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On the Road Again
Loudoun County offers wide range of trips for all ages and tastes:Willie Nelson may have put “On the Road Again” to music, but the Loudoun County Department of Parks, Recreation and Community Services makes it a reality for those who have the wanderlust and live in Loudoun County.
This is not to say all trips are of mega proportions -- some may simply be day trips to a museum in Washington, D.C., or even New York City.
Regardless of just how badly your feet itch, the choices are out there and available at very reasonable rates, rates that are made possible because they are group rates and they are done through the county.
And someone else gets to deal with the traffic.
Judy Molzhan is the manager of Douglass Community Center.
“Douglass Community Center has always done trips as a center,” Molzhan said. “We have the ski trips, which are county-wide. This is our 18thyear. ... The funny thing is we have kids that have gone every year that they are eligible.”
The prices for the ski trips vary, starting with someone who wants to pay only for the transportation up to the cost of transportation plus the ski resort’s most expensive package.
Molzhan said the next ski trip is Jan. 25. Buses pick up in the west at Harmony Intermediate School, centrally at Harper Park Middle Schools and at Farmwell Station Middle School in Ashburn. These ski trips are for middle school and high school students. There usually are six to eight school buses making the journey, she said.
Another trip that has stood the test of time and hundreds of travelers is the trip to New York City for adults in May and June.
“We have eight buses for one trip to New York City,” Molzhan said. “That trip’s been going on for at least 10 years.”
Molzhan said the New York City trip offers group tickets for the Rockettes but participants may purchase just transportation. The big thing for travelers to remember is that the buses to New York City depart on the dot. Since 9/11, no bus may wait beyond its appointed time in New York City.
While some trips are perennial favorites, other destination choices vary often, Molzhan said. Other upcoming trips include the Philadelphia Flower Show in March and New York City’s American Girl Museum in April. In June, there will be a trip to a baseball game. A trip that has just completed the planning stages is one to the Crayola Crayon factory in Easton, Pa.
Molzhan emphasized that all preschool and elementary-school children must be accompanied by an adult.
Transportation is usually by motor coach if travel time is more than two hours; less travel time means a Loudoun County Public School activity bus.
Molzhan said suggestions of new places to go are always welcome.
Last but definitely not least, Molzhan said, is the trip camp where children go on a field trip every day all summer long. This is open to children in first through ninth grades.
“These run every single day there is no school, and we never cancel,” Molzhan said. “We are just old, reliable Douglass.”
Mark Humphrey manages the senior trips at the Senior Center at Cascades Marketplace. He was unavailable for an interview because he was on a trip. However, Erik Onate, center assistant, was very familiar with the program and Humphrey’s approach.
“Mark is always building on experience and trial and error,” Onate explained.
Onate indicated the strategy was working.
“These senior trips fill up and Mark has a very loyal following. Many take more than one trip with him each year. They fill up very quickly. Mark tries to find a new location every year as well as using the tried and true.”
Onate said upcoming trips, most of which are through Diamond Tours, include one to Florida in a couple of weeks; the Wayside Theatre in Strasburg/Front Royal in April; New York City in April; Mount Rushmore and The Badlands in May; and the historic triangle of Williamsburg, Jamestown and Yorktown, also in April.
Day trips include those to the various museums in Washington, D.C., as well as theater trips.
“We’ve got a trip to see 'The Sound of Music' at Toby’s Dinner Theatre in Columbia, Md., and 'Thoroughly Modern Millie' at the Riverside Theatre in Frederick, Md. So the plate is full. ...We will invite grandkids and make it a family thing and that’s always special. We have trips where we allow mothers to go with their daughters, like a theater trip,” Onate said.
“And there’s always food involved.”
Contact the writer at ecarlton@timespapers.com
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