Independent living residents enjoy nine-day getaway to Michigan

In June, three residents of the townhomes at Vista Court escaped the Kansas heat during a nine-day bus tour of Michigan.

Salina Presbyterian Manor independent living residents Betty Rassette, Sue Vince and Mary Ann Lay saw the sights during a trip organized by Village Travel. Sue’s friend Linda Richards from Ellsworth, Kan., made it a foursome.

“This just seemed like a good time of the year to get up there,” and it was, Betty said. The friends traded scorching summer weather for nine days of temperatures that rarely crept past the high sixties.

Betty even wound up buying a sweatshirt on the trip, she said.

For her part, Betty had taken bus tours before, but not for many years. Mary Ann happened to have a Village Travel catalog, “And we thought, ‘Hey, that sounds like a fun deal,’” Betty said.

“We had a good time together,” Betty said. “We laughed a lot and enjoyed each other.”

The women saw sights all around the upper Midwest, including on Mackinac Island, a famous resort area in Michigan.

They visited cultural attractions such as the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield, Ill., the Great Lakes Shipwreck Museum in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, and the National Czech & Slovak Museum & Library in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

They even went on a “dune ride” in Michigan, which was “lots of fun and very interesting,” Betty reported.

In Green Bay, Wisconsin, the foursome got to tour Lambeau Field, home of the Green Bay Packers.

Betty said she, Sue, Mary Ann and Linda thoroughly enjoyed their trip. They met a lot of new people, including a couple from Hutchinson, Kan.

“I would do it again, it was a good trip,” Betty said. “Village Tours treated us really well.”

After nine days on the road, Betty said she was used to the relatively early schedule they kept on the trip. But she was glad to get back to Vista Court.

“It was good to get home, of course,” she said.

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