(3-2-25) The Twenty First Century Club met on February 25, 2025 at Rockford United Methodist Church Café Room. Hostesses Ann Gage and Karla Butler prepared a delicious buckeye dessert and mixed nuts with a cheeseball and crackers. President Kim Carr welcomed everyone and called the meeting to order. Eleven members answered roll-call with sharing the identity of their favorite travel buddy.

Minutes from the meeting in January were read by secretary Cindy Canary and approved. The treasurer was absent. Peanut butter is still needed for Helping Hands Food Pantry in Rockford. There was discussion on perhaps another charity or scholarship the club could give a donation. That was tabled till next month.

Our theme “Adventures Await” was presented by: Janie Overley and Julia Henkle. Janie spoke first about a dream trip she hopes to take someday to the country of her ancestors, Germany. Her two daughters took the German class trip with Celina High School teachers when they were in school. Armed with some prior knowledge, Janie planned a trip for May when the weather is most pleasant. She discussed air fare costs and ground travel once in the country. She passed many beautiful photos beginning with Hamburg, Dresden and then Berlin. Tours would include WWII bombings of these cities and restoration efforts. Sometimes walking 8 hours a day on tour, another city to tour was Steinau, home of the writers of fairy tales, in Lower Saxony – The Brothers Grimm. Several Gothic castles of renown were on Janie’s itinerary including: Castle Rhine in the Rhine River Valley; and Neuschwanstein Castle in Munich. It would not be a visit to Germany without touring the Jewish Prisoner of War camps at Dachau and Aushwitz. Her tour ended with a walk along the path that Martin Luther took as a young priest who defied the Catholic Church and translated the New Testament Bible into German.

Julie and her family enjoyed Costa Rica back in 2010 and spent a couple weeks there. It is a country in Central America and is the only place you can easily go to the beaches of the Pacific Ocean and the Atlantic Ocean in the same day. Costa Rica is bordered by both. It is very hot being close to the equator and because of these there are many extremes to explore. In fact the Extreme Games are often held right in Costa Rica with water falls, rain forests, surfing and other water sports, mountain and volcano climbing. It is a have to try something new. The Henkles tried the zipling across tropical rain forest in rain gear of course. There was scub-diving, hiking, face-to-face encounters with sloths and monkeys (which are VERY loud, according to Julie. “Pura vida” is a Costa Rican phrase that means “pure life”. It’s used as a greeting, farewell, and to express that everything is good.

The next meeting will be on Tuesday, March 25, 2025 at 7 PM at Rockford United Methodist Church Cafe Room. Toni Bollenbacher will be presenting her adventure. Refreshments will be served by Julie Henkle and Valerie Fritzinger.

Contact Sheila Baltzell-Linn if you are interested in attending a meeting-419-733-3326.