Out of Town   

8:15 am Bus boarding begins

8:45 am Bus departs Meijer Lot

4:00 pm Bus returns to Meijer Lot (time approximate)

Location: Meet at Meijer Parking Lot, 3825 Carpenter Rd., Ypsilanti

Please note:  Payment due in full upon registration; but no later than September 19^th.  Price includes motor coach transportation, the DSO performance, lunch, & gratuities for lunch service and the motor coach driver.]

Join us for a November morning in Detroit!  First stop, Orchestra Hall located within ‘The Max’ in Midtown Detroit.  Orchestra Hall was announced, built, and opened all within the same year of 1919.  The Max is the name for the Max M. and Marjorie S. Fisher Music Center, which is the cultural campus that serves as the home for the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (DSO). 

After our motor coach ride to Orchestra Hall, we allow time for relaxing conversations over coffee, tea & pastries in this wonderful venue prior to finding our main floor seating.  Enjoy the morning PNP series performance of vocalist-pianist, Tony DeSare, in a symphonic celebration of Billy Joel’s most iconic hits.  With DeSare’s signature vocals and dynamic piano style, experience the legendary songs of the Piano Man like never before—brought to life with full orchestral arrangements conducted by DSO’s Enrico Lopez-Yañez. Hear favorites including “Only the Good Die Young,” “Just the Way You Are,” “Piano Man,” “New York State of Mind,” “You May Be Right,” “Movin’ Out,” “My Life,” “Don’t Ask Me Why,” and more in this unforgettable tribute to one of music’s greatest storytellers.

Upon conclusion of the DSO performance, we travel to Sindbads’ Restaurant & Marina for a leisurely lunch.  This favorite Detroit eatery was established in 1949.  Enjoy your preselected lunch entrée served with a salad, potato, rolls, non-alcoholic beverage and dessert.  After lunch, we reload unto our motor coach for our return to Ypsilanti/Ann Arbor.  Please remember to dress appropriately for the weather and wear comfortable footwear for this very full and active day.

During three weeks in the fall of 2009, George Jabol traveled to northern India, to him a land of exotic cultural contrasts, enduring history and traditions, and great physical and spiritual beauty.  His journey began in Delhi, where he rode his first rickshaw and visited India’s largest mosque, Jama Masjid.  Later he walked in the footsteps of Mahatma Gandhi and learned about his martyrdom.  In Jaipur he saw a snake charmer, monkeys, and cows everywhere, and went on to tour the Amber Fort Palace.  He hunted tigers in the Ranthambore National Park, and at Agra beheld one of the world’s architectural marvels, the Taj Mahal.   His trip ended at the holy city of Varanasi, where he rode in a boat on the Ganges River and witnessed Hindu burial ceremonies on the shore.  In a word, George describes this trip as “unforgettable.”

George Jabol, our OLLI presenter, worked for Social Security Administration for 31 years in offices in Benton Harbor, Ann Arbor, and Dearborn.  Retirement lasted about half an hour before he began work part time for the Michigan Rehabilitation Services as a Social Security consultant in Ann Arbor and Lansing.  Last fall, he became self-employed as a Social Security Specialist.  Primarily George assists people with disabilities understand Social Security’s rules concerning initial entitlement as well as the complex rules about how disability benefits are affected by working.

Although George grew up in the Pittsburgh, PA area, he is a familiar face around the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area.  He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in English Language and Literature and has taught literature and writing part time at Eastern Michigan University and other schools.  He also has presented to various organizations and senior centers celebrating and sharing his vast travels to international destinations and US locales.

India is vast, much too much to cover in one virtual session.  Please join OLLI Out of Town (OOT) for Part 2, as George Jabol continues to share his ‘unforgettable’ travels through India.

George Jabol, our OLLI presenter, worked for Social Security Administration for 31 years in offices in Benton Harbor, Ann Arbor, and Dearborn.  Retirement lasted about half an hour before he began work part time for the Michigan Rehabilitation Services as a Social Security consultant in Ann Arbor and Lansing.  Last fall, he became self-employed as a Social Security Specialist.  Primarily George assists people with disabilities understand Social Security’s rules concerning initial entitlement as well as the complex rules about how disability benefits are affected by working.

Although George grew up in the Pittsburgh, PA area, he is a familiar face around the Ann Arbor and Ypsilanti area.  He earned his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan in English Language and Literature and has taught literature and writing part time at Eastern Michigan University and other schools.  He also has presented to various organizations and senior centers celebrating and sharing his vast travels to international destinations and US locales.

What if you were an old guy on a rented motorcycle riding to the ancient Kingdom of Lo in the Nepalese Himalayas and took a little side trip to Tibet to see the Dalai Lama's Potala Palace?  What if along the way you decided to ride up to the Mt. Everest Base Camp and then it started snowing?  What if, on the way back to Nepal there had been a monsoon that washed away the side of a mountain and eliminated the road?  And the Chinese closed the border with said old guy on the wrong side?  John's photos and story of his recent 5-week adventure to "The Roof of the World" and what he learned along the way may answer these "what-ifs". But only if you join us to hear his adventures!

OLLI Out of Town welcomes our presenter, John Deikis, to provide another amazing travel adventure.  John caught the travel bug working on an ocean-going ship in the 1960’s. He later spent a year wandering to the southern tip of South America, Prudhoe Bay in Alaska, the North Cape of arctic Europe, and the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.  Interrupted by an unexpected adulthood, he returned to traveling when he retired from a career as a clinical psychologist 10 years ago.  His preferred mode of travel is now by motorcycle, and John has ridden in every state and Canadian province, most European countries, Latin America and Egypt.