When public school administrator Bev Jagla signed up for a three-week exchange visit to England , she expected an adventure. But the East Wenatchee woman had no idea her first visit abroad would be like dropping a pebble in a pond. Now, 20 years later, the ripples still reverberate, connecting an ever-expanding network of trans-Atlantic friends. Over the years, Jagla has made nine trips to Europe and hosted British friends eight different times. Along with her friends, former teaching colleagues Rose Mullan and Kathy Carriger—now pegged CRR’s “Golden Girls”— she traveled to Las Vegas recently, for a reunion with 10 of their British friends. “You’ve seen New York in films,” Alan Dummett noted. But Las Vegas surprised him and his wife. “It’s so much. So big,” he said. With vacant land scarce in England , people aren’t used to seeing wide open spaces, Carriger said. “It’s the extravagance,” of Las Vegas that impressed other English friends who visited in earlier years, she recalled. “They are forced to live frugally.” Ginny Dummett noticed fewer smokers in the U.S. than in England . She said people in England are known for “binge drinking,” but things seem different in America , if Las Vegas is any indication. “It’s incredible that people are drinking and playing the machines at eight o-clock in the morning,” she said, laughing. “It’s an adult Disneyland ,” Jagla said. “It’s very artificial.” “It’s a pretend city,” Carriger said. “It’s a movie set,” Mullan added. LAS VEGAS : An Adult’s “Small World.” Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Over a buffet dinner in a Fremont area casino, the group considered what it means to “travel”the world via the assortment of themed fantasy casinos that line the Las Vegas Strip – the Luxor (Egyptian), the Ventian (Italian), New York New York, Paris and the Aladdin (Moroccon). “The art exhibits and fountains,” Jaglas noted, are like, “little bits of culture that’s artificial, but you know that.” In one way, Ginny Dummett said, it’s very unreal. “But for people who can’t travel to all these places, it must give them an insight to what it’s really like.” The authenticity has its limits, however. “At Paris (the casino), it wasn’t real French food,” said Denny English. “We had a breakfast like every other place in America .” Freemont Street : out-stripping the Strip E Live bands playing at intersections, people dancing in the street, vendors selling wares from kiosks and carts and an easy flow of pedestrians between casinos make a friendly, party-like atmosphere. “This is gonna give the Strip a run for its money,” Jagla said. “It’s not as spectacular, it’s not as ‘over the top.’ But it’s beautiful.” Jagla, who was staying at Treasure Island on the Las Vegas Strip, said she would stay downtown next time. “It’s more friendly.”
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Hugo’s Cellar at Four Queens Casino This elegant old casino, near the Golden Nugget, is home to Hugo’s Cellar, a fine gourmet restaurant serving generous martinis in decanters sunk in miniature buckets of crushed ice, allowing a martini to be poured out incrementally and savored in stages. Jaglas’ brother, Denny English, and his wife Sandy English, of Wenatchee , tagged along on the trip to Las Vegas to see people they met in England when they visited there several years ago, after being introduced by Jagla. The circle was gotten bigger and bigger, Jagla said, containing at least 50 people now. “It’s been a ripple effect.” An Adventure “Bev wanted a new adventure,” Denny English recalled of his sister’s first trip, made as part of the University of Wisconsin ’s Visiting Educator Program. “That was a big adventure,” Jagla recalled, “for me to go off to England by myself for three weeks.” And it led to an ongoing richness in her life. She chalks it up to reaching out, making friends, introducing other friends and staying in touch. Part of it hinges from an interest in continual learning, but there’s more. “It’s the willingness to take a risk,” she said. The Best Buffet in Las Vegas? Very possibly so, said Dr. Munchie, who tagged along on the Golden Girls’ latest adventure and visited the Spice Market Buffet at the Aladdin. For $24.95, it was a lavish spread, featuring tempura shrimp, crab cakes, chicken scallopini , succulent prime rib, stuffed pork loin, fresh salmon, pineapple Thai chicken, Alaskan King crab legs, fresh fruit cobbler, dessert crepes and a lovely array of cakes, tarts, and chocolate-dipped straw-berries. Oh yes, and there was also creamed spinach, something Dr. Munchie seldom encounters, but always enjoys. (See story, page 15). The Golden Girls on Aging & a Happy Retirement One key is financial stability. “Take care of your finances,” Jagla said. Before retirement, “I arranged my world so I was financially very comfortable, so I had choices.” And health is a big consideration. “We’re very mindful of wellness,” said Carriger. “If aging is a mental process . . . some people age because they don’t keep active, don’t take care of themselves.” It’s also in how you see yourself and what labels you chose to describe yourself. “Wait a minute,” said Carriger, who is in her 60’s. “I’m not an elderly person and am not going to be an elderly person for another 15 or 20 years . . . if then.” “Good health is a real blessing,” she added. “Take care of your health. Get exercise and don’t smoke.” “Some people retire from life when they’re 30,” Mullan said. Although retired, the Golden Girls are actively involved with their families, friends and community. “We’re here to be productive and serve,” Jagla said. “We all have gifts. Life is about giving back. You gather energy from other people and doing things.” "If you’re bored, you must be a boring person,” Jagla noted. “Maintain social connections and develop a safety net, a support system drawing from different circles. Stay involved. Keep learning, join committees and clubs and nurture your friendships. “You really have to nurture those different groups.” “Every contact you make like that opens up a new world,” she said. “You have to keep a pattern in your life and keep zinging along.”
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Among the group were Alan and Ginny Dummett, of Taunton
, Somerset , a town of about 25,000 in southwest England . To celebrate
their ruby (40-year) wedding anniversary, the couple scheduled a side-trip
to Las Vegas in conjunction with their trip to New York . The Big Apple
was just what they expected. 
nthusiasm was high for the Fremont Experience, a nine-story
tall, four-block long electronic canopy enveloping Las Vegas ’ old
down-town. The area has been closed to traffic and is now a semi-enclosed
mall, with overhead heaters taking the chill off during winter and misters
keeping it cool in summer. An over-head light show steals the stage every
hour, as the crowd cranes its collective neck for five minutes to enjoy
dazzling, dancing lights and musical effects. 