Throwback Thursday - Weekend Camping Vacation 1975

In August 1975 Paul, Kristen, and I went camping for a weekend.  Mark stayed with Paul's parents.  We wanted to go to the big campground, Burlingame State Park, near Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island, but I think it was full and we went up at a smaller campground. I can't remember the name.

I asked Paul if he remembered anything about that weekend, which he didn't, lol!  Believe it or not, he has kept all of his receipts and checks from at least since we were married and probably before.  I asked him to look through the summer of 1975 receipts to see if there was anything from that weekend.  The only thing he found was a gas charge from Charleston, RI which is where Burlingame is.

I love looking at some of the details in these pictures; my Dr. Scholl sandals, Paul's Docksiders, our little Hibachi, the camera case for our old Instamatic camera, Paul's parents' tent, and our 1970 Volkswagen.  I still have those Tupperware glasses on the picnic table!

I know most of us take pictures of people, and I'm so thankful for that.  But these pictures remind me to also include details.  They may not mean much at the time, but years later it will be so much fun to look at them.

There is not too much about this trip that I remember except that we brought Kristen's little potty chair.

I think that might have been the last time we went camping, lol!

Throwback Thursday - Weekend+ Trip to Misquamicut 1973

Lately I have been on a roll to blog my pictures chronologically, and this was a weekend trip to Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island, just me and Paul.  Paul's mom, Priscilla, took care of Kristen from Thursday night, August 23rd to Monday, August 27th.  She was turning one that weekend, and I felt some guilt that I was going to be away on her birthday.  Priscilla told me that she was too young to know the difference, and that we would have her birthday party when we got back.

This beach was just down the road from Misquamicut State Beach.  We have recently been by there a few times looking for the hotel and I think we found it, but I can't remember the name.  The next time we go there I'll write it down and update this.

If you look closely, you can see me on the upper deck.  You can see me a little better in the second picture.  This was on the deck right outside our room.  It was the first time I had ever stayed in a room right on the beach.  I remember waking up in the morning and the whole room was damp from the ocean air.

About the only other thing I remember about that trip was that it was the first time I tried scallops.  Up until that time, I ate no seafood.  Nothing.  I still only eat scallops.  They have to be fried and they have to have a lot of tartar sauce on them. There was a restaurant right next to the amusement park, still on this strip of beach, that served seafood.  Again, I don't remember the name, but it is still there.

So that's it for vacations for 1973.  We found out that it's not so easy to pick up and go with a baby on board.

Throwback Thursday - Lake George Vacations 1984, 1985 and 1987

Last week Mark, Janelle, Mason, Miriam and Janelle's Dad Joe went to Lake George for a week's vacation.

They stayed at the Flamingo Resort at Diamond Point.  They all had a great time.  There were so many things to do right at the resort.  It looks like a great place for families.

Before they left we talked about the vacations that we had at Lake George.  We went in 1984, 1985, and 1987 (in 1986 we went to DisneyWorld).

We stayed at a place called Horicon Heights in Bolton Landing, a little further north on the lake than Diamond Point.  

We first heard about the cabins at Horicon Heights from a co-worker of Paul's at Combustion Engineering.  He was from New York City and loved the Adirondacks, and had stayed there with his family.  He said the cabins were right on the lake and they were less expensive than anything else at Lake George.

A little history of Horicon Heights (you know me, I always want to know the history of places, lol).  I didn't remember this but Paul did, and he was telling Mark about it. The original owner lived in a house out by the road and bought kits from a Scandinavian company to build these cabins.  He eventually sold the property to a couple who were professors at RPI, which was about an hour away in Troy, NY.   There names are Lenore and Nick Clesceri.  When they bought it, they moved the cabin that was in the center of the group of cabins and in its place built a large house that they lived in.  They then rented the cabins and the original home out by the road.  The cabins were kind of rough, in fact, Paul brought his tools and fixed at least one thing each time we stayed there.  

The first time we went, Mark was almost 10, and Kristen was almost 12.  We stayed in one of the smaller cabins. I remember the first time we went Mark brought his mess kit from Royal Rangers and ate with that until the dishes were washed at least one time there.  

The cabins were on a hill and there was a short walk to the lake.

