Spain & Portugal

Recap

In March, Orlando Ski and Travel Club headed to Spain with 45 trip participants for 14 days. By all accounts, it was a wonderful trip! We started our adventure in Madrid with a fabulous private Spanish dinner in a “cave”.  We visited the Prado Museum, the Royal Palace, Almudena Cathedral and danced the night away in a 1970’s disco!

From Madrid we took a high-speed train to Granada, bustling city at the base of Sierra Nevada ski mountain. We had several days of blue bird sky fabulous ski conditions, and a couple other days with a variety of other weather conditions; quite the experience with fun being had in ALL conditions!

While  I went with the skiers, my Co-Leader Betty Downs took others touring. They toured, tasted & learned about Olive Oils produced from the locally grown groves where the lions share of world olives come from, some trees being over 1,000 years old. And saw enough cured ham legs to feed the world! Learned how the locals live in a few small villages including the gypsy cave homes, plus enjoyed a winery tour and tasting.

We also toured the Mosque of Cordoba with it’s amazing architecture. It is unique in that it has been occupied by Moorish, Catholics and Christians, each mostly respecting the architecture of the other while building on their own structure to represent their style.

We all toured Granada on foot with an extremely knowledgeable guide and then split into smaller groups to tour UNESCO World Heritage site of the Alhambra Palace.

We followed Granada by going to the beach…yes snow and sand same trip! The Mediterranean Sea no less! We had glorious views with wonderful sunrises, walked on the beach, climbed a million steps to the old Village and dined on fresh fish served complete with head, tail & eyeballs…ugh; yet, it tasted great! We visited the Rock of Gibraltar with its famous monkeys, Morocco and other near-by villages.

We saw centuries old castles and churches. Enjoyed Happy Hour on roof top terrace overlooking the Sea, dined on fresh seafood and consumed copious amounts of delicious sangria! Mostly we walked and walked and walked some more averaging about 15,000 steps a day!

After 14 days together of wonderful comradery, 24 of the group came home and 21 of us went on to Lisbon for another wonderful four days of fellowship and touring. In route to Lisbon we had a delicious lunch at a convent.

Upon arrival in Lisbon, we toured the city with a guide, dined on the most fabulous Ahi Seared Tuna, had another unique and yummy group dinner, visited a very eclectic Pena Palace, rode Historic Tram #28 and walked another million miles!

The trip was wonderful in all ways; yet, the BEST part was 45 awesome people who shared great comradery, lots of laughs and bonded unbelievably well! We were a GREAT team/family!

I hope we can repeat the same team for Cortina, Italy in March 2019!

Kathryn Hardage – President & Spain Trip Leader

Jackson Hole

Recap

I have been to Jackson Hole at least 5 times and can honestly say “JH never disappoints”. This trip was just another example of how much fun JH can be for skiers and non-skiers. So, let me start with the only bad, so, I can tell you about all the good. Before we arrived, JH had received over 300 inches of snow, second to only Whistler/Blackcomb. However, there was very little new snow during the week. It required the skiers to be selective on which trials to take throughout the day. I found the almost all the runs off the Casper lift were great.  The rest of the mountain still had enough trails prep by the JH grooming team to be really fun, without being too adventurous. Everyone had plenty of time on the slopes to have fun. And if you needed a break, there was always great food and drink at one the best bars at any ski resort, the “Mangy Moose”, where we had the group’s on-the-mountain lunch.

            On Tuesday, most of the trip participants took the 1-day excursion over to Grand Targhee Resort, on the western slopes of the Grand Tetons. Although the group had be selective on the trails to ski (same lack of new snow), it was obvious why this resort is such a well-kept secret. Grand Targhee has some beautiful runs, few skiers and had the Tetons in the background.

The best part of this 1-day trip to GT was the Après Ski at the home of Orlando Ski and Travel Club members, Roy and Sandra Walters. Roy and Sandra have winter home just a few miles away from GT, which is Roy’s favorite place to ski. With their telescope, you can actually see skiers on the GT slopes. AWESOME!!!

I can speak for my fellow trip participants and say, “Thank you, Thank you, THANK YOU, Roy and Sandra for inviting us into to your beautiful home and your wonderful hospitality!”  It was great day!

            Alright, you might be asking, “Without much new snow, why were you not disappointed?” The answer is simple – Jackson, Wyoming. There is so much to do and see in this area and town. With many great bars and restaurants, we definitely had great food, good music and plenty of comradery with old and new friends. Trip participants took advantage of excursions into Yellowstone Park, horseback riding, and a tour of the Elk Preserve. There is just so much to do on this trip, you hate to give up skiing time to do other non-ski events. And to top it off, the Owner of our lodging (The 49’er) treated our trip participants to a dinner of wild game bar-b-que (his family’s recipe). It was delicious!

            I will speak for the trip participants one last time and say, “Thank you” to our Trip Leader, Mindy Boehm and her (lesser-half) assistant Jerry, for all the hard work they did in preparing for this trip. It was sad this was Mindy’s last trip as a trip leader, and that she could not enjoy much of the trip due to being ill most of the week. We will miss your leadership and the wonderful personality you bring to all your trips.

In closing, I have one question. “When are we going back to Jackson Hole?” I ready to go again!

Bob Mackey

Past President, OSTC

Alfond Inn Art Tour & 

Happy Hour

Wednesday, 4/4/18 @ 6:00pm

If you have been to The Alfond Inn you can't miss their bright and eclectic Art Collection. The upscale Winter Park hotel conducts Happy Hour tours on the first Wednesday of every month. The evening soirees will let patrons take advantage of the hotel bar's happy-hour deals before or after the docent-led trips through the gallery, because art often goes well with a drink, too. The tour is free, drinks are on your own.

You do not need to be a club member to attend this event, feel free to invite a friend to come along. Happy Hour starts at 4:30 pm, the tour starts at 5:30 and ends before Happy Hour does.

Hosted by Debbie Ashworth - VP Year-Round Activities

RSVP for the Art Tour & HH here: