CA Activities Update - January 25, 2014

Lifestyle Department

January 25, 2014

Click here to access the CA Activities Calendar

Onsite

• Mars Curiosity: Amazing Mission, January 28, 1 p.m., SCB, $5 pp • Movie: True Women, February 5, 5:30 - 9 p.m., SCB, $5 pp • Movie: Argo, February 19, 6 p.m., SCB, $5 pp • Reunion Band - Rock and Roll, February 28, 7 - 10 p.m., SCB, $15 pp

Outings

• K1 Speed – Indoor Go Kart Racing, February 18, $56 pp - 1 Ticket Available • 3 Laps in a Lamborghini, February 21, $172 pp • "Spurs Nation" Basketball, February 26, $100 pp • Celtic Music - The Chieftains at The Riverbend Centre, February 26, $92 pp • The Olympics of the Violin & Dinner at BRIO, Saturday, March 1, $110 pp

Extended Travel

• The Gardens of London • New York City • Canadian Rockies by Train • Royal Caribbean Alaska Cruise Tour • Scenic Switzerland by Train • Trains of the Colorado Rockies • Colorado Springs Getaway • Fall Foliage Cruise

Onsite

Mars Curiosity: Amazing Mission

Astronomy Lecture, Ken Van Lew Tuesday, January 28, 1 p.m., SCB, $5 pp

After an 8 month voyage from earth, Curiosity landed safely on Mars on August 5, 2012, in the most complicated unmanned NASA mission. The landing involved rockets, heat shield, parachute, retrorockets, and a sky crane to gently deposit the nearly one ton spacecraft on Mars. It has already made new discoveries of strata indicating water as it begins its two-year mission to search out the geology and history of Mars. Its eventual goal is Mt Sharp, the central impact peak in Gale Crater, where an eroded layer of geological strata await its discovery.

Movie: True Women

Wednesday, February 5, 5:30 - 9 p.m., SCB, $5 pp Open Seating Theater Style

See the movie, True Women, a sweeping saga of Janice Woods Windle’s best-selling historical novel. Based on Windle’s family history, this is a tale of love, war and adventure spanning five decades. These Texas pioneers lived through the Texas Revolution, the Civil War, Reconstruction and beyond. This is the real story of Texas by people who lived it.

The movie stars , and Annabeth Gish as the grandmothers and great aunts of Mrs. Windle. They are the women who not only survived, but built Texas and then stood before the Texas legislature to argue for women’s right to vote. These women fought and faced the very real hardships of the Texas frontier.

Ticket purchase includes a snack and beverage

Movie: Argo

Wednesday, February 19, 6 p.m., SCB, $5 pp Open Seating Cabaret Style Oscar winning movie for Best Picture, Best Writing and Best Achievement in Film Editing. Acting under the cover of a Hollywood producer scouting a location for a science fiction film, a CIA agent launches a dangerous operation to rescue six Americans in Tehran during the U.S. hostage crisis in Iran in 1980. Ticket price includes beverage and snack.

Reunion Band - Rock and Roll

Friday, February 28, 7 - 10 p.m., SCB, $15 pp Reserved Seating by Table

The members of Reunion Band bring enjoyment to every performance. The band is comprised of a horn and rhythm section with male and female lead singers, make regular appearances at Austin's top clubs, including the Warehouse District's Cedar Street Courtyard and Lake Travis hotspot The Oasis. By mixing classic rock, Motown, hard-core funk, '70s disco, and timeless ballads this group is a treat!

Outings

K1 Speed – Indoor Go Kart Racing - I Ticket Available

Tuesday, February 18, $56 pp Depart SCPL 11:15 a.m.; Return 4:15 p.m.

Austin, home of Formula One racing in America, is also home to K1 Speed – America's premier indoor karting experience. K1 will redefine your notion of go kart racing. These are not amusement park go-carts. These world class European-style 20hp electric karts will make racing your friends a thrilling, unforgettable experience. Professionally designed to ensure customer safety, the K-1 track provides heart-pounding, wheel to wheel racing action up to 45 mph on one of the nation’s largest indoor tracks. Owner Boris Said, NASCAR and American Le Mans driver, makes certain that every K1 Speed center meets all safety standards and provides each customer with quality performance and excitement.

Grab your buddies and call your friends – the race is about to begin. Following a 15 minute instruction session, you will receive your helmet and kart assignment. Each team will consist of twelve drivers for a fourteen lap race. Winners are determined by the fastest lap time which adds a degree of difficulty and strategy to your team’s racing challenge. The top three racers in each group with have a ‘race-off’ of fourteen additional laps to determine the K1 Champion of Sun City. The top three racers will receive a podium photo, medal, and K1 racing score sheet. So if you're feeling a little ‘need for speed,’ let's kick the tires and light the fires! A challenge has been issued. Who will be the K1 Champ?

Ticket cost includes transportation and racing fees.

Volunteer Trip Leader: Jerilee Prather

3 Laps in a Lamborghini

Friday, February 21, $172 pp Depart SCPL 12:30 p.m.; Return 6:30 p.m.

Ride in a Lamborghini Or you may ride in a Ferrari, a Porsche, Audi R8, all worth up to $250,000. 3 laps around a sports car track in a super sports car. This is an exclusive opportunity for our Sun City group from 3:00 to 5:00 p.m. after our safety briefing. We will be the only people at the track for this riding experience, brought to you by Xtreme Xperience.

Founded on the principle that life is about the journey and not the destination, Xtreme Xperience travels across the U.S. offering thrill seekers the opportunity to experience the thrill of riding in the world’s most exclusive cars.

