In the cool, dewy summer morning, we’d wake up, get dressed, gobble a simple breakfast, and Dad would pull the family station wagon to the front curb.

The packing parade would begin.

Mom would start piling the loaded suitcases on the front porch; Dad would stack fishing poles and tackle boxes outside the garage along with swim toys, lawn chairs, and all the vacation paraphernalia that needed to be loaded into the car. My brother, Lee, and I would start marching back and forth, carrying it all to the curb where Dad would load it like playing Tetris, fitting everything into each space so it all meshed together.

When we were all loaded up, Lee and I hopped into the back seat,  Mom walked my baby brother, Mark, out, and Dad slid behind the wheel after making sure the house was secure.

We were on our way.

It was a four plus hour drive, nearly 250 miles of Car Bingo, coloring, comic book reading, and, “Are we there yet?”.

The resort consisted of a large lodge with many rooms for those who preferred a hotel-like stay, and several log cabins scattered around the Manson Lake shoreline and in the surrounding woods. There was a sandy swimming beach and, out on the peninsula, a big campfire area where nightly marshmallow roasts and sing-alongs took place. You could have breakfast or dinner at the lodge, seated in the dining room or on the wide screened veranda. If you had a cabin (which we did), which came equipped with a kitchen, you could make your own meals. There was a Recreation Cabin where kids (and parents) could enjoy crafts, games, scavenger hunts, and court sports (tennis, basketball, volleyball, badminton). There was a movie night and a resort talent show as well as dances for the grown ups.

Each cabin had a rowboat so you could fish on the lake and the owner or his son were always available with the motor boat to pull water skiers. 

There was much to see and do in the area~Pioneer Park Historical Area with a steam train you could walk through and logging history displays, parks, historical buildings, and, of course, The Hodag~the legendary forest monster resembling a spiny, dinosaur-like creature. Old loggers told stories about this Northwoods mascot. There were also local “celebrities” like Jimmy the Crow, a friendly wild bird who would eat out of your hand or hop on your shoulder. At night, we’d drive around the forest roads hoping to see deer or stake out the town dump to see if any bears would show up.

We visited Shady Rest for several summers until I was around ten years old. Then our vacations changed.

My parents decided to try camping and bought a Coachman Chief pop-up camper. We began with small weekend trips to local state parks and campgrounds to see how we liked it. Summer trips were great, but those fall jaunts could get chilly. I remember dressing and undressing inside our sleeping bags to avoid the cold air. The tiny heater provided warmth which stayed in the middle and never reached those side pull-out beds where we slept.

The Chief was very small for a family of five and a big dog. Our first big road trip was to a campground near Bowling Green, Kentucky on spring break in April. We met up with a group of teacher families who camped together. Dad, an elementary teacher, was invited to join them that year. I remember it being cold, rainy, gray, and muddy the majority of the trip. And I remember we toured Mammoth Cave because, at the end of the tour, the cave ceiling was so low I decided to jump up to see if I could touch it and, accidentally, brushed my hand against a bat that was hanging there.

We soon decided we enjoyed camping enough to invest in a bigger trailer, and my parents bought a Coachman Citation which had a bathroom, kitchen, and more sleeping room. With this new, luxurious home on wheels, we spent summers at lakeside campgrounds all around Wisconsin where we could visit local areas of interest and historical significance. We could also swim, hike, fish, and horseback ride. One of my favorite places to visit was Peninsula State Park in Door County. We rescued an injured seagull, visited the many Scandinavian cultural sites, ate dinner at Al Johnson’s Swedish Restaurant where they graze goats on the grass-covered roof, and explored little towns like Fish Creek, Egg Harbor, Sister Bay, Ephraim, Bailey’s Harbor, and Sturgeon Bay, all on the peninsula jutting into Lake Michigan.

Being a teacher, Dad usually found a summer job for June and July, then took August off so we were free to enjoy our family vacations. The next big step was a longer and farther road trip. We decided to head to California.

This first big trip happened in summer of 1966. I had just turned fourteen. Dad was a great chronicler of all our trips and I was his secretary, keeper of the notebook where I wrote down every detail~gas stops, mileage, total gallons, price per gallon, total cost~every campground with full info~every historical site and tourist spot visited and what we saw. And we saw a lot!

Cahokia Mounds Historic Site in Illinois, largest prehistoric Indian city north of Mexico~Gateway Arch, St. Louis and Meramec Caverns, Stanton, Missouri where Jesse James and his band hid out. At Roaring River Campground, Mom stepped in a gopher hole and sprained her ankle so she had to do most of her sightseeing sitting down. If it involved a lot of walking, she stayed in the camper while the rest of us did the hiking.

