Traveling with Seniors, Part 4 with Kelley Smith
In this vacation hour, Kelley Smith with CarePartners Senior Living talks about how to travel with your senior loved one to get them experiencing life once again. There’s still a lot of pandemic fear and lots of questions about bringing joy during a family trip. In this segment, Kelley talks about sporting events and other excursions, staycations that families can do with their senior loved ones locally.
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*The following is the output of transcribing from an audio recording. Although the transcription is largely accurate, in some cases it is incomplete or inaccurate due to inaudible passages or transcription errors.
The following podcast is provided by care partners living and answers for elders radio. And Welcome back everyone to answers for elders radio. And we are here again with Kelly Smith, the vice president of care partners living, and Kyley. We have been talking about vacations for seniors and it’s summertime and it’s getting out and the world is open again and I have to say there’s so much happening that is so exciting. I’m you know, training camp right now is releasing tickets for the seahawks practices. There’s bloom and field is going to be open to all fans this fall. You know, I went to a sea wolves game over the weekend. Are You well, we have season tickets. I don’t know if you knew that. I Bet I actually didn’t. I didn’t go the first half of the season because of covid because obviously I’m sixty five, and I said no, but then Dylan, who’s at the Sea Wolves, he called me and he goes, come on, Susanne, I got three games with your names name on it and you’ve got this huge credit, and so I did. So that’s what we did. But Kelly will have to go do a game one of these days, maybe next year, right. Yeah, yeah, so I am really interested. Obviously I’m talking about all these sporting events, but these are important, you know, excursions to do and things to do. So what are some things you know that you would recommend in staycations, adventures, things that we could do right here in greater puget sound? There were so many things I used to do with my grandmother when she was still alive. You could take a day trip to Mount St Helens Alki for the day. Just put your feet in the water. There are so many beautiful things to do here in the Pacific northwest. You Got Mountaineer, you have got so many beaches. When’s the last time you took grandma down to go get ice cream and go visit the trol? You know what I mean. When the last time you got down to Fremont and went to the five place? What about Capitol Hill? Whence the last time you’ll just just to go up there and eat ice cream and and you don’t have a there are so many awesome places right here. If you want to get mom out of the house, you don’t want to go or she can’t or whatever because of work, schedules or whatever. You don’t have time for a vacation even and over my nay. But you want to go build a memory with your loved one, go get them out, get him out the morning early and go be the Pacific northwest. So then I think and tracks and University of Washington and just what looks all the the botany trails. Yeah, yeah, I know we’ve got so many beautiful places and you have a memory. But yet moms not exhausted by the end of the day. You go get lunch in Fremont or you go get lunch it, you know, at Wallingford or whatever, awesome little little our little mitchy little cool places, and you build a memory. HMM, you know, even the self. Think of all the cool places down into coma now, down her old stadium and all the little places of big two giants all along that. It’s amazing. Well, you went to the zoo with your mom. Yeah, and I think, I think one of the things that you’re mentioning and and I is always to give mom or dad something to look forward to, because I think that’s the thing. It be spontaneous. Sometimes isn’t so easy when, if you’re, you know, older and and trying to get your head wrapped around something. But if you say, mom, I want to take one day every month and it’s just you and me and it would be the second Saturday of every month and let’s plan something fun to do together, and I think that is something that I used to do with my mom and I know that my mother would say, I have a great idea, such as such as coming to town. I got well, can we get tickets? And sure enough, I mean the thing that you know, no matter what it is, if you think about like, Oh, I could not go, mom was in a wheelchair. I can’t go to the movie, because it’s like, yes, you can, mom, they have a place where we can take your wheelchair. They will take you right there. Oh, I’m hard of hearing. Well, they guess what they have hearing. You know devices. You know, there’s all different types from ways in which you know you can experience things and to go do a little excursion and take those memories together and I know for those those are precious times and it’s something that gives them something to look forward to. Our gouty cruises around around on them are not that expensive now and you can you can take mom down there and do a whole little dinner cruise. There so many cool things to do here. We are so blessed. You want a beach, you got the beach. You want the ocean, you got the ocean. Mount you want? You want mountains, you got melt. Yeah, anything you want to do here, the Pacific, northwest, Heights, anything at all, you’ve got it right here. Trails, anything. But the Nice thing is anything we want to do can be elderly friendly. It’s just in the planning and it’s in and you know, you think about it, what a beautiful day. You get Momau farly, stop somewhere, you grab coffee, you go somewhere, you go put your feet in the beautiful water, you go see some gorgeous sites and then you have a beautiful lunch, salmon, because we’ve got the best seafood in the world. Here you go enjoy a beautiful day together, to injured day at Marrymore Park and you go see a drive in a drive and show you know it was the last time you saw drive in movie. I know, so many cool things to do. We have ethnic food in this in this city, you can have Russian food, Nigerian food, Indian food, I mean anything you’ve craved your will life you can have here, so you’re not stuck eating that hot dog at seven eleven and showing mom the Lowe hooful, you know, the local you know whatever I mean. There’s so many cool things to do. You can have a new experience if you wanted to. So you don’t have to take mom far, far away to have a stacation, even for the day, and go build a beautiful