Rachel

Daydreaming....any favorite childhood vacation memories? would you take your own kids there? NYC thanksgiving weekend, around 1965- stayed at same hotel (maybe THe Americana) as Mohummed Ali only he was Cassius Clay at the time and had just won a huge fight. I didn't have a clue who he was but got his autograph because my big brothers told me to. Autograph long gone (I might be rich if I still had it). Went to Macys Parade-have loved parades ever since. Mom bought me a dress at Macy's ( a big step up from the usual W.T. Grant dresses) and I wore it forever (which was probably only 1-2 years). It was pink knit, with maroon stripes with bows. Parents, not well traveled at that point, made the mistake of taking us to a famous (at least then)Italian restuarant, (Mama Leones I think) on Thanksgiving so all they had was turkey, then a "kosher" style restaurant on Friday night where they served the same chicken we always got at home on Friday night. First Broadway show, Fiddler on the Roof. The beginning of my love for theatre, especially musicals. Share your memories.

Stephanie P.

Rachel:

Every summer my Mom would take 2 or 3 wks. and we would go to the NJ or DE shore and raft non-stop all day. Since my Mom had a 1974 VW bus camper we would stay at Yogi Bear and other campsites and roast hot dogs, marshmellows and potatoes over a bon fire.

Susan

All of my childhood vacations were memorable to me, we really had fun and it's nice when the parents are relaxed and enjoying themselves. The very best was Washington, DC in July, 1976. I was an impressionable 12 year-old and the history and pride in my country really hit home then. I've loved Washington so much every time I've been back, probably largely because of that moving first experience. I can't wait to take my kids there when they are a little older.

Midge

No vacations until I married. My dad never, ever, ever took even one day off from work. Never went anywhere further than 15 miles from my home until I was 20. Don't think he liked us very much. Summers were so long. Seemed like we would spend it waiting for the other kids to come back from camp or vacation so we would have someone to play with. I don't know how my mother stood it. She only went to the grocery store, the doctors and clothes shopping for the kids.

Did go swimming at a lake once with a neighbor for an afternoon.

Rosa

Mum and Pop couldn't afford overnight vacations, but I have wonderful memories of long summer days spent with my cousins in NJ. We'd swim for a while, pick wildflowers up on the railroad tracks, play three-day-long monopoly games, eat lots of Jersey tomato and cheese and mayo open face sandwiches, feed the annual pet snake, have tag games at night through the seckel pears that had fallen in the backyard...

I've been to about twenty-six countries since then, but I wouldn't want to trade my childhood vacations for anything!

cg

Oh, where to start... My parents were really into camping. We would go up to the Boundary Waters in northern MN almost every year. I have wonderful memories of paddling across the glassy lake, setting up camp at a site right on the shore, taking swims off the rocks while trying to avoid leeches, Bisquik pancakes and eggs in the mornings, hot cocoa with every meal, campfires every night... I very fondly remember the pit toilets, which were wooden thrones out in the middle of the woods. Absolutely no privacy, which didn't bother me at age 8! Also, lots and lots of blueberries growing on the rocks everywhere.

We also made countless road trips out to the mountains. We took low-budget ski trips every year to Bozeman, MT or Jackson Hole, WY. We'd pack into the car and drive straight through, stopping at truck stops for pancakes at 3 a.m. We'd eat at different restaurants for every meal and the ski lodge cafeteria for lunch, which was like heaven for me since we never, ever ate out at home and always brought our lunches skiing. I still love going on ski trips today, but it's just not the same hopping on the plane and being there the same day, driving up to the mt. in our rental car. I will always remember those road trips!

Daniel

Went to visit the grandparents in Dallas every year for ten years until, one day, dad announced we were off to Disney World! Granted, it was Orlando in July (UGH) but it was still my best vacation ever because it was SO different!

arjay

We had only two 'real' vacations when I was a kid - to very rustic cottages somewhere in Wisconsin. But every year, we city rats (who lived a semi-poverty existence in a small apartment) would get to go to Aunt Alice's for a week or more. Aunt A. lived "in the country" in northern Illinois, in a big, 2-story house (with an attic...and a barn!) on a very large lot. It was bliss, pure bliss - one of the very best memories my siblings and I share. Thanks to Aunt Alice and the wonderful times and mem'ries she gave us, it's been very important to me to try to do a good job as an auntie, including hosting nieces and nephews at our own house in the country.

c

We lived in NC,for most of my childhood, and we would spend a few weeks in Myrtle Beach SC, this is before the golf courses and all, that are there now..then it was just pine trees and the beach.We also went to the mountains a lot, up around Asheville and the Blue Ridge.My fondest and oldest memory of holidays with parents is when we lived in Hawaii, I was 5 and my dad would take me way out into the surf,past the breakers on his shoulders, I was invincible up there~

Bill

Summer of 1974 we went to Los Angeles for the very first time. It was a HUGE deal since it was my first ever (one of 3) family vacation and my first time ever flying on an airplane (TWA L-1011). California was like a magical land to me back then. So different from anything I had ever seen in my then 13 years of life. This vacation was a maturing and growing experience (and I ain't talking puberty !) And every time I return to California, there still is a bit of the magic of that original trip in 1974 somewhere inside of me.

