We made trips to St. Petersburg, Florida when my grandparents retired there in 1962. We also took in the history of St. Augustine, Six Gun Territory and Weeki Wachi. I will admit here that I was a pretty decent swimmer and dreamed of becoming a Weeki Wachi mermaid as my teenage job.
Washington D.C. TripDad would always try to tie in educational stops during the vacation—Luray Caverns, Washington, D.C., New York City, Philadelphia, Monticello, Mount Vernon, Quebec, and on and on.
Mom was a good sport when the years of the Civil War battlefields became short vacations. My Dad was a Civil War fanatic. Fortunately, I was in college by that time and stayed home and worked.
Once the kids were married or in college, Mom and Dad began to take more exotic trips. One’s I can remember before their divorce were England and to an island in the Caribbean.
After the divorce, Mom moved to Ohio near me. Then she took day trips with various women’s groups.
I imagine the outstanding trip of her Ohio years was when we all went to Duck, North Carolina. We rented a house on the beach. The group included my two brothers, Mom, my family and a friend of my oldest son.
I’m sure there were places on this earth that Mom would have enjoyed visiting, but she was content just living in her own place overlooking Lake Erie in Lakewood, Ohio.
After her death, as I was going through her condo, packing up her things, I came across her old yellow travel bag. I opened it and found this note: “I have been long retired, but I have great sentimental value as I have been all over the U.S. Now I get to go to Duck!!!!”
Weeki Wachi on YouTube
Other blogs in this series:
Bound For Mom #1—A Journey of Firsts
Bound For Mom #2—Roadside Café
I love that about the travel case.
ReplyDeleteMy mom didn't get to travel much. We did take the train back to Ontario from B.C. when I was in grade 8. My brother and sister paid for our trip. We were in coach and sitting up in our seats for the multi day trip. After eating crappy food in the snack bar for a couple of days she got fed up . We went into the fancy dining car where we were not allowed because we didn't have the expensive tickets. Train travel in those days could be like being in a 5 star hotel and restaurant. As soon as we sat down she told me to eat some bread with butter and to have some of the celery and olives from the plate. She dirtied up her bread plate too. When the conductor came by to see our tickets he exclaimed "You are not supposed to be in here". He surveyed the once clean table and just said "Never mind" and we stayed and had a lovely dinner. Unfortunately my stomach couldn't take all that rich food on the shaky train and it all came back up in one of the fancy bathrooms on my way back to our coach seats. A good time was had by all. My mother was brilliant.
Your Mom was clearly a great spirit and an inspiration to you. Again we mesh. Historical vacations and trips with a purpose!
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