memory to get mom out of the House during these beautiful summer days. Well, and I know for my mom, of course, she was hundred percent Swedish and she would her Swedish ancestry was very, very much who she was and of course it’s very much who I am because of it. But she, you know, they would have the midsummer festival over and in you know, want eat of what’s the I can’t remember the name of that way. They have the big midst and they raise the maple and again mom was in a wheelchair. It was okay. They helped me and she got to experience those things. Christmas time they do lute fisk. Course that was great. I could take her the beginning of December. It was always a weekend after Thanksgiving and you go and you have lute fisk. So those are things that, you know, just an ethnic thing. There’s ethnic festivals that go on. My part family always look forward to the highland game, yes, which just happened in North Carolina over the weekend. I happen to know that they have it. They have it here in Seattle as well. So do they relieve? Yeah, yeah, Big Island Games here. So I mean that was our family tradition because of our our hearts. Yes, that’s another thing look forward to. You, I don’t care if you’re telling you Scottish, Irish, Russian, I don’t care what your thing is. Yeah, you do some search. You can also find out what’s happening for your own culture here in this specific northwest and you can take your loved one to some really awesome thing that might bring them back some bright memories of their own child. Absolutely well. And speaking of which, what about a day trip to maybe mom or dad grew up in Yakama or or Huw quhim or, you know, Derrington or some little small town? They may be living here but they haven’t been to their hometown and you know, fifty sixty years say we’re going to go on an adventure and we’re going to go back to your hometown. I want to see the house. You know where by where you grew up. I want to learn about your childhood. Tell me about what it was like for you when you were younger. You know where did you used to go? What are the things? And those are the things when you learn these processes of wow, I didn’t realize how much things have changed, but it helps you get in touch with who you know, part of your parents that you never knew well, and that’s also, believe it or not, it’s beneficial to you too, as we all want to know where we came from. Hmmm, and I think one of my favorite memories as younger person was having my dad drive us around one time. And so see that also over there. That’s where you were. I’m not going to go into too much details and going, Oh crap, I didn’t want to hear that. Point is is that, when you have a good laugh about that kind of stuff, you know you never forget those moments or that’s found. You see that house, we brought you home there, and then you remember my mom and Dad were in there twenty and lived in that house. Yeah, you know what I mean. or or you go buy and they say it that’s to that little place over there. You were four years old when your grandma and that’s the house your grandma married so and so. It remember him. You did, like I came with your kid, but I mean the whole stories. But they bring that memories for you too. But also when you get mom and dad reminiscing, what does that do for them? Absolutely bring some right back to their youth, their young days. There fum days, happy days and all of those things that are so important. It’s a beaut it’s a beautiful thing and that’s a bonding moment for you and them. So there’s nothing wrong with that. Take a road trip. It doesn’t even have to be here in Seattle’s you live and seeet, like you said, take him anywhere. But yeah, come on, just say you get a chance. If they grow up around here, why not take a road trip to where you guys grew up? Absolutely and and that place. And before we close today, I just want to say one thing about all of these things. Is Don’t forget to take lots of pictures because because here’s the thing, now that my mom has passed, there’s so many memories that I have that I didn’t record and there’s certain little pictures. At all of a sudden there’s a picture of me and her that we were at, you know, at down at Guess Works Park, at used to be called it, down in Mariner Square. I think that was an artist way back when. But you know, we were sitting there having lunch and I think it was her birthday, but I don’t remember, but she know, I wish I would have had more pictures. I wish, if there was anything that I wish I would have done more of is, you know, taking video of her telling me stories, and I didn’t and I didn’t, and these are the Times that you can truly experience them. You can, you can remember them forever after they’re gone, and certainly sometimes it feels like that. You know it’s not real to you that all they’re going to be around, but you know it’s surprising how fast the time goes. So it doesn’t, like you said, take pictures, get some recordings and cherish no moments because you just believe it or not, they might not be grinned in smiling and dancing in the street, but I guarantee when they get home later they’re going to call every one of their friends. Don’t know wonderful you are, what a great day they out. You know what, I am so thrilled and so for all of you. I know that we’ve been talking about vacations and out but I just want to head give a special thank you to you, Kelly, and care partners for all you do to encourage our families to get out and into the community. And you are in the community, which is so important and I’m just so grateful for you. So, Kelly, how do we reach you again once one, one more time. LIVINGCOM is the best way to find well, I’m so thrilled and again, happy vacations to you, to my friend and to every and ought to all our listeners. I hope that you again will ask your loved one what’s on your bucket list. Think about the places that you could travel to, maybe for an hour, maybe for a day or maybe for a weekend. It might even be a fun thing to take a cruise or get on an airplane or take a road trip, whatever it is. We hope you’re having a wonderful summer, not only here in the Pacific northwest but all throughout the greater United States in the world and looking forward to hearing from you and seeing you next week. Until then, everyone be good to each other. The preceding podcast was provided by care partners living and answers for elders radio. To contact care partners living, go to care partners livingcom
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Originally published July 18, 2021