Our yearly coffee party and travel show was a great chance to meet up with all of our travel friends and get schedules for the upcoming year.

Gift certificate winners were Eunice Paaverud, Laurie Pickett, and Jean Burke.

A calendar listing of our travels is now available. They may be picked up at the outside south entrance or at our Travel office on Monday, Tuesdays and Thursday mornings, or ask at the main desk. Phone calls can be made also to our to 507-438-3946.

I apologize for any inconvenience with trying to call the travel number this past week. We have a new phone but please continue to use the same number, 507-438-3946, or you can also call Doris, 507-433-9391.

Our first outing this season will be the “Bachman’s and Macy’s Spring Flower Show” on March 29.

Our day will begin with a guided, behind the scenes tour at the Lyndale Flower Shop. We will then go to downtown Minneapolis where you will have opportunity to visit Macy’s eighth floor flower show. This year’s theme is “Towers of Flowers.”

Bachman’s Flowers will showcase thousands of varieties of flowers and plants in a perfectly landscaped display. Lunch and the balance of the day will be spent downtown. We will depart at 7:30 a.m. and return about 5:45 p.m. Invite a friend and join us. This is open to the public.

On April 18-20 will have our most educational and fun trip planned for this season: “Five countries without a Passport.”

If you have never been in a castle, you will on this trip. We will be dinning in a Irish Pub with entertainment for our group. There will be a visit to the inside of the Greek Orthodox church with a authentic meal and a “Wedding Dance” to participate in.

We will be entertained by the Scottish Dancers and the traditional dances of Mexico, all in costume.

A delightful Ukranian lady will great us as we arrive and share her country’s costumes and traditions.

We will be attending the opening night comedy show of “Lend me a Tenor.” And we certainly don’t want to leave out a pipe organ concert.

The organ takes the better part of an entire room and will entertain us in a private concert of the oldies and the goodies of rock and roll, and whatever else we may request.

Our last day will be spent at their beautiful zoo. With a tram ride taking you through. Graceful giraffes , rhinos, elephants and gorillas will be on display and we will visit a four acre aviary along with polar bears, penguins and plenty of exotic birds.

On our return we will make a comfort stop at the Queen of Peace Memorial which we immediately will notice a 33’ statue in the distance. There is a circle of life memorial, the chapel and several other silver stainless steel statues in garden settings.

As I mentioned, no passports are needed, as we will only cross the border into Nebraska and Omaha. This two-night and three-day trip will be packed with fun.

We have several longer trips upcoming so check us out at the Mower County Senior Center.