Summer is quickly coming to an end and families everywhere have made great summer memories that never seem to fade away. The right photo sure can stir up sweet memories, memories meant for sharing. We would love to share some of ours with you in this Summer Vacation edition of Throwback Thursday.
Jennie Looks Back ~ 1976
We didn’t go on a lot of vacations when I was a kid. Most summers were spent lying around the house watching reruns of old sitcoms (Gomer Pyle USMC seemed to be…well, not a favorite, but ever present, at least) or in St. Kevin’s Summer School Program. All I remember about the Summer School Program was that we made a lot of God’s Eyes. (Does everyone know what those are? You make them with yarn and two sticks. I’m not sure what the purpose was. Decorative? Keeping antsy kids busy? Probably the latter.) Also, I think I got a couple of hellacious sunburns on our occasional pool that have yet to morph into skin cancer, but there’s still time. But I digress.
One summer (when I was…seven? eight?) my mom and aunt planned a special vacation for my sister and me – we were going to Disneyland! Oh, the excitement – I think at that point I’d been out of the Bay Area *once*, to visit my friend Tara who had moved to San Diego. Since it was all a long time ago and I am old and forgetful, I don’t remember much about the trip but a few hazy highlights:
– We stayed at a hotel called The Quality Inn. I believe it is now closed, due, I’m sure, at least in part to a lack of fidelity to its name.
– My mom was indignant that we were not allowed to bring fresh fruit into Disneyland; at that point the fare inside the park was not as varied as it is today, and after day one with no healthy options, she had bought some fruit for snacking on so she didn’t have to feed us children overpriced crap. Alas, Mickey nixed the idea – no banana from THE OUTSIDE WORLD was going to befoul The Happiest Place on Earth. Of course, you can get fresh fruit inside the park these days, but I have the feeling my mom would not be any happier about paying $3 for a single apple or $5 for a tiny cup of watermelon cubes.
– We were taken on the Matterhorn. What is the significance of this, you ask? Well, the adults involved were extremely roller-coaster averse and had *no* idea that the Matterhorn is indeed, a roller coaster of sorts. I guess the screams echoing from the vicinity didn’t clue them in, nor did the edifice itself, rising high above the ground like, well, a big fake mountain. Once we were all strapped into the quaintly named bobsleds and beginning the first steep ascent, they began to get a clue. The adults’ fear was, unfortunately, transmitted to my sister and me. Copious tears of abject terror were wept during and after the ride, even more tears than the time my sister got soaked at the Killer Whale show at Marine World (and in that case, I think she was more mad than scared). To this day we are both afraid of roller coasters and refuse to ride them. For some reason, though, we’ll both ride the Matterhorn. I usually end up regretting it about 10 seconds into the ride, much like my mom probably did all those years ago, but I still end up riding it again.
I didn’t end up visiting Disneyland again for another 15+ years, but that first visit will always be special to me.
Lily Looks Back ~
1974
I have mentioned before that I am the youngest of my siblings, I wasn’t very old when my sister graduated and headed off for college. She came home for summers until she was married and then our family started using our vacation to go and visit her. I would always stay for an extended visit. What fun that was. I was happy to wave goodbye to my worried mother and my father who didn’t worry. I felt so independent and loved being away from the rules of my mom and dad. Not, that l ever did anything wild, my sister wouldn’t have allowed that. But it was a nice break for me and I always looked forward to that special time.
My sister and I would hang out, we’d make rice crispy treats and order pizza. We’d go to the drive-in, I remember seeing Logan’s Run and Network. I could accompany her to her job at a daycare or spend my days reading and watching TV. I felt very grown-up mixing with the college kids who were friends of my sister’s and her husband. I also have fond memories of learning to water-ski. That was when I was thirteen. I was embarrassed to death the first time I got up on the skis and the top of my two-piece popped a string. They all wanted to know why I let go of the rope so fast and I had to wear one of the guy’s t-shirt the rest of the day.
Once my nephew was born, I spent my days watching him while my sister and her husband worked. That was wonderful too. He was such a cutie. I remember my sister’s exasperation when I was sterilizing some of his toys and managed to melt one of them. I cried and missed him when it was time to get on that plane and go back home.
The pic is of me, my father and sister standing outside the housing for married students (doncha love those pigtails?). I love the memories of those times spent with my one and only older sister.
Jen Looks Back ~ 1990s
Camping was a big part of our summer vacations when we were kids. There was always lots of lists and prep work done in the week before we would leave. Fresh Granola to be made, tents to be weatherized, and massive grocery shopping to do. We would drive to our destination, usually somewhere in the Sierra Nevada mountains, and set up camp. There was a particular spot that we frequented several times. It was the perfect set-up, right near a stream. You went to sleep at night to the sound of the stream and woke up to the same soothing noises.
Each day we would take a hike or a drive in the mountains. We saw a ton of wildlife on those excursions, including a newborn baby deer on the side of a mountain road. Our trips were full of laughs, campfires, s’mores and more laughs. One year, we made the mistake of not securing the tent properly from any potential rain. Of course, that was the year it rained like crazy. Our tent and sleeping bags ended up flooded. It was stressful at the time, but we can laugh about it now! Those trips are some of my fondest summer memories.
Please share a memory of one of your favorite summer vacations.
My Mom did the same thing to me when it came to roller coasters! We used to go to Playland alot and my Dad would try to convince her to let him take me on one–no dice–well to this day I will not go on one! I don’t remember going on too many vacations but I do remember a few road trips we took.