In 1985 and again in 1987 we stayed in the largest cabin.  This cabin had a view of the lake.  

I have so many good memories of staying at Horicon Heights.  I jokingly said to Mark, when they were telling us about what was available at the Flamingo Resort, that the only amenity that Horicon Heights had was the lake, lol.  

We brought our aluminum row boat and motor, and a couple of huge inner tubes and Paul pulled the kids on the lake, and also went fishing.  

We went into Lake George Village a lot.  They had a little amusement park there called Gaslight Village with rides and shows.  It is no longer there, but there is a Six Flags nearby now.  We took a trip to Ft. Ticondaroga for a day.  Paul also went parasailing the last time we were there.  

My cousin Lynda and her family and parents stayed there too for a few summers and they told us that the cat there had had kittens the summer of 1987.  We had one cat, Bony Sweet at the time.  She was a stray that kind of adopted us when we had our cat Callie.  After Callie died we were down to one cat and we decided, before we went on vacation, to get one of the kittens.  We were used to two cats, so why not, right?  My Aunt Dot wanted one too, so we brought a cat carrier and came home with two kittens.  Dot named her kitten Lady Skeeter and we named ours George.  

We had a lot of fun with the kittens that vacation.  

Before Mark and his family came home, they went to Bolton Landing and took pictures of Horicon Heights.  He talked to someone there who told him that the kids of the people who owned it when we stayed there run it now.  There have been a lot of improvements, in fact I almost don't recognize the cabins.  They don't have front doors anymore and have decks off the back which must be the front doors now.  They look a lot better.  

The lakefront still looks the same, the dock and the Gazebo.  There are more chairs now.

I don't recognize this sign, but love the picture of Janelle and the kids there.

The next year, 1988, we went to DisneyWorld again and that was actually our last family vacation.  Kristen graduated from high school in 1990 and then college expenses kicked in for the next many!!! years.

If I could give young families one piece of advice it would be - take as many family vacations as you can.  The memories last a lifetime.  

Throwback Thursday - Vacation, Misquamicut 1966

My family didn't go on vacations much.  We used to visit my Aunt Ettie and Uncle Bob.  He was a pastor and they moved around a lot, so most of our "vacations" were going to visit them.  I only remember two real vacations.  One was Lake Wyola in Shutesbury, MA, and the other was Misquamicut Beach in Rhode Island.

It was in August 1966; I was almost 16. We rented a cottage on Lawton Street with my Aunt Ettie and my cousins, Lynda, Bobby, and Donny.  I don't remember my Uncle Bob being there.  I'm not sure why.  The cottage was close enough to the beach that we could walk to it.     

Paul and I drove by it a few years ago and it basically looks the same, except that it used to be white. I can't believe we didn't take any pictures of the inside.  

I can remember going to church the first Sunday that we were there.  We found a little church not too far from the beach.  We always went to church, no matter what.

Our days were spent at the beach and then back to the cottage for dinner.  I don't remember my grandmother going to the beach.  She stayed at the cottage.  She was probably glad for a few hours of peace and quiet, lol.  

My cousin Donny was obsessed with my transistor radio.  There was a song that was popular at the time, Wild Thing by The Troggs;  Wild Thing, you make my heart sing, you make everything groovy. My Aunt Ettie used to try to sing the song and we would get such a kick out of it.

After dinner we would go back to the beach.  I don't really remember too much about that vacation, except one of Dot's friends from work, Joe Zannoli and his family were there for the week too.  I remember having kind of a crush on one of his sons, Robbie.  Nothing ever came of it but it was kind of fun watching for him.  

Towards the end of the week, the Lockerbys came for a visit.  They were close family friends of ours.  

Left to right - Sonny Lockerby, Nan, Jennie Lockerby, Ettie

Their daughter Maureen was getting married that Saturday.  Her fiancé Don Gould was with them, along with Linda's boyfriend Dale Berkey.  We had a big cookout that night.

I'm so glad Dot took these pictures because I'm sure that is why I remember as much as I do.  Pictures are important!!!

New York World's Fair, and why it's important to take pictures!

Tonight I watched a TV Special on the 1964-1965 World's Fair.  I thought, wow, I'm going to see a lot of things that I remember.

