Summer is almost here. Any nostalgic/vintage aged vmb have ++ memories.

I am 53 y.o and grew up going on family vacations every summer. Two weeks. My father took us to every state in the lower 48. At first we were in a tent. Camped at Yellowstone once and a bear kept knocking down the tent in the middle of the night. In Kansas we had a flat tire and my Dad got out to change it and had to unload the truck. It was so windy the pillow literally flew down the road about 3 feet off the ground. My sister and I laughed our butts off. My Dad was about 275 lbs. Then two Hell's Angels stopped and helped him change the tire.

After several years we upgraded to a pop up tent camper. No appliances or anything in the camper just two fold out beds. We thought we were hanging with the Jonses. Back in the 60s and 70s the highways were full of Nickerson Farms and Stuckey's. They both had wonderful divinity. And the Jellystone Campgrounds were a must. -- They actually built a Jellystone Resort just outside our little town a couple of years ago -- but they charge $65 a night for a pull through space.

I was too young to remember most of the Eastern Seaboard states we spent more time in the Rockies. Multiple trips to Carlsbad Caverns and Whites City, Grand Canyon, Glacier Park. I was very young but I can still remember how beautiful Banff was. My father was extremely conservative and although I loved him dearly he was pretty close to Archie Bunker. During the 60s is when we traveled to Canada and at one stop there was a large group of young men and women with the flower child look. No one ever told my father to be careful what you say in front of kids. I saw all these young long haired men and yelled out really loud. "Look!!! Hippies!!" My mom was pod. My Dad was laughing until they started walking toward us and my parents whisked us back into the car real quick. I can remember skipping down the steps at Petrified Forest and my Dad warned me about 3 times to stop before I got hurt. I did not stop and tumbled down my knees all scraped and crying. Get back to the car and guess what -- I get the belt. My Dad would give one warning and after that if he took off his belt all the pleading, crying, bargaining, and promises to never do it again were of no avail. If my sister and I were in the back seat arguing "Quit touching me" --My Dad would pull right off the freeway onto the shoulder and off came the belt. And he was also the expert at the backhand reach around slap to any place in the back seat without taking his eyes off the road.

ABC, NBC, CBS, and PBS was it for TV stations. The remote control was either me or my sister. Played outside until the porch light came on. Actually after the porch light and Mom was yelling to come home NOW. Just feeling a little more nostalgic as I get even older. Not getting political here but the world is changing, some for the better but a lot for the worse. By and large people are getting meaner and this constant in your face attitude when it comes to everything is getting worse.

 

Thanks for sharing.

We did a lot of seeing and vacationing from the family buggy. Numerous trips from So Cal to the Twin Cities, across to the mid-Atlantic and up to Maine and back, gobs of regional trips, Canada quite a few times -- saw most everything between Montreal and the Pacific at some point at least once. We didn't know you were supposed to fly. lol Dad and I still talk all the time about our various camping excursions to the Sierras or Red Rock Country, fishing in central Oregon or with Uncle Johnny on some Minnesota lake, blowing up full cans of beer on the fire and almost blowing up the small tent with a Coleman one time. A classic was taking the small tent with the big-tent poles. Roadside tourist traps, up soaring observation towers in every city that had one, riding out about the most hellacious storm I've ever seen underneath a freeway overpass near Chicago. Oh, and "beereries." I loved touring breweries wherever we were. National parks and historic sites, geologic wonders!

Those were great times. These are great times. Life is to be enjoyed. Go places. Have fun. Try new stuff.

 

I'm 62. We never traveled, in fact my parents didn't own a car until I was 12 years old. We traveled by city bus or walked.
Flew on my first plane at 21.

No whining going on, just giving a contrast. Summers were spent at the playground until dark.

And by the way, I walked to school two miles, uphill both ways! :evillaugh

 

Joe, get off your own damn lawn!

P.S. 54 here.

 

We were very fortunate in that our parents exposed us to travel and were very generous in taking us to the various tourist destinations and such.

Ob Vegas: My first view of Las Vegas was when I was very young flying into LA on a summer trip. The pilot said to look out the window and we would see LV. We did Disneyland, San Diego Zoo, boat to Catalina, the old Pacific Ocean Park in Santa Monica, and a half day in Mexico. ("T-Town")

One of the most memorable was a long driving trip, ending at Yellowstone, and hitting places such as Devils Tower, Badlands, Black Hills (LOL, Wall Drug and The Cosmos) up to Park Rapids lake, things like that.