Ride shotgun as one of the professional drivers speeds you around the course for the thrill ride of a lifetime! How fast will you go?

We will have a chance for up close briefings on several cars while we each take turns safely riding next to professional drivers on a closed track, the Harris Hill Raceway.

H2R, designed by track designer David Donovan, is located in the hills of northeastern San Marcos, Texas. The track is a 1.82-mile, 11-turn asphalt road course. The course is 36-feet wide with over 150 feet of elevation changes and a challenging mix of on and off-camber turns, including the 80-foot rise and drop of Santa Rita, Turn 4, (named after the patron saint of the impossible task).

There is a little bit of everything included within the 11 turns including increasing radius turns, decreasing radius turns, positive camber, negative camber (and one turn that has both within the same turn!), one long sweeper, several blind corners, and an 80-foot rise-and-fall in one turn.

Since different sized people fit more easily into some of these cars, we’ll do our best to help you choose one of the top 2 cars you prefer and are likely to fit into comfortably. Light refreshments, restrooms, use of a clubhouse with seating will be available. Because it is a custom ride, there’ll be time for up close looks at several cars not in use as well as the 4 or more cars used for our 3 lap ride.

Feel free to bring a lunch and/or snack with you on the bus.

This trip is physically aggressive and not wheelchair accessible.

This trip includes motorcoach transport ation and super sports car ride.

Volunteer Trip leader: Valerie Weis

San Antonio Spurs Basketball and Luby’s Cafeteria Wednesday, February 26, $100 pp Depart SCPL 3 p.m.; Return 11:45 p.m.

If you are a basketball fan, you won’t want to miss a trip to “Spurs Nation” to watch the San Antonio Spurs host the Detroit Pistons at the AT&T Center. The Spurs stats include four NBA Championships, five Conference titles and 19 Division titles. They have made the playoffs in 23 of the last 24 seasons. What an impressive record!

On our way to the game we will stop at Luby’s Cafeteria. Since dinner is “on your own” you can spend or eat as much or as little as you like. This cafeteria style restaurant offers a wide variety of delicious menu choices, and you will probably want to save room for one of their yummy, mouth-watering desserts.

After dinner we continue to the AT&T Center, home of the San Antonio Spurs, in time for “ tip- off.”

Note: The arena has sports style, stadium seating and there will be steps to maneuver.

Ticket cost includes transportation and game ticket.

Volunteer Trip Leader: Sandra Celis

The Chieftains at The Riverbend Centre Wednesday, February 26, $92 pp Depart SCPL 6:30 p.m.; Return 10:30 p.m.

Celtic music fans – this one is for you! The Chieftains is a traditional Irish band formed in Dublin in 1962 by Paddy Moloney, Sean Potts and Michael Tubridy. First rehearsals were held at Moloney's house with Tubridy, Martin Fay and David Fallon. Their sound, which is almost entirely instrumental and largely built around uilleann pipes, has become synonymous with traditional Irish music , and they helped popularize Irish music around the world.

The group continued to successful records throughout the 1970s and 1980s, and their work with resulted in the critically acclaimed album Irish Heartbeat . They have collaborated with many other well-known musicians and singers including Pavarotti, the Rolling Stones, Madonna, Sinéad O'Connor and Roger Daltrey. The band has won six Grammys and received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the prestigious BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards in 2002. Some music experts have credited The Chieftains with bringing traditional Irish music to a worldwide audience, so much so that the Irish government awarded them the honorary title of Ireland’s Musical Ambassadors in 1989. In 2012, they celebrated their 50th anniversary with the release of their most recent record Voice of Ages.

Ticket cost includes transportation and concert ticket.

Volunteer Trip Leader: Judy Schlobohm

The Olympics of the Violin

Menuhin Finalists Concert - Long Center Dinner at BRIO in the Arboretum Saturday, March 1, $110 pp Depart SCPL 4:15 p.m.; Return 11 p.m.

Founded in 1983, the Menuhin Competition attracts the world’s best violinists under the age of 22. The competition, which travels to worldwide cities every two years, will take place in the US for the first time at the UT Butler School of Music. For thirty years the competition has attracted and identified some of the greatest emerging talents across the globe. We will be witnessing outstanding violin concertos played by four of the worlds most talented “rising stars” as they create an exciting evening accompanied by the Austin Symphony Orchestra at the Long Center. The winner will be announced at the end of the evening and we will be part of the excitement!

Before this glorious evening, we are headed to BRIO for a sumptuous feast of their garden salad with fresh bread, Chicken Pomodoro tossed with a tomato cream sauce diced with caramelized onions, herb butter and basil (no menu changes). Dessert is Tiramisu. I am hungry already! Coffee, tea or soda is included with an option to purchase additional drinks. Ticket cost includes transportation, dinner and concert ticket. Deadline to purchase tickets is February 21.

Volunteer Trip Leader: Ellen Mire

Extended Travel

The Gardens of London

• May 17-24, 2014 • Click here for more information New York City

• June 12-16, 2014 • Click here for more information Canadian Rockies by Train

• July 3-11, 2014 • Click here for more information Royal Caribbean Alaska Cruise Tour

• August 8 - 19, 2014 • Click here for more information Scenic Switzerland by Train

• August 14 - 23, 2014 • Click here for more information Trains of the Colorado Rockies • August 15 - 23, 2014 • Click here for more information Colorado Springs Getaway

• August 21, 2014 • Click here for more information Fall Foliage Cruise

• October 16 – October 24, 2014 • Click here for more information