Our Summer Vacations

I remember three kinds of vacations: The Smokys, The Gulf Coast, and Out West with Aunt Al and Uncle Joe.  I won’t say much about the trip with Aunt Al and Uncle Joe because it lacks shared memories.  It did, however, prefigure my future because I wound up living in all of the places we visited: Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.  Whoda thunk.  Someone somewhere has pictures of that trip.  All I have is this one of me with Aunt Al at the Grand Canyon.

Come to think of it, maybe our vacations to the Smokys and the Coast also had forecast power for me: I now live near the Smokys and, after leaving the Air Force, lived in Houston, a Gulf Coast city.

Smoky Mountains vs. My House

I have no pictures of our trips to the Coast, but several of The Smoky vacations.  What do I remember?  The scenery?  The sightseeing?  The historical and geographic significance of all that we saw?  Right.  Here are my memories:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

1. ¢ Motels with no pools.

¢ Howard Johnson restaurants where Dad would get the first cup of coffee, and Mom would get the free refill, and then back to Dad, etc.

¢ No meal over $1.

¢ Indians.

¢ Granny splashing holy water around the car after Dad broke the key off in the Kaiser’s ignition.

I just noticed that I see pictures of us and Dad and Granny, but not Mom.  Did she take all of the pictures?

Comments

[Megan]

I'm waiting for the picture of you dressed up like a girl!

These are great though, because I don't think I've ever seen any of them before. Where have you been keeping them?

[Charlie]

Some of them came from Aunt Anna, and some were buried in boxes. Shaun took many off of the paper they were on because of the acid content of that paper. Now, I am able to scan them and put them up! Thanks, Anna and Shaun!

[Aunt Anna]

I have tons of photos which I'll be bringing in June. I want to share them with whoever would like to have them.

I remember the Smokey Mountains well.

One year the indians offered Dad beads and blankets for me. Horrifying when he hemmed and hawed and haggled over how many. That night Granny slept with her roll away bed in front of the hotel room door. I remember her pulling the bed across the room and putting it up against the door. She also put a chair there and her girdle was hanging over that. What a contraption! She was terrified that I'd be taken in the middle of the night.

Another time we were all in the car and Dad was driving up a curving mountain road. Out of nowhere appeared Betsy the cow planted firmly. Dad plowed right into her side. She turned and looked into the windshield and let our a pitiful MOOOOOOO and then crawled to the side of the road to lay down and... perhaps die. I don't know. I do know we had to get towed as the car was totaled.

My favorite thing was going to those indian souvenir shops and getting moccasins, feather headdress and a tomahawk. Wow! That was the greatest!

I also remember the summer vacation that some friends of Mom and Dad let us use their house in Waveland Mississippi. We got there around 2am after Dad finished all his lessons and we drove to MS. Dad had been given a key so we just all went in and turned on lights. Whoa! The people had forgotten that they let someone else use it and we woke them up. What a scare that was.

Then there was the night trip to the beach in Mississippi. We got there late Friday night. We went swimming in the dark. We couldn't go where Mom and Dad were. Wonder what they were doing in the water all alone over there. Anyway, it must have been a spur of the moment thing as we didn't have swim suits. So we were all in our wet clothes (not Mom and Dad - skinny dipping perhaps) and Dad took us out to eat. I was mortified as my wet t-shirt was clinging to my not shapely body. And there were boys in the restaurant. Like they would ever see me again or remember me.

I went one year with Aunt Al and Uncle Joe on a trip. Somewhere along the line we were in a wooded area and we were walking by a stream. The running water in the babbling brook looked very good to a very thirsty 12 year old me. I saw a discarded coke bottle by the side of the brook. I filled it with babbling brook water. Hours later in the car I proceeded to try to die - for 2 days. The first day I was almost full time unconscious. By the second day I was coherent enough to communicate what I had done. I won't go into what Uncle Joe had to say.

Summers were magical for me. Playing outside in the dark with Buddy and Teddy and the gang. The old horse and cart vegetable man and the summer evening he was crossing the bridge in front of our house. It collapsed. He died and the horse had to get shot. What a mess.

And the farm down the street from us. In the summer the cows used to find their way to our house and drink out of the washing machine in the garage. Nice soapy water. As if cow patties are not bad enough without that kind of help.

I can remember taking a nap one summer day. I was in my bed which had a window directly over my head. I was sound asleep. I was having a weird dream and I kept hearing these weird noises. I semi woke up and became more aware of the noises. I finally opened my eyes and there was a horses head hanging two inches from my face. This was in the days before screens. I was scared cow-pattiless! I screamed loud enough to scare him and he took off. We did get screens later ;-D

OK, enough for tonight. Luv you all!