 

My mother has been in the nursing home for about 6 weeks for a little rehab after a fall -- she lives with us. I was straightening up her room and getting rid of somethings - she is a pack rat. I found a drink menu from a lounge in Honolulu. We went when I was 11 years old. I can still remember this place - Don Ho was signing there and my parents loved Don Ho and Tiny Bubbles. I am pretty sure he had a TV show back in the 60s or 70s or he was just a guest a lot on the other variety shows. The drinks were $2.50 - $3.00 this was in 1972 and it being Honolulu I bet that was a premium price compared to others. And what is it now at a bar in Vegas $12-$18??

I haven't been back to Hawaii since then. My husband went to Navy Dive School back in the 80's - he was in the Marine's but they don't have their on school. He spent 5 weeks there and I can't talk him into going back --- yet.

.

 

I absolutely get my love of travel from my parents - car trips at a young age, airplane trips when older, sleep away camps in somewhat distant location, and many other opportunities to get out of the house. I got measles (despite vaccinations!) in Yellowstone park. So if you got measles during the summer of 1977 after a visit there, sorry. (I have had measles AND been vaccinated 3 times because of school & visa requirements and lack of proof of previous vaccinations due to moves and lack of electronic medical records, etc. It's been cheaper and easier just to get the d@mn shot again....)

These days, I HATE to travel over the summer - too many kids & families AND high prices as a result - so we tend to do our leisure travel in the autumn, which is a cheaper shoulder season almost everywhere....During the summer we garden and drink on our patio, usually have one or two big house or yard projects. Other than moving some plants this year, not sure we have any "big" plans. This is VERY different from my mom - she didn't garden until I was an adult, never when I was little....

 

I have had the measles despite the vaccination. I would highly suggest the TDAP - The tetanus/diptheria/whooping cough. I got whooping cough (pertussis) about 10 years ago from a kid in the hospital I was taking care of. We did not know he had whooping cough until we had to transfer him to a specialty hospital. It is the sickest I have every been. I thought well now since I had it I would be immune - no you need the vaccine. And if you are a child of the 60 or 70s you pertussis vaccine is of no use.

I love Yellowstone. My Dad took tons of photos on slides that I still have. I just need to get a scanner that can convert it to a photo. I am sure there has to be a photo of my Dad feeding the bears cookies from the car. Those were the good old days

 

Shoulder-season travelers here, most definitely. It's nice having that latitude, though we now have to plan a bit more in advance for Terri.

We also really really like being at home. We don't have quite the yard of the past place but we didn't have this view there and we're now in a gorgeous part of the state and NO longer in So Cal.

 

Hey, easy on the So Cal part, lol

 

Attention, attention please, VegasBJ lives in the central valley.

 

Oh, I have had every possible vaccination I am eligible for - I travel in developing areas for work ;-) I'm to old for gardasil and too young for shingles, (vaccines) but I have had everything else. Polio, yellow fever, TDAP, HCV, flu every year and so on.

I hate needles, but I love vaccines! (actually, some are oral ;-)

 

between the ages of 8-17, I got to go to an overnight camp for diabetic kids.
it was the absolute highlight of my summer, and I still recall those times on a fairly regular basis and cherish those memories as some of the best of my childhood.

 

I'm gonna be 59 this year. Where da hell did all the years go? I enjoyed all the stories shared here and can relate to all of them. Especially the belt and Dad's uncanny ability to reach behind and smack you upside your head while never keeping his eyes off the road.

Back then the whole neighborhood took care of each other. We stayed out till dark and ate at our neighbors house. When the street lights would turn on while the bugs would lazily circle it's warm yellow glow my Mom would call out "Electroguy563:evillaugh time to come home!" And my friends Mom would call out from the front porch "That's ok Electroguy563's Mom,:evillaugh he's eating dinner with us".

Those were the days.....