We drove the Will Rogers Turnpike and camped in Boiling Springs State Park in Oklahoma; walked the Crater Rim Trail of Capulin Mountain National Monument (an extinct volcano) in New Mexico; watched a glorious sunset after a rainstorm at Grand Canyon National Park, and followed the Long Logs Trail in the Petrified Forest National Park in Arizona.

Next, we splurged on a hotel~The Castaways~in Las Vegas, Nevada where my parents enjoyed shows at The Dunes Hotel and Casino and did a little gambling at The Silver Slipper and Algiers Casinos. We kids got to visit the Comstock Bonanza Mine and pan for gold. We also toured the Hoover Dam.

We finally made it to California where we toured the San Diego Zoo and visited Marineland, then headed to Anaheim where we hit the highlight for us kids~Disneyland! Mom’s ankle still bothered her if doing a lot of walking so we rented a wheelchair and WOW! We suddenly turned into VIPs, escorted around every waiting line to board each and every ride separately. We rode every iconic ride and saw all we could cram into one amazing day. The next day we visited Knott’s Berry Farm.

We took a star map tour and saw many homes of famous celebrities, then drove through Forest Lawn Cemetery to see some famous final resting places. We also visited the Calico Ghost Town in Yermo and toured Old Mission Parish in San Luis Obispo.

Our next big stop was San Francisco where we took a Gray Line Bus Tour of many of the famous sights like Mission Dolores (founded in 1776), Muir Woods Redwood Forest, Golden Gate Park, Lombard Street (the zig zag one), and cable cars. Then we hopped on the Red and White Fleet Harbor Tour boat and saw Fisherman’s Wharf, Golden Gate Bridge, the Marina, the Presidio, more bridges and islands, including Alcatraz. Believe it or not, the entire one-and-one-quarter hour tour cost us $5.75 ($1.75/adults, .75/kids). Today that same cruise would cost us $163.

We headed north from San Francisco to Santa Rosa where we spent some time with my favorite Great-aunt Olive and Uncle Bill. She was Mom’s aunt and a former teacher who was the one who encouraged me to write. We went with them to tour Jack London’s home and ranch in Glen Ellen. It was a beautiful place.

When our short visit was over, we headed for Lake Tahoe. Dad was getting info at a hotel so we wandered over to look at the view of the lake and found a small, natural pool with the clearest water I’d ever seen. We took off our sandals and cooled our feet in the icy water. Next, we crossed into Utah where we swam in the Great Salt Lake and took a quick drive around Salt Lake City. We reached Estes Park, Colorado where we rode the Aerial Tramway with Dad while Mom refused to go, not liking heights. In Colorado Springs, we visited another ghost town and attended a service at the U.S. Air Force Academy Cadet Chapel. Finally, we drove through Rocky Mountain National Park where we had a snowball fight in August, fed friendly marmots, saw lots of amazing wildlife and gorgeous mountain views.

It became a habit that, once we hit the plains states on the way home, we were done sightseeing and had had enough vacation, so Dad drove pretty much straight through Nebraska and Iowa to get home to Wisconsin. We were beat and wanting our own beds.

But in 1968, we were ready for another road trip. This time we headed through Illinois and Missouri and into Oklahoma. Lee was in his glory, gathering new and unusual insects for his bug collection back home. And Oklahoma had a lot! Big, red, furry fire ants, huge wolf spiders, beetles of all kinds and colors, and flying creatures that had huge pincers. He captured so many there was a waiting list for his “kill jar”. Those sitting on Death Row were kept in separate styrofoam cups with cling wrap rubber banded over the tops, and the cups were lined up on top of boxes behind the car’s backseat. At one point, I had to play jailer while I waited by myself in the car. In a bid to free themselves, the creepy-crawly prisoners would crawl up the sides of the cup until it tilted over and they could use pincers or jaws to pick at the cling wrap. I was kept busy standing cups back up to knock the bugs down again before they could chew a hole to escape. I didn’t want them on the loose in the car with me.

While trying to capture a bug in a field at the campground, Lee got bit on the lower leg. The bite swelled into a big bubble on his skin. We all piled into the car and headed for the nearest ER where the doc asked if Lee could describe the bug to him. He said, “Oh, I have it with me.” And produced the cup containing the culprit. Lee always gets his man . . . er, bug.

