I give my parents the credit for my love of travel. My Dad loved to take us on adventures and expose us to new experiences, places and cultures. Dad is a true life-time learner and made sure we gained some sort of knowledge from each trip. For example, my family flew to New York, Boston and Philadelphia in 1976 to celebrate the bicentennial year. Dad made sure we visited the Liberty Bell, Statue of Liberty and even got to throw tea off a ship in Boston harbor.
Every trip we took was mapped out with AAA and we rarely stayed in one place more than a couple of nights. We were always moving on to the next destination. I remember traveling by train to Chicago and we once took a Winnebago camper to Florida, just to have that experience. Linda and I used to beg Dad to take us to the beach for one entire week, like all of our friends were doing. Now that I am grown, I am so thankful for each and every one of those wild and crazy experiences with my family.
Most of the Thomas family adventures took place in our trusty station wagon with Dad at the wheel. He would work with AAA and they would put together a trip itinerary and plan. It was nice to have a basic plan in place, but with my family there were always detours and pit stops. We made unexpected stops to read historical markers, roll down a hill at a rest stop, explore old houses, visit the birthplace of someone famous, or just to get ice cream and shop. If the trip plan said to allow 4 hours, we would count on at least 6. My parents knew the importance of stopping to smell the roses...or to pick some cotton, or even to chase a tumbleweed across the Kansas prairie.
I've been converting old slides to digital images, and there are some pretty entertaining images from family vacations from the 60s-80s. I'll be adding in some of those with stories along the way.
No comments:
Post a Comment