Five Western Coach Tours for Swinging Seniors

Ted Cutter, who runs the Pacific Amateur Golf Assn. and has designed and operated many golf tours for the National Assn. of Mature People, has planned a series of coach tours he calls “golferama carrousels.”

Designed for mature travelers, the trips are from 10 to 13 days and include sightseeing by coach combined with either golf outings or optional activities for non-golfers. The trips include:

--”Pacific Northwest,” leaving from San Francisco with some departures through mid-September, is a 13-day golf/sightseeing tour along the Pacific Coast to Vancouver, Canada. Price for golfers, $1,683; non-golfers $1,485. Transportation to San Francisco and return from Vancouver is not included.

--”Pacific Northwest (southbound),” the same tour, same rates, but starting in Vancouver and ending in San Francisco.

--”Colorful Colorado,” a 10-day circle tour of the Rockies starting in Denver and ending in Colorado Springs, including Estes Park, Grand Junction, Tamarron, Salida and two days in Colorado Springs. Departures through September. Golfers, $1,485; non-golfers, $1,260. Air fare to Colorado not included.

--”Canadian Rockies,” one 11-day tour each month from June to September, starting in Calgary and ending in Vancouver, with visits to Banff, Lake Louise, Jasper and Victoria. Golfers, $1,575; non-golfers, $1,395. Air fare extra.

All trips include hotel accommodations with daily breakfasts, starting times, greens fees and golf carts for the several rounds per trip, and get-acquainted dinner party. Prices are per person, based on sharing a twin-bed room.

For more information, write to P.A.G.A., 426 Dartmouth Road, Burbank 91504 or call (818) 846-1454.

The senior rate for the Renaissance Pleasure Faire being held weekends through June 10 in San Bernardino’s Glen Helen Park is $11.50 for those 60 and over. That’s a $3 discount.

On weekends, several hundred costumed participants are on hand on the 30-acre site to staff about 250 artisan stalls and food booths and provide almost continuous entertainment between 9 a.m. and 6 p.m.

Works by Shakespeare and Ben Jonson, old English folk plays and other theatrical productions are performed on six stages, and there are more than a dozen parades and processions throughout the grounds each day, as well as street dances, jousting tournaments, roving musicians, magicians and mimes.

Glen Helen Regional Park is about an hour’s drive from downtown Los Angeles via the San Bernardino Freeway (I-10) to I-15, then follow the signs. Parking is $2. For more information, call toll-free (800) 523-2473.

For those interested in making a weekend of it, the San Bernardino Hilton (714) 889-0133) and San Bernardino Travelodge (714) 888-6777 each have special rates.

For senior groups of 15 or more there is a two-night package that combines a stay at the Sheraton Riverside or the Lake Arrowhead Hilton with one Faire admission, two breakfasts and one lunch, a Lake Arrowhead boat cruise and a hayride and dinner in Santa’s Village. The group rate is $132 per person, including tax and tips. For information, call (714) 787-7950.

The Time of Your Life Expo, largest such event for those 50 and over in the United States and with the biggest local display of tours, trips and travel services for the mature traveler, runs May 19 through May 21 at the Los Angeles Convention Center from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

For seniors who cannot or prefer not to drive, free coach transportation will be available from many locations to and from the Convention Center.

To find out where to board the buses to the Expo, call Main Street Tours between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday, toll-free at (800) 231-7412 or (213) 375-1969.

Tickets can be bought in advance at Vons, Thrifty Drug Stores, the Southern California American Savings Bank and most Dennys restaurants. You’ll get $1 off the regular $5 admission.