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SCSC proves again that our members not only know how to have fun on the ski slopes but also know how to have a great time in a tropical paradise. Fifty-six members in 28 rental cars made us a crazy bunch touring Maui, Hawaii for a week. If there was an activity to do on Maui, you can be sure that someone from SCSC did it during the week.
SCSC stayed at the Royal Lahaina Resort which is located on the gorgeous Kaanapali Beach north of the town of Old Lahaina. The beautiful white sandy beaches going into the crystal clear turquoise water was a vision of paradise. Old Town Lahaina was a nice town with multiple shops and many nice restaurants. During the week, SCSC folks could be seen regularly strolling through town as well as the nearby Whaler’s Village.
Beginning at check-in, (when a parking option was offered that included nightly Mai Tai’s) until the end of the trip, the Mai Tai was the beverage of choice of most trip participants.
Monday morning, the TSC sponsored a golf scramble tournament that turned out to be an all SCSC affair consisting of 13 members and 3 tour operator reps on the Kaanapali Golf course. For Ed & Kay Cain, Jeff Sarff, Ted Bergeron, Jim Edwards, John Rice, Kayleen Kill and Don Caldwell this was just the first of multiple days of golf. Of course, Nancy Sarff, Debbie Bergeron and Leslie Caldwell did find other fun things to do while their spouses golfed. Those who did not have the greatest game proceeded to blame the wonderful ocean breeze for the unusual flight of the ball as opposed to how well they hit the ball.
While the golf tournament was going on, Merril & Sharon Smith, Lisa Smith, Sue Edwards and Susan Blome took a helicopter/van ride that explored the Haleakala Crater and the Road to Hana. Tom & Vicki McLaughlin and Morris & Sally Brown, as well Barney & Norma Cases took a one day trip to Oahu to see the USS Arizona Memorial in Pearl Harbor.
On Tuesday, Maria Saade, Brenda Soileau, Barbara Della Longa, Cheryl Esposito, Mark Monroe, Sean O’Brien and Norm & Sue Rund woke up early (2 AM) to watch a beautiful sunrise over the Haleakala Crater and enjoy a 39 mile bike ride down from 10,000 feet to sea level. Brenda, Maria and Sue however took the more sane approach and took a van ride down the mountain.
Wednesday morning was a planned excursion to go snorkeling. Very high ocean swells made it necessary to cancel this excursion and everyone had to scramble for alternate plans. Not to be discouraged, many folks ended up touring the very beautiful Iao Needle State Park with its gardens as well as visiting an island plantation. |
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Wednesday evening was a club party poolside that was enjoyed by all who attended. Van & Suzanne Miles chose to go out for a romantic dinner instead and Ron & Roberta Rambin attended a magic show prior to joining the club party. Ross & Diane Baker showed up a little late from having enjoyed another fun day of activities on Maui. Several other folks were smart enough to make reservations at the famous Mama’s Fish House and they all agreed that it was the best meal of the trip.
Maui has a very impressive aquarium that is well worth visiting just ask Yvonne McMahon, Lynda Hysell, Marianne Pearce and Mildred Jude.
On Thursday, Ellen Eastham with encouragement from Chip Stokes convinced 17 members to go on a blue water raft ride that would include some snorkeling. From the brochure, everyone thought this would be a nice mellow ride along the coastline. Were we ever wrong! When we noticed that there two 225 Hp engines on the raft we knew we were in for an adventure. Once boarded, we headed at fairly high rates of speed directly into 4 to 6 foot seas that sent the raft airborne in the water only to crash into the water on the backside of the wave. Calvin Doody, Lynn Geiger, Barbara Rosetti and Melody Bohlmann can tell you that the participants have a new appreciation for the phrase “Assume the position”. Roger Holzman planned to do some pleasure reading and chose to wear regular street clothes instead of a swimsuit. He along with everyone else got soaking wet. At the end of this adventure, we snorkeled at the Molokini crater in both the interior and exterior of the crater. The tropical fish were amazing.