After Oklahoma, we headed for Texas. We visited Dallas-Fort Worth. While at a campground there, we’d gone out to dinner so I was a bit dressed up in a yellow dress with small black dots, and I was watching some people play tennis under the lights when a very cute boy my age joined me on my park bench and said hi. I was surprised because, back home, I was definitely not a cute boy magnet. He was from Louisiana, visiting Dallas with his family, and was very polite. We sat and talked for quite awhile and, at one point, he rested his arm behind me on the bench back and touched my hair. I was thrilled. But, of course, Dad came along to see where I was so that was the end of that!

Dallas was also where Mom decided to dip her little finger in a small bowl of green sauce, sitting on our restaurant table, to taste it. It was some kind of chili pepper condiment that set her mouth on fire and made her eyes water as she began gulping everyone’s ice water, trying to kill the burn. She never did that again!

We spent a day in Arlington at the Six Flags Over Texas theme park going on rides and watching shows. We headed southwest to San Antonio which was my favorite city in Texas. We took a boat ride on the San Antonio River to see the famous Riverwalk which was beautiful. We also chased a white-spotted black beetle down the sidewalk while Mom dug in her purse for a styrofoam cup, cling wrap, and a rubber band so Lee could add it to his collection. People thought we were pretty strange.

My favorite thing was visiting The Alamo. I love the history of it and the story of the brave men, less than 200, who faced down the thousands in Santa Anna’s army. Davy Crockett is one of my heroes so this was special for me.

We also visited the 1968 World’s Fair Hemisfair in San Antonio which was fun and interesting. We moved on to Houston where we toured the Astrodome. We finally made it to Padre Island, our goal, where we camped across the road from the glorious white sand beach, after getting the car stuck in that same sand beach with lots of beach people coming to our assistance to get us out.

I made the mistake of dozing off in the sun which burned the front of my body from head to toe. When we went into town that night for dinner, I was in pain and had to walk like a zombie because it hurt to bend anything. I had also made the mistake of getting my leather sandals wet in the Gulf so, as I zombie-walked, my sandal came apart from the saltwater and my walk became even stranger.

The next day, I tried body surfing, misjudged a wave and, instead of gliding in, the wave crashed me under and dragged me along the gritty, sandy, ocean floor. I swallowed some saltwater~UGH!~and my sunburned skin now was scraped raw by the sand. Even more painful!

We crossed the border at Brownsville and took a little trip to Matamoros, Mexico where I tried to take pictures of some children in the town square as they listened to music. I tried using my high school Spanish on them. As soon as they heard me, they all began chattering a mile a minute in their local dialect and I hadn’t a clue what they were saying. My parents bought both my brothers cowboy boots and our taxi driver took Dad to a special store and went in with him to be sure he didn’t get cheated while buying a carton of cigarettes for Grandpa. They were a lot cheaper in Mexico.

From beautiful Padre Island, we traveled east into Louisiana and spent a couple days in New Orleans~one of my very favorite places on earth. We toured the French Quarter and Jackson Square where Mom bought lovely French Quarter prints in Artist’s Alley. I visited a voodoo shop where I bought a book on Marie LaVeau, infamous midwife and herbalist. We enjoyed our stay there, but it was time to head for home. Once again, as soon as we hit Arkansas, we drove straight through back to Wisconsin and home sweet home.

We did one more California road trip in 1971 with a bit of a different route there and back. This time, in Vegas, I was old enough to legally visit the casinos with a parent escort so I celebrated my 19th birthday playing the slot machines. We visited Universal Studios, Malibu Beach, Crater Lake in Oregon, and Yellowstone Park in Wyoming where it snowed in August.

When we weren’t camping, we would often rent lake cottages around Wisconsin where we could relax and enjoy swimming, fishing, boating, hiking, and seeing the local points of interest. I love lake life and started doing this type of vacation with my daughter and grandkids to try to give them some of the same fun memories I have of my childhood.

The last kind of family vacations we enjoyed were our several trips to Florida to visit Disney World. The first time was in 1972, the year after it opened. We stayed in the Fort Wilderness Campground and had the most exciting time. Mom’s favorite ride was It’s a Small World and we rode it several times until the song was on a loop in our brains. The Magic Kingdom was my favorite park with all the rides and shows from my well-loved childhood movies.

We went again in December of 1974. Lee had just married his girlfriend, Linda, earlier that month so they were coming along as a honeymoon trip with their own tent and gear to share our campsite. Dad was busy getting our camper ready and Mom and I were watching TV when we heard a kind of “whump!” sound. Mom thought something fell in our attached garage. I checked, but didn’t see anything. Suddenly, she gasped, “Your father!” I ran to the front room, threw open the door, and saw Dad tossing a smoldering rug out of the trailer onto the snow. Smoke was pouring out of the camper and the sides of it were bowed out.

