Interest Groups

Come share the wonders of the world in the virtual company of other UMRA travel enthusiasts. We have three, 90-minute programs each year, and for 2022-23 these programs will again be offered via Zoom. Each program shares travel highlights from two speakers. We have seen Mongolia, Dubai and Abu Dhabi, Germany, Hong Kong, China, Poland, the Muir Trail, Ecuador, and more. Next year's programs will include Korea, Pavia and Verona Italy, Mt Kilimanjaro, the Cleveland Way, and Japan.

The UMRA Book Club has been meeting regularly since March of 2011. We meet at 2 p.m. on the third Friday of every month at the 1666 Coffman Building on Larpenteur Avenue near the St. Paul Campus. Presently we are meeting online via Zoom. We are eclectic readers, our books being from all time periods, fiction and nonfiction, and from various genres. We plan our book schedule for the coming year at our December meeting.

We welcome new readers to join in discussing member-selected books, both fiction and non-fiction. Currently, we are getting together on Zoom the fourth Friday of each month. November and December are combined and meet the first week of December due to the holidays.

Do you have a box or several albums of old family pictures that you are not quite sure what to do with? Do you have letters and maybe other documents from your grandparents or great grandparents that are important to you to preserve? Are there family stories that need to be written down for your grandchildren? Or perhaps you just want to find out more about your ancestors and are not sure where or how to begin.

Financial & Legal Issues Group (FLG) is designed to permit greater depth and continuity of discussion to facilitate problem solving and resource identification of retiree's financial and legal issues. UMRA had sponsored various workshops on financial and legal issues in recent years, since the UMRA Board of Directors approved the creation of a Financial & Legal Issues Group in 2017.

This special interest group is for members who want to maintain or increase their fitness and enjoy the great outdoors.  What is hiking, after all, if not walking with better footwear!  Join us as we hike trails around the Twin Cities and in nearby State Parks. Hikes are held on the first Mnday of the month, year around. And twice a month in the summer.

The UMRA Photo Club is open to all UMRA members who have an interest in photography. We welcome photographers of all abilities. Most of us are struggling amateurs who like to take pictures and want to get better. We benefit from the kind help we get from each other. We meet monthly to share photos and talk about different aspects of photography. Recent meetings have started with “theme pictures”—club members contribute pictures related to a specific theme. Members also share pictures of their own choosing. Attend a meeting to find out more