Globe Syndicate

For release Friday April 14, 2006

The Sandwich Generation . . . Helping Your Aging Parents

by Carol Abaya, M.A.

FAMILY FUN TIME IS HERE

1st of 2 Parts

2006 Vacation Choice: New Mexico. Every year about this time, I write about multi-generation vacations. Places where elders, sandwich generationers, and young and older children can all enjoy activities and the sharing of time together.

2006’s destination is New Mexico, which features the historical, the cultural, the unbelievable outdoors, great food and fun. Nowhere else in this country are multi-ethnic cultures preserved and honored as much as in New Mexico. Besides the incredible museums, shows and concerts during the summer months, there is hiking through the stark beauty of the mountains, white water rafting, hot air ballooning, and even llama rides through the countryside. Golf courses and casinos add excitement and challenges.

Santa Fe, New Mexico, is the country’s oldest capitol city. Albuquerque is a sprawling, more modern looking city. In both cities, man respects and protects nature.

Both cities blend history with modern conveniences. Yet they are very different. Santa Fe maintains the old adobe architecture and is probably the only city in the country where total physical look is in complete harmony with nature. Even though the economy is tourist driven, the city has no “modern” structures to mar the skyline or the overall atmosphere.

Must sees include the Georgia O’Keefe Museum downtown, the art galleries, the folk art shops, jewelry stores and restaurants. A few miles away are the awesome International Folk Art Museum, with tens of thousands of small figurines from around the world and the Spanish Colonial Museum. Hot air balloon rides and a museum, and night ghost tours add excitement.

The Hotel Santa Fe not only surrounds you with the best of the west in ambiance, but is also the only Indian-Anglo resort outside of Indian reservations lands. Its iridescent purple car is known around the city. The La Fonda Hotel sits today on the site of the very first hotel in the Spanish era, and La Posada Hotel is home to one of the city’s still active ghosts.

In Albuquerque, the past is preserved in the Old Town, which is surrounded by a modern city with elevated highways which crisscross the area. The Old Town square houses San Felipe de Neri Church which dates to 1793 and still has daily church services. You can shop in the galleries, folk art and jewelry stores or people watch while sitting in an outdoor cafe.

The New Mexico Museum of Natural History houses the most complete Tyrannosaurus Rex and the largest found dinosaur, the Seismosaurus. The Lodestar Astronomy Center brings the heavens alive and has the famed Hubble Telescope.

The Pueblo Cultural Center, representing 19 tribes, is a gold mine of Indian and Spanish history. The Indians here were far more advanced culturally and life-style-wise than the eastern Indians, who were virtually wiped out by the colonists. The actual pueblos, located between Albuquerque and Santa Fe can be visited.

Golf courses, spas, the Sanda Peak cable ride, vineyards, and mountain biking and hiking trails are great multi-generation activities.

Next week: TIPS to Make Multi-generation Vacations Fun

Are you juggling doing errands for your aging parents, your children, yourself and working at the same time? Are you tired, stressed out and upset that your once vibrant parent is now frail and needy?

Do you feel alone? Rest assured you are not alone! The Sandwich Generation is dedicated to the 50 million Americans who may have elder/parent care concerns and/or responsibilities.

* * *

Do you have a question? Send it in. Although letters cannot be answered individually, appropriate letters will be answered in this column whenever possible. Letters may be edited. Send letters to Ms. Carol Abaya, mail direct to her at PO Box 132, Wickatunk, NJ 07765-0132 or contact her through her web site: thesandwichgeneration.com.

Carol Abaya is an international-award-winning journalist and creator of the unique magazine The Sandwich Generation: You & Your Aging Parents.

NOTES TO EDITORS: text = 572 words; other material = 160 words

We would appreciate it if you would include the "Globe Syndicate" bug at the end of the column.