Dad had been checking the gas stove. He turned on a burner and struck a match to light it. Unbeknownst to him, there was a leak and gas was collecting at floor level near his feet. He was standing on a throw rug. The match burned down to his fingers so he dropped it and it ignited the gas fumes at his feet. That was the “whump!” we’d heard; fire whooshing up around him as it expanded the interior, plumping out the sides, blowing the large mirror off the wall, and starting the throw rug smoldering. Fortunately, it was cold and Dad was bundled in a heavy winter coat and hat that protected him. His eyebrows were singed nearly off and his face looked sunburned, but otherwise he was uninjured. The camper, however, was no longer usable and we were leaving in a few days.

 

We ended up renting an all-in-one RV motorhome and, talk about blessings in disguise, this was a fantastic way to travel. We were free to move around, play card games, snack, nap, use the bathroom, and have a great trip down to Florida. We stopped in St. Augustine first and had the most fun time shopping for joke-y little Christmas gifts for each other and touring Castillo de San Marcos. Then on to Disney World where we enjoyed camping and visiting all the parks. We sometimes did things together and sometimes paired off to enjoy things we wanted to do on our own. It was a great vacation.

Now that we were all on our own, family Disney trips were a bit harder to do. Lee and Linda had divorced and he was living in Colorado. Mark had married and was raising a crop of daughters so they did their own vacations. My parents began spending the cold winter months in Florida in their new camper. The next time we had a family vacation was when I took my six year old daughter, Molly, by train to meet my parents in Florida and visit Disney World with them. It was in February of 1987 and I was so glad I could enjoy seeing Molly’s excitement on her first visit to Disney World. We videoed everything so we have wonderful memories to watch.

By the time we decided we needed another family Disney vacation, Mom had survived a bout with breast cancer, Lee was still in Colorado, Mark was now divorced with three daughters, and Molly was seventeen years old. My parents’ 50th wedding anniversary was in May of 1997 so we planned another trip just after Thanksgiving through St. Nick’s to celebrate it. That way all the Disney Christmas decorations would be up. We rented one of their original Treehouse Villas for the 10-day stay. At the last minute, Mom decided she didn’t want to go. She said she just couldn’t deal with the crowds and walking all day and would prefer to stay at home and get everything ready for Christmas. Mark’s girlfriend said she’d keep an eye on Mom and take her grocery shopping and to church so not to worry.

While we were disappointed Mom wouldn’t be with us, we were still excited to go. It had been a long time, there were several new attractions to visit, plus it was still Disney World’s 25th Anniversary celebration. We had a great time and it was the first time all the girls were with us. Erin and Molly had the loft area, I shared a double bedroom with Kali and Morgan, Dad had the master bedroom, and Mark was on a sleeper sofa in the family room. The maids would arrange my niece's stuffed toys in cute little scenarios every day to surprise us when we came back~playing cards, doing dress up, having a snack, etc. It was very funny.

Shortly after we returned home, Mom’s cancer metastasized and she underwent radiation therapy again. I’m sure she hadn’t been feeling right and that’s why she opted out of the trip. She normally didn’t like to be alone, but I think she was needing that time for some deep thinking. Less than a year later, she passed away

We had one more family vacation at Disney World in February of 2002. We were celebrating Dad’s 80th birthday. Mark drove the van down packed with all our luggage and got our Wyndham Palms Village villa ready, then picked us up at the airport. The villa was great and right next door to Disney World. Mark had the master suite, Molly and I shared a double bedroom with en suite bathroom. Kali and Morgan shared a smaller twin bedroom, Dad had the sofa sleeper, and I don’t remember where Erin was. But we had an in-ground pool and hot tub on a screened patio.

We had a breakfast with Winnie-the-Pooh characters, a great dinner at the Rainforest Cafe in Disney Springs, rescued a big turtle trying to cross a busy Disney Springs road, spent a day at Universal theme park, and got to ride Space Mountain a few times in a row because Dad was wearing his “It’s my 80th birthday!” ribbon and they let us stay on. We did a lot of things together, but also had time to ourselves for shopping and returning to favorite rides and places. Molly and I even went into Orlando one night to visit the techno nightclub owned by her boss’ brother and met him. He bought us both a drink and we had a good time. It was a wonderful vacation!

Nothing can erase the special family vacation memories we shared from childhood to adulthood. We were so lucky to be able to spend those times together, see all the places we saw, visit so many states and enjoy the great sights of our wonderful country. We were blessed!

And I had the time of my life!