I couldn't believe it.  I didn't remember much of anything!

My aunt Ettie lived in Ossining, NY at the time, not far from the fair.  We stayed at her house for the weekend and went to the fair at least two times.

These are the things I remember about the fair.

- One of the times that we went we brought one of Dot's friends, Stevie Gorski.  I remember Dot being a little upset with her; I don't remember about what.  I think maybe Stevie didn't want to do too much, but I'm really not sure.

- I also remember getting lost going back to Ettie's house and Dot stopping to call her (how much easier it would have been if we had GPS and cell phones back then!).

- I remember standing next to the fountains with my cousin Lynda because of this picture:

This was the ONLY picture that I have of the World's Fair.  Now mind you, my aunt Dot took a lot of pictures.  Not like nowadays with digital cameras and phones, but a lot of pictures for her day, and this is the only picture she took of the fair?  It seems incredible.  In her later years Dot culled a lot of her slides.  Maybe she got rid of some pictures of the fair, but I don't remember seeing any others.

This is why I think it is so important to take pictures; it is a big way that we remember things.

I have a slideshow going on my 27 inch iMac all the time in my family room.  So many times the kids and grandkids go to the computer to look at a certain picture; when and where it was taken and we are able to recall that memory (never mind the grandkids scrapbooks, yearly Project Life, and my blog).  I try to document all of the things that I wish I could remember about my life back when I was a child.

There are two other things that I remember about the fair.  They are the Carousel of Progress and Small World.  These were made by Disney and are now at Disney World.  When we went there the first time in 1980 I remembered seeing them at the Fair.

I know that if my aunt Dot had taken more pictures at the World's Fair I would remember more.

Throwback Thursday - Paul's business (and vacation) trip to Cleveland, Ohio 1972

After graduating from college in June 1972 with a degree in Accounting, Paul got a job with Combustion Engineering in Windsor, CT.  He started on an 18 month Financial Training Program which brought him to a two week assignment in Mentor, Ohio, near Cleveland.  

Kristen was just 6 weeks old.  I'm not sure exactly how it all came about, but Kristen and I ended up going with him.  Paul's aunt Marjorie (Priscilla's sister) and her family lived in Cleveland, Ohio.  She and her husband, Henry, were officers in the Salvation Army and were stationed there.  Marjorie invited us to stay with them for those two weeks.  

I was nervous about a few things, but I think I was more nervous to stay home alone with a new baby!  I worried about the trip - it was about 12 hours.  Thinking back on it now, I can't believe we drove all that way with a new baby in a car bed in the back seat of a Volkswagen!  I remember that she slept most of the way, only waking up to be fed and changed.  I worried about whether she would sleep the night that we got there after sleeping all day in the car.  I didn't know Marge and Henry that well at that time and the thought of being up in the middle of the night roaming around their house trying to keep a crying baby quiet scared me.  As it turned out, she slept all night long.  

I remember Marge and Henry being so happy to see us and excited that we were going to be with them for two weeks.  I always felt a special closeness to their family after that.  Paul's cousins were all living at home.  Steve was going to college and dating Sue (who he later married).  Priscilla was in nursing school, and Kathy and Becky were still in school.  

Kristen fit right in with the family.  The picture below is of us watching TV on Marge's bed.  Nobody could get over how well Kristen held her head up at only 6 weeks.  I was so happy that they were so excited about having a baby in the house.

One of their family traditions was making pizza on Sunday evenings.  Henry showed me how he did it, and he even typed out a recipe card for me.

They also babysat for us one night so that we could go see Fiddler on the Roof  which was playing in one of the movie theaters near them.

I also remember that one day Marge made spaghetti sauce before she went to work and left it to simmer on the stove.  My job was to make sure it didn't burn.  I was so upset finding out that it did burn on the bottom of the pan somewhat, but Marge made sure that I didn't feel bad and said that no one would ever know (?!?).

These pictures are not the best quality, but I am so glad that I have them.  I will always have very fond memories of that trip to Ohio.

Throwback Thursday - Vacation, Niagara Falls 1972

Last week I posted about my first camping trip which was also our first vacation after our honeymoon.  I can't believe that I have absolutely no pictures from our honeymoon!  We didn't even bring a camera.  I'm not sure we even had one!