 

Spent a lot of my summers either at my paternal grandparents farm or up at my maternal grandparents cabin in northern Michigan. Used to help my grandpa hand milk the cows, take the two dogs and go fetch the cows from the pasture in the evening, help my uncle gather eggs from the chicken coop in the morning and work hoeing weeds in the bean fields. Grandma made the best caramel rolls. The cabin had no indoor plumbing or electricity. My job in the morning was to grab two pails and fill them up at the pump before breakfast. Need a drink?...no kool aid or soda..just grab the ladle and dip it into the water bucket. Spent a lot of afternoons running wild in the woods, picking huckleberries or sneaking into an orchard down the road and pick a bag of apples. Grandma made the best pies. Evenings were fishing for bass with my Grandpa. Slept on a feather tick mattress which had a homemade quilt that must have weighed 40 pounds. First real trip was in 1959 when the family drove to Niagara Falls, down thru Pa to Washington DC, then back up thru Ohio to Michigan. That was before interstates, fast food restaurants and hotel chains. 1967 found us driving with our pop-up camper to the Black Hills. We toured Jewel Cave with the Ranger.....used coleman lanterns for light. At home, the neighbor kids and I would play baseball in the vacant lot down the block, but had to be careful not to hit the ball into this old lady's yard. She would come out and take our ball if we were not quick enough to retrieve it. Afternoons we would go to the middle school and take free swim lessons provided by the Red Cross. Used to attach baseball cards to the spokes on my bicycle to make a whirling sound...probably ruined a couple Mickey Mantle rookie cards that way. Collect pop bottles and turn them in at the corner store for 2 cents apeice...6 bottles would buy you enough penny candy to give you a belly ache. I would pick strawberries in June and sweet corn in early August out at the farm. I would then take them in my radio flier wagon and go door to door in the neighborhood and sell the berries for 35 cents a quart and the corn for 25 cents a dozen. Half of the money I made went to the Grandparents and half to me....couldn't understand why I had to share, since I was doing all of the work, until my Dad sternly pointed out who was growing the produce. Wow, didn't mean to make this into an essay...just remembering the good old days.

 

My dad worked 6- 7 days a week most of the summer so we rarely went away except for day trips. Mom and my sisters and I would catch a ride occasionally down to the shore where the beach and boardwalk was fantasic. Once in a while one of my playmates parents would take me along to Coney Island . The playground opened with older counsellors ,we would travel to other playgrounds in town to play softball against them. A fond memory was when the Community Assoc. would set up a movie screen at night on the b-ball court. The ball games ran all day until dark and you learned early not to antagonoze "the big kids" or ride your bike into areas where you werent welcome. In my teen years my dad came into some property out in the Hamptons on Long Island. Today that would be like hitting the lottery ,but then it was pretty rural ,quiet and I hated going out there. All -in -all it was a great time to be a kid.

 

We used to prefer Rockaway to Coney, beach just seemed to be nicer and less zooey. I LOVED the Atom Smasher, but actually preferred the Thunderbolt at Coney as far as coasters go. I LOVED the Wonder Wheel. (LOL, "white cars do not swing" but they go higher!)

 

I went once to Rockaway also,but I'm talking 1950's so memory fades.

 

Part 2 ,it's coming back to me now.

My dad was a boat capt. by trade ,tugs in the winter and Circle Line and before that Hudson River Day Line. That may sound exotic and thrilling but trust me it was a grind .
Seven days of three trips around Manhattan Island each day and weekends often "moonlite excursions' that often resulted in drunken brawls and idiot college kids going overboard at night. Pop earned his bucks in those days. The good by product for me was that I would occasionally spend a weekend on the Tug ,talk about a thrill for a 12 yr. old and when I got older and would find a girl desperate enough to go out with me ,I'd take her for a Circle Line Cruise ,free of course.
I remember strolling on the Circle Line Boat like some big shot and walking up to the Capt. in the wheelhouse in front of all these tourists. Now that I think about it,life was good in those days.

 

I'm talking mostly 1960s, not to show my real age.

About the Circle Line, even if you were local, the Circle Line was always a treat and well worth it! It's one activity where everyone from kids to grandparents can enjoy it. I'm sure it got to be same-old same-old driving the same route day after day, but it was always fun to take the trip, as a guest, that is. You will learn a lot of history and trivia by taking that trip. I highly recommend it for anyone visiting the city.

The Circle Line trip I remember best was when I was still in high school but most of our group were over (just barely) 18. They had a bar on board and we sure took advantage of it.