About Us

Meet the Happy Trail Tours Family!

Happy Trail Tours, primarily a motor coach vacation company is nestled way up in the northeast region of beautiful Minnesota in Forbes ... a small rural community surrounded by evergreen trees, rivers, lakes and taconite mining companies. The office has been located in the home of Grant and Marge Ellis since 1983 when the "Happy Trails" story began blazing it's adventurous trails!

First off ... let's introduce you to the Happy Trail Tours family.

It was in 1983 when the Happy Trails story began blazing it's adventurous trails across this great country of ours and it continues to do so to this very day. A special thanks to all our faithful customers who've made many journeys with us AND to all the new ones who've yet to discover how fun it is to belong to the "Happy Trails" family.

Diane Olds

In the late 80's, the company started to grow quickly and Diane began helping in the office. By the fall of 1991, she was escorting the tours! Today Diane designs and creates the tours and writes the tour brochures. She spends hours on the computer looking for neat places to go that offer new and exciting travel experiences that are often unique just to Happy Trails! When she needs a change of scenery from the office and the computer ... she jumps on board one of those big beautiful motor coaches and escorts the group on one of the tours she's created!

For the past 27 years, the office of Happy Trails was located in the home of Marge & Grant Ellis in Forbes. Beginning in January 2010, Marge decided to slow down the pace and retire. A simpler life, after 27 years with the operating the company felt very inviting. So Happy Trails Tours moved from Marge and Grant's home in Forbes to a mile further south on Highway #7 (just over the tracks) to Zim. This is where Diane Olds, Marge's daughter, and her husband Larry live.

Diane and her mom, Marge, have worked together at Happy Trails Tours for almost 20 years as a team writing tours, promoting them, designing brochures and getting to know what their customers are looking for. The great thing about retirement is that you can still work IF you WANT to. And that's exactly what Marge is doing. She is still actively working because she loves it and Diane
loves having her expertise in the office. She continues to be a vital part of the company in many levels and we can only think of one thing that has changed since the company moved to the new office. Marge is not making Diane's lunch everyday like she did over the past 20 years. No! That job is left for the new CEO, Diane, who is now making lunch for her mom.

The two of them continue to work together planning fun places to go. And who knows...you might even see Marge on a Happy Trails tour every now and then. (She's still baking her famous oatmeal raisin cookies, too).

Then there's Lynnie Aro.

Lynnie joined the Happy Trail family in August 2005 and has really been a vital part of the business. She handles the office with ease, always busy with endless tasks, enjoys visiting with customers as they call in and is one of our top motor coach escorts. After Lynnie's first time escorting experience to Branson, Missouri ... it was evident that the travel business was her "calling". Lynnie is also a delightful storyteller ... so if you happen to be on one of her tours, you're sure to have a wonderful time.

Let me introduce you to Gloria Hegg.

Gloria is from Bear River, MN and escorted her first tour on New Year's Eve in 2006 to Chanhassen, MN. It's no wonder the customers enjoy her because she, too, is a storyteller, has a great sense of humor and thoroughly enjoys the people that she meets through this business. We're excited about bringing Gloria into the Happy Trails fold.