Anyhow, the first week in June of 1972 we went to Niagara Falls.  Paul had just graduated from college on June 4th, and was about to start his job at Combustion Engineering on June 12th.  I was still working full time at Wesson Women's Hospital. I left there at the end of June and Kristen was born August 26th (she was due August 10th).

I really don't remember many details of this vacation.  I know that I asked my OB/GYN doctor if it was okay to drive all the way to Niagara Falls this far in my pregnancy.  He said it was okay as long as we stopped every couple of hours to get out and walk around.  Guess what else we did every couple of hours?  Yep, eat.  I gained weight on that vacation for sure.

We stayed at a motel called Cascade Inn on the American side of the Falls.  I know that I was quite impressed with the bed in the motel room.  It vibrated if you put a quarter in it.  That was fun (!)

This was before you had to have a passport to cross over into Canada and I know we did that. We went to a store that sold firecrackers and Paul bought some.

We also went on the Maid of the Mist.  That's about all I remember.

Here are a few pictures from our trip.  I sure wish I was more into documenting at that time.

Throwback Thursday - Vacation, My first camping trip - Lake George 1971

It was the summer of 1971 and Paul and I had been married for one year.

Paul and his parents had done a lot of camping when Paul was young and he loved it and had great memories of camping. I had never been camping in my life.

We, well mostly Paul, decided that we should go camping on our first vacation.  He just knew that I would love camping and was determined that my first experience would be wonderful.

I wasn't quite that sure but was excited to give it a try.

I'm not sure how we picked the campsite, but it was called Roger's Rock Campground at Lake George, NY. We brought Paul's 12 ft. boat on the roof of our '70 VW bug with the big motor, oars, and all the boating and camping gear inside.

There were a few hitches to our vacation.

One - the campground was three hours away, and it was first come first serve...and it was August.  That meant that we needed to leave REALLY early in the morning to get a site.

Two - on the way there I read a magazine article about a person who was bit by a rabid bat and all that that entailed.  I already didn't much like bats, but this solidified it and I was paranoid every time I went into our tent that a bat would be in there.

Three - we arrived in time to get a really nice, private site.  So far so good.  We had borrowed his parents' camping gear. The tent was the umbrella type.  Can you guess what the next hitch was?  Yep, we forgot to pack the umbrella thingy.  It was three hours home, so going back to get it was out of the question.  So...Paul proceeded to cut down a young tree (even though there were signs saying not to cut down trees!!!).  Desperate times call for desperate measures, right?  All he had to cut it with was an old boy scout hatchet and so it took him quite a long time.  Then the four corners of the tent had to be tied to nearby trees.

I'm not sure how long we had been there but whenever I had to go to the bathroom in the middle of the night I made Paul go with me.  One night we saw (and heard) a bear going through the trash cans near the rest room.  I decided that I didn't need to go that bad!

Four - Paul's hand later got severely burned (3rd degree) from the rubber hatchet handle while trying to hatchet some fire wood.  That night he needed to go to the nearest ER to have it looked at.  Why in the world I decided to sit in the car while he went in I cannot imagine.  I guess I had no experience with how long ER visits could be.  (They had to debride the burn blisters on his hand.)  So, as could be expected, I got tired of waiting in the car and went into the hospital, and locked the keys in the car.  Now Paul was an old hand at unlocking car doors with a coat hanger, but who knew that a 1970 Volkswagen was practically airtight.  There was no way he was getting into that car.  Would you believe that there was a guy in the ER who had been a Volkswagen car salesman in Hawaii?  Yep, and he knew how to get into the car.

Wow, a lot of hitches.  I think we came home a day early with me not sure I liked camping.  We did have some fun times though.  We had fun being out on the water in our boat and swimming from rocks in the middle of the lake.

Looking back, I can think of only one other time that we went camping.  It was for a weekend and it entailed bringing Kristen, along with her potty chair, to a campground near Misquamicut.

Maybe camping is something that you need to start off with as a child, lol!

Vacation, 6th Blue Ridge Parkway and Trip down South 2015 - Day 15

Just a reminder - you can click on the scrapbook page to see it full size.