Lynn

Nothing fancy, but still memorable some 30-35 years later - summer trips to southern Illinois to visit relatives. After leaving the highway, it would take about half an hour on a gravel road to get to the farm my grandma lived on. I loved doing all of the things living in a city never afforded me to do, like fish, catch frogs, learn to horseback ride, etc. I still remember the smell of honeysuckle when I took walks with grandma, seeing the one room schoolhouse my dad went to, and buying goodies at the old country store. The joys of childhood!

David

My parents were into "road trips" HAD to take one each year, even though they could afford to fly, my dad loved to drive...900 miles a day?? no problem!!
The "best" was the time he had to see how much of the western US he could see in two weeks. Starting in Portland Or. we headed for Reno..Couldn't go a year without hitting Reno!!!..Then back over thru Yosimite, across to San Francisco, down the coast to LA..Disney,Magic Mountain, you name it...Down to Sea World...then up over to Las Vegas,,couldnt go a year without Vegas of course!!!..
Over Hoover dam to the Grand Canyon,,then up to Mt Rushmore, Custers last Stand..A NEW record 6000 miles+!!!!

Karen

I guess I was lucky, we took a vacation every summer during my childhood. All over New England, Florida, Virginia, etc. But my favorite was in the Pocono Mountains, Mt. Airy Lodge. There were so many fun things to do there. Oh and that's where I had my first crush. What memories.

Dina

Midge, your story breaks my heart! I can imagine the tedium, the lonliness, the longing, year after year...children are completely at the mercy of their parents, no matter how neurotic or oppressive they are...I hope you have made up for it since then.

CF

My parents were big on travelling and they crossed country several times. WE would end up spending a month or so in San Diego at my grandfathers, but my MOST memorable was a trip to Florida, Daytona to be exact, when I was allowed some early teenage freedom and didn't have to hang out with my parents, but ran with the kids I met at the hotel. We had a blast, I met a guy and loved and lost all in a weeks time. You never forget your first love I guess...(sigh!)I will never forget that trip. A lot of us stayed in contact for years after...

ThomR

I grew up in Germany and I was always a chubby, clumsy child.

One year my father sent me to Bad Herenalb which was basically a fat farm for boys under the age of 12.
I missed my mother and my sisters.
After that my weight problem was wrose than ever.

Susan

WT Grants!! I haven't heard anyone mention that store in years. My mom worked at the WT Grants in my city, it was only a few block from where we lived, I loved that store, quite tacky now when I think back on it, but they tried hard! My parents took my brother & I on lots of trips, first in our tent, then in our pop-up camper & finally our little turquoise Shasta camper. I would say my fav trip was the summer of 1967, we drove East, then up the coast..Cape Cod & then to Montreal for Expo '67, also took in Quebec, New Brunswick & Nova Scotia, it was a 3week trip. I was 10, my brother was 11, so all those long hours in the backseat of the car so close to each other, wasn't fun for my parents, but I thank them now for making the trip!

Glenda

How wonderful to hear from people who actually have some positive childhood memories. That doesn't seem to be very fashionable and I was almost thinking maybe my husband and I were the only ones who enjoyed our childhood. As for vacations we lived on Dad's teacher's salary, but always had fun vacations, usually involving staying at least part of the time with relatives. One Christmas, probably about 1958, my Grandmother decided she wanted to go to Scottsdale,AZ for a little warmth so we took her there from Oregon. We spent Christmas Eve in a motel room in rough and ready Tonapah, NV, ate miner's stew at the hotel/casino which was an eye opener for a 10 year old girl. We stayed at a nice resort in Scottsdale with a swimming pool and shuffleboard and got to ride horses. I don't recall that it was very warm while we were down there, but it was a really big deal.

Susan

These childhood memories are making me think what adventurers our parents were, taking off on the road with a car full of kids and no hotel reservations! Who knew what you would find or where you would stay? The AAA book was always a mainstay in the car but what if your first choices were sold out? I remember a motel in Barstow right next to the train tracks. That was an interesting night. Would we dare to be so adventurous now?

lisa

We took a couple trips to Florida, by car, from our home in upstate NY. We sat in the back of the station wagon, facing the cars behind us. I always remember the rhythmic "thump, thump, thump" of the seams in the highway.

One trip (60's) we visited my rich uncle & cousins who were staying at the Fountainbleu in Miami. I was about 10. They got us tickets to see the Beach Boys at the convention center. (I didn't know till years later that the opening band was the Grateful Dead.) Back then, I think I was more impressed with the Fountainbleu than the concert.