Wanda and Mel:

My name is Wanda & my husband of 49 years is Mel. We are both Colorado natives. We have 3 sons (46, 43, 41) & 1 daughter(39). We also have 4 grandchildren (20, 16, 12 & 4). Our oldest 2 boys are developmentally disabled & live at home with us. They are very high functioning but still need assistance. Our daughter also lives here with her 4 year old son. Her daughter is in her 3rd year at Colorado State University. We raised our granddaughter & are so proud of all that she has accomplished. She is majoring in biology. 2 of our granddaughters live in Wyoming. One wants to be a large animal veterinarian, the younger one a chef or an actress. She has been in several local plays & has received some good reviews.
We assist an 84 year old man who is almost blind & his 89 year old lady friend who lives down the hall from him.
We both retired on disability in 1996 from a local law firm. I was a document clerk in the litigation department, helping the lawyers prepare for trial. Mel was facilities coordinator & later worked in the records department. Before that he worked in a packing house for 16 years as a butcher. He was a volunteer fire fighter for 20 years, moving up in the ranks to Assistant Chief.. He also was in the Navy when he was younger.

FEATURED OWNERS QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

How long have you been a member of WorldMark? Where have you visited?
We bought into WorldMark in April 2002.

We have been to:
Steamboat, CO
Estes Park, CO (2x)
St. George, UT (4x)
Las Vegas NV (on the Blvd. 2x)
Reno, NV (2x)
Pinetop, AZ
Kihei, Maui HI

My husband did a II Getaway to Waters Edge in Connecticut to take our friend (81 yrs at the time) to see his family in Rhode Island & to revisit the Navy base in Conn. where my husband was stationed years ago.

What is your favorite WorldMark resort? What do you like about it?
I think my favorite WorldMark resort is the one we are staying at, is our favorite at the moment. But I have to say we really liked Pinetop for relaxing. We had a ground floor 3 Bdrm SN when we were there in August. Our 2nd choice is St. George.

What things do you like to do when visiting this resort?
We went to the Casino on the Apache Reservation called Hon Dah while staying at the Pinetop Resort twice (WARNING: don‘t eat there), walked at Woodland Lake & the Mogollin Rim (which were easy walks), went to Fort Apache & shopped at several places in Pinetop, Lakeside & Show Low. We relaxed in the condo, enjoyed watching the rain & cooking meals.

Would you share some of your favorite vacation web links and/or photos from this resort and the surrounding area?
I have posted some pictures on the wmowners resort site but I always love to share pictures.

Tell us about the people you travel with - are they family? friends? co-workers? If you have children, what are their travel preferences?
We travel with our 2 older sons, oldest granddaughter & elderly friends that we assist, not necessarily at the same time. Our granddaughter likes to take a friend. Sometime in the future I’m sure we will take our grandson who is now 4 yrs. We also enjoy traveling alone with each other.

What is your most exciting vacation memory?
When my husband won $10,000 on a quarter slot machine in Las Vegas. There were 5 of us & we all hit some kind of jackpot that trip. I even hit my 1st Royal Flush.

Have you ever had some kind of "vacation disaster" threaten to ruin your trip? Tell us your story!
When we were in Kihei the 6’2” teenage friend we had with us tore the cartilage loose that held 3 of his ribs to his spine. We went to the ER at the local hospital but that was a mistake. All they did was to give him Valium. The next day we went to a Urgent Care Clinic in Kihei & the doctor there did x-rays. He called a Chiropractor that was across the court yard & she treated him with ice & manipulation. We were lucky they were open as it was King Kamehameha day and a lot of places were closed. It put a damper on some of our activities as he was in a lot of pain even with pain pills. When we got home the doctor told his parents he had to have been in a car accident (not true) or beat up by a very big strong person (again not true). We think he did it on the exercise equipment.

What activities do you and your family enjoy besides vacationing? (i.e. camping, walking, painting, etc)
We like to spending time in our own backyard in the summer. We are all avid football fans, especially the Denver Broncos. We had season tickets for over 30 years but finally gave them up.

Do you have a hobby? What is it and what makes it special to you?
I enjoy crocheting, counted cross stitch, reading and of course the computer. I find all of these relaxing. My husband likes movies & TV. We both like gambling (slots & video poker).

Other than a WorldMark destination, what is your favorite place to visit for rest and relaxation?
We go to Blackhawk or Central City, CO to play the slots & video poker occasionally. Even though we are retired we don’t have a lot of free time to go places.

If you could choose to live anywhere in the world, where would that be and why?
Colorado is where we were born & raised. We love it here. We are spoiled with our climate & would have a hard time adjusting to anywhere else.

How did you choose to become a WorldMark owner? Or, why did you choose WorldMark over other timeshare companies?
We attended a presentation & liked what we saw. Of course we were not aware of resale because we really were not looking for a timeshare at that time.

What do you enjoy most about being a WorldMark owner?
Before being a WorldMark owner we did very little traveling. We love that we can go to a resort & know that we will have nice accommodations. It makes us want to travel more.

What do you like best about this WMO website community you have helped create?
I like that the owners are willing to share information & tips with other owners. I love the humor. I like that people make everyone feel at home. It’s like having an extended family. I do not like it when people criticize other people.

What suggestions do you have to enhance it?
I think that the creative people behind the scene have better ideas than I could ever think of. I am always so impressed by what they come up with.

Do you have ideas for contests and giveaways that we could possibly incorporate in the future?
See answer to above

Wanda and Mel

After the luau	Francis & Olive	Group at luau	Group in Reno	Guys at Mongolin Rim
LeAnn & T.J. at the luau	Mark & Sonya	Melissa & Jordan	Outside in Pinetop	Wanda at Pinetop