Thursday evening was the Luau. The Luau began with Maria Saade, Kim Olinger, Barbara Della Longa, Camille Laroe, Diana Wright and Suzanne Hegemier going up on stage in front of a very large crowd to strut their stuff doing a Hula dance. It was very impressive. Maynard Chance agrees. Afterwards, the dinner and Luau show were great fun.
Throughout the week, participants drove the famous Road to Hana. It is a long winding road through a tropical rain forest. The ocean views and waterfalls you see along the way are incredible. In fact, Ron Hayes and Judy Schiro loved to Road to Hana so much that they did it twice.
At the end of our week in Maui, 18 of us had to accept the reality of having to return to Houston while 38 continued onto Kona on the Hawaii Big Island for 4 more days of adventure.
MAHALO! |
| HEAD OF THE LIFT LINE | By Cindy Moore, President |
It’s that time of year when holly, evergreen and mistletoe are everywhere and everyone gets in the holiday spirit. Please come to the December General Meeting and support our charity, the Sunshine Kids, by donating something for the silent auction, donating your time and talents for the live auction, or bidding on something in the live or silent auction. This meeting is always a hoot, and a huge fund-raiser for an extremely good cause. Contact Director of Programs Jessica Halter to donate.
Pat Piech and I have been working with Sun & Ski Sports (S&SS) to bring you more discounts and benefits for being an SCSC member, including 10% off all non-sale ski apparel and accessories, 15% off all non-sale ski equipment, and 50% off all ski labor and Ski Deck lessons (excludes items where vendor policy prohibits). Plus, we’ve arranged for free Ski Trip Packet Pickup Parties at Sun & Ski Sports with FREE refreshments for participating members and 15% discounts on all non-sale ski items the night of the event (excludes items where vendor policy prohibits.) They will also provide Parking Spot and Ten-to-Spend coupons for all skier packets. We are also looking at doing additional in-store club events or meetings that will include free use of the Ski Deck for participating members. They will also provide a door prize giveaway for the club gala. To help us grow our club membership, they will also email invitations to other S&SS club partners for general in-store club meetings or mixers and post club trips and events on their events page at www.sunandski.com (events page is included as a button in all email blasts.) They will allow us to keep a supply of in-store SCSC brochures for our exposure. (We will probably need volunteers to help keep those supplied in the stores and to man club recruitment booths at selected stores during huge ski sale events, which they also now allow.) In exchange, we will be providing them with exposure and links on our website and club emails. They will also be designated the “Official Ski Shop” of the Space City Ski Club. I hope you will support the store that is supporting our club in such huge ways.
Well, enjoy the upcoming ski trips and activities our club has to offer in the coming months. See ya on the Slopes! |
| PROGRAMS AND ACTIVITIES | By Jose Araujo, VP of Programs & Jessica Halter DOP |
On October 22nd, we had a great Games Night & Halloween party. The party goers enjoyed an evening of fun and games…but unfortunately, the only disappointment of the evening was the Astros loss. On November 5th we had a wonderful Wine Tasting evening at Leslie Caldwell’s home. Many thanks to Mona Weck for coordinating the Games Night event and to Leslie Caldwell for coordinating and hosting the Wine Tasting evening. Members like you are the ones who make this a great social club.
Skiing has begun and the stories of the adventures from the first ski trip of the season (Keystone) are making the rounds, and I am sure that those who did not go will sign earlier next year.
This month our Happy Hour is at the Black Labrador on December 8th in Montrose. You will love the place, and a big thanks to Deb for coordinating it. I am still looking for volunteers to organize a Bowling tournament in January or February. Anyone interested?
Remember, the Holiday Gala is on December 2nd, and the General Meeting is on December 12th, both at Chateau Crystale, which is located on the 2517 S. Gessner, just half block north of Westheimer.
Jessica has some more news to announce: |
It is time for our annual Sunshine Kids Auction. The Sunshine Kids Foundation was founded by Rhoda Tomasco in 1982 to provide young cancer patients with opportunities to participate in positive group activities which promote self-esteem, personal accomplishment and just plain old fashioned fun at absolutely no cost! Second baseman, Craig Biggio, of the Houston Astros has represented the Sunshine Kids as their national spokesperson for over two decades.