My father was military and we didn’t take family vacations other than to visit my grandmother in Indiana. I always enjoyed seeing her and all of my Dads family. My Great Grandmother would call everyone together and we would have a big picnic
What great memories the three of you have from vacations when you were younger. Being from a family of 7, we didn’t get to vacation. We did make our own fun though so we never missed going away.
My parents were not much in the way of traveling, but one summer when I was a teen we, along with our extended family, went on a road trip out west. It was an experience I will not forget soon!
Summers are always special for me too. We didn’t go to a lot of places when I was young, but when we did, I sure loved it. 🙂
I’ve been to Disneyworld, but never Disneyland. The latter’s on a bucket list. 🙂
LOL, I can see my children telling a similar Disney story about me years from now since I will never stop complaining about how outrageously priced the food is inside the park. I think your mom and I would be good friends. 🙂
My summer vacation are packed full of time spent with my beloved Grandmother. We lived in a coastal area, so we basically lived on the beach during the summer. The lengths she would go to make everyday a memorable day is something I will never forget.
We didn’t go on vacations as a family when I was younger. We never had the extra funds to do so. As a parent, we have gone on a couple vacations with our kids. We love to go camping. Just exploring the woods and outdoors was amazing. No technology to distract anyone. We have also taken the boys to Disney world and that was a blast. But so far our favorite has been going to the mountains in Georgia for a week. Coming from Florida, the mountains were a amazing experience for our kids.
I have never been to Disneyland and would love to go. I only eat one meal in the parks. Now they let you bring in your own food 🙂 Looks like you three had such fun as kids!
This is an awesome throwback! I love reading these 🙂
Oh wow what amazing memories it looked like you were such a close family 🙂 x
My parents always took us to Disneyland during summer and we still keep that tradition going, but now we take our parents to Disneyland and they love it 🙂
I love all of these. Love memories of childhood. Anya and Jennie are so cute together. I loved Gomer Pyle and it was a favorite of my Dad’s.
Lily, those were the best times. I remember a few weeks in the summer that my sister and I spent with an older brother and his wife after they had a new baby in 1969. It was “cool” to be away from home with an older sibling.
Jen, sounds like your camping trips were a lot of fun. We did a lot of camping in our back yard when we were growing up but not too much outside of that.
We took one “major” vacation that I remember well as a kid and that was out “west” to the Badlands. It was so much fun. We slept in hotel that were truly hotels. One room with multiple beds and a shared bathroom for the whole floor. You couldn’t find anything else. I was really in to the wild, wild west so I loved this trip.
We also would vacation in the Wisconsin Dells. We would stay in a small cabin and spend time seeing and doing all the great things there were to do. Loved those vacations too.
Jennie and Anya’s pics are always so cute. Oh my, how dare your mom try to take fruit into the happiest place on earth. I used to love roller coasters. I wish I could still ride them. The description of the adults not knowing the Matterhorn was a roller coaster cracked me up.
My daughter made God’s eyes this summer at one of the programs she attended. LOL, some things never change. She called them by a different name (I can’t remember and she just left to go the library with a friend), but I kept calling God’s eyes.
Jen, camping memories are the best! I don’t think I knew what the inside of a hotel looked like until I was twelve and that’s because we were attending a funeral. We spent many weekends camping with cousins and friends. My parents liked being outside in the fresh air. It was so much fun. We had tents and my dad would convert a work van into a camper by building beds into it. We hiked, swam and the best part was always the fire at night. Ugh, one memory I can do without is the mosquitoes. I do remember watching the first moon landing on a small B&W portable tv (almost no one had one of those things back then) at someone else’s campsite. Everyone gathered around to watch the momentous event.
The part that jen forgot to add was the reason our tent flooded was because she didn’t zip it up!! And I remember when dad almost drive us off that cliff!
Lol, Jodie. Way to tell. Ugh, wet tent.
Love the stories! We didn’t take many vacations when I was really young. When I became a teen we would do a week down in Wildwood, with extended family. A whole bunch of people that lived in our Town, would rent houses down the shore, the same week. How strange is that! 🙂 LOL
Jen, what are you holding in that pic?
Love this! How cute to be able to share in your childhood memories! Love the photo from Disney!
Its always nice to be able to share old memories!
Lily,
Pretty sure I am holding a hard boiled egg and the shell that peeled off. I think it came off in 1 big chuck!
Jodie, how about when Dad took us on a drive and bottomed out the car. We ended up spending an entire day in Clovis getting it fixed.
There was also the time dad took the car through the car wash on our return trip. The antenna was ripped off. My step-mom was so pissed. lol
This is a great post…. I am thankful I don’t have any throwback thursdays schedule
Hehe love the pictures. I have a few throwback pix thy look similar to yours when we were tiny girls at disneyworld with Mickey ears & shirts.
A great memory is when our mom took us to Disneyland, and she saved up her hard earned money to do it. It was amazing to us ten year olds!
I HAVE NEVER BEEN TO DISNEYLAND ALWAYS WANTED TO GO
Helga, what a great memory. All the dearer because your mom worked to get there you. Love that.
When I was really, really little, we went to Washington D.C. to visit a second cousin/aunt. The only thing I remember is being allowed to ride up front with the driver on a horse carriage ride. Since I was always the girl asking for a pony for Christmas, I think it was one of the best moments in my childhood!
Love the Throwback Thursday idea! I love the vintage pictures…oh, I have quite a few myself (with my sister usually. Although we never went to Disneyland, we had pictures from other amusement parks.
I love your post and this brings back memories to me of our summers spent traveling to Cameron Louisiana and having much fun crabbing and fishing it was so much fun growing up with mom dad and the siblings thank you so much for refreshing these memories in me and may you be blessed and god keep you in his grace.