an experience). One member of our group was injured on the slopes, but when we went to check up on her prognosis, she had left to go shopping and get a massage. (Hmm, was the injury an excuse to get away from our group?) Now that I have your attention, how about some details?

We arrived in Park City on a beautiful afternoon in February. The staff at the Three Kings Condos was very helpful, delivering our gear, groceries and refreshments to each condo which were very nice and the views were amazing….ask Brook McClain or Mary Ellen Arbuckle about the view from their patio. At least they had entertaining visitors to make up for this bizarre view.

Thanks to Park City’s “FREE” Day of Arrival Lift ticket, several of our more avid skiers, including Lee Ann Matura, Jane Kidd and Michael Edwards, got in an extra afternoon on the slopes, followed by night skiing for only $18. Others in the group took a more leisurely route and ventured into town, after watching the Dog Sled races right outside the condos. And, of course, after watching Lila Davis and Irma Rosendahl get picked up by the police. Yes, we couldn’t believe it either. This is such a friendly town that the police drove them into town for dinner, since the shuttles were delayed due to the dog sled races.

It was a beautiful spring Sunday afternoon and 31 participants decided to spend time in the dark. Comfortable spring weekend weather is hard to find in Houston, but it must have been the food, drink, camaraderie and game that kept these people inside Laser Quest.

Our coordinator, Diane “Bionic Woman” Stotz, set up the food and drink with help from Steve Amy and his friend. Diane recruited SCSC newcomer, Heidi “Mulabuquen” Markham, to greet the participants. Other early eager arrivals included Jeff “Waco Kid” Warren, Debbie “Dragonslayer” Bergeron, Ted “Memaslayer” Bergeron and guests Maggie “Shark Attack” Kirkpatrick and Bob “Ironman” Kirkpatrick. Everyone was talking, enjoying the food and drink before the game began. Jim “Cool Hand” Edwards, Sue “Dark Star” Edwards, Sue “Red Falcon” Salvage and Arlen “Killi” Isham were anticipating a good game. Maria “Ursa Major” Saade, Betty “Big Mama” Buck, Lida “Ladybug” Sadler, and Sharon “Cat Woman” Simandl were a little apprehensive since they were new comers to Laser Tag. Jerry “Termite” Sadler gave reassurances to Ladybug to just have fun. Late arrivals, Dave “Sitka” Stotz was jet-lagged after flying in from Amsterdam that afternoon, and Bob “Robo” Horan finally managed to find the correct LaserQuest location.

In the first game, everyone had to fend for themselves. Since Bionic Woman was running this activity, she had many participants zap her immediately: Preston “PBO” West, Jose “Angel” Araujo, Walter “Wabi Kanabe” May, Lisa “Black Cat” Smith, Keith “Camcasi” Kirkman, and Benita “Gotcha” Stanford. In this game Ted “Memaslayer” Bergerson, came in first place, with Cheryl “Grandma Pain” May, in second, and Jim “Coolhand” Edwards was third.

During our next break, our group picture was dutifully organized by Ron “Blue Bandit” Hayes and Judy “Sofi” Schiro, our official SCSC photographer and his trusted assistant. Sharon “Cat Woman” Simandl presented Bill “Fireman” Bomberger with a birthday cake to celebrate his birthday! How appropriate that Fireman had to blow out his own candles!

In the second game, it was the Red Team versus the Green Team. Both the men and women were mixed into both teams. Bionic Woman was tagged mostly by Arlen“Killi” Isham. I was also attacked by Joanie “Golf Girl” Osbourn, Manolo “Helio” Valle, and Dale “Gandolf” Stanford. Fortunately, she fought back hard and tagged Waco Kid, Termite, Camcasi and especially Killi. In this game the Green Team with 5361 points beat the Red Team with 3367 points. Grandma Pain, Fireman, and Walter “Wabi Kanabe” May came in first, second and third places respectively.

The third game was a game of wits and sex: Men versus the Women. It was a tough Laser Tag game. The women’s leader Grandma Pain organized a quick pow-wow to discuss strategic moves against the men. Unfortunately, the Women lost with 4268 points and Men 4712 points. There was a tie in this game for the most points: Dale “Gandolf” Stanford and Ted “Memaslayer” Bergeron had a basketball stand off. Memaslayer threw the first ball for a hole in one and won a free laser tag game, and Gandolf unfortunately didn’t get a basket.

Bionic Woman handled out prizes to the best and worst players of the  Laser Tag Games: First Game: Memaslayer, Second Game: Grandma Pain, and tie for Third Game: Dale “Gamdolf” Sandford, and Memaslayer. Since Memaslayer had a bottle of champagne given to him already for the first game, this bottle to given to his spouse, Dragonslayer. The worst players were also given champagne: Cat Woman and Maria “Ursa Major” Saade.

I would also like to thank Sue “Red Falcon” Salvage for helping me with the shopping and clean up with this event. I also want to thank Keith Kirkman, Joanie Osbourn, Sharon Simandl and Bill Bomberger with the clean-up.

A great time was had by all until next year…