PLEASE help this worthy cause by gathering donations and/or donating your special talents for the auction. Some items will be offered at our fabulous Holiday Gala on December 2nd and other items will be offered in a live auction at our December 12th General Meeting.
Don’t be afraid to be creative in acquiring and designing auction items. Here are some ideas:
Host a hot tub party
Auction yourself as a honey-do helper for an afternoon
Do in-home gift wrapping for holiday presents
Hang exterior holiday lights and/or take down exterior holiday lighting (Or just leave ‘em up like that one dreaded neighbor we all have!)
Provide pet sitting or home visits for pet care for upcoming ski trips and/or other travel times
Can you provide computer assistance? (Help design a resume, Scanning photos to create a CD album of special pictures for a Christmas gift?)
The possibilities are endless!
Many restaurants and businesses are very willing to donate, especially with a letter describing the charity and our club. Just email me at jessicahalter@yahoo.com and I will be happy to provide a donation letter.
Every time you go to a restaurant, entertainment location, or to a club, ask for a donation. Nothing is too small or large. Please help us make this a successful fund raiser for children with cancer.
Finally, I am going to be very honest here…we have not had many activities this season because no one is volunteering to coordinate them. We CANNOT DO IT WITHOUT YOU. That being said, who will volunteer to lead us in a Super Bowl party, Rockets games, r o d e o t r i p, bow l i n g / d a r t tournaments, deep sea fishing, laser tag, trips other than ski trips (you travel FREE!), biking, rollerblading, camping, hiking? YOU NAME IT, AND JOSE AND I WILL HELP YOU PLAN IT. IT IS NOT HARD, BUT WE CANNOT DO ACTIVITIES WITHOUT SOMEONE TO COORDINATE. Who will step up to help out? Don’t be shy!
Jess
For the coming activities, keep checking the Calendar of Events listed on page 5, and at www.spacecityskiclub.org. Please check your e-mails for short notice activities. Remember to send me any SCSC past files, memorabilia, documents or items. My emails are vpprograms@spacecityskiclub.org or jaraujoy@msn.com and Jessica’s e-mail is jessicahalter@yahoo.com. |
| FROM THE SKI DESK | By Kayleen Kill, VP of Trips |
Have you seen all the snow they are getting out west? It certainly has sparked a lot of interest in our early ski trips. By the time you get this issue, the Keystone trip will have returned from what I know was a fabulous trip. We had 38 participants, of which 13 were children.
The Vail trip is about to take off on December 3. We offered both a long and short option on this trip, both leaving on Saturday, and returning on different days. We have 24 on the short option and 20 on the long for a total of 44.
Steamboat will be the first trip of the new year and currently has 66 on the long trip and 28 on the short.
Probably because of the great early snow, all three of these trips have had quite a few members wanting to sign up AFTER the final payment date. Although I have mentioned it before, I want to state once again -- to be assured of a spot on a trip, be sure to sign up ON or BEFORE the final payment date. Those dates are set because there are set cancellation dates where we have to reduce lodging and/or air or incur a penalty if we don’t sell them. We reduce to the number sold on that date. You may ask why we don’t keep extra rooms and air for those who want to sign up late. In some cases, we might keep a few seats, but as managers of the club, we feel a responsibility to insure the club does not lose money on a trip. The last thing we want to do is to keep spaces open and not sell them. This costs the club money and hurts all of us. The best thing is for all of you to make sure you sign up for a trip that you really want to go on by the final payment date.
Of course, you can always get on the wait list. We continue to have cancellations on trips right until the week before departure. In fact, I think almost every trip has at least one cancellation a week out. So, if you are willing to be flexible, there is a fairly good chance you can still get on the trip.
In December, the following trips have their final payment date: Big White, Snowbird, Breckenridge and Big Mountain. Breckenridge is already full and has a wait list, but the others still have openings. But don’t delay. We will be reducing the size of the trips soon and you don’t want to be left out.
Here’s to a great ski season! |
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