When we left Washington, we drove down the Oregon Coast. I absolutely LOVED the Sea Lion Caves (near Florence, OR). It was so loud and it smelled awful! I remember that we got tin cups with pictures of the sea lions as souvenirs.
After the Sea Lions we stayed the night with friends of our parents...they had a home on a bluff that overlooked the ocean. We had to drive the motorhome up a very narrow, windy, bumpy dirt road to get to their home, and I was absolutely convinced that the motorhome was going to bounce right off the side and roll down an embankment into the ocean. I sat on the floor underneath the table and cried until we got there. I was absolutely relieved when we parked near their carport. My dad took a series of pictures that he and mom eventually enlarged to 8x10 size and framed them to make a panoramic view of the ocean and the horizon. I am pretty sure my dad still has it.
Then it was "California or Bust!" We drove down Hwy 101 (Pacific Coast Highway) for a long way, but realized it was taking a lot longer than my parents had intended...so we darted inland at some point. When we reached Southern California, we spent one glorious day at DisneyLand. I loved it!! I don't remember everything, but I remember being so excited I could hardly contain myself. After dark there was a concert on the island in the middle of the water ~ pretty sure (although I wouldn't bet money) that it was Kool and the Gang...I have a vague memory of hearing "Celebrate" ~ although as I'm typing this, I'm leaning more towards the fact that it was Sister Sledge singing "We are fam-i-ly!" I was too afraid to go on the Haunted House ride, so I stayed out and watched the concert and took care of my baby brother, Scott...and maybe Julie. I can't remember. I do remember feeling very silly and very baby'ish when everyone else came out and said how funny and un-scary the ride was.
Before we left the park our parents took us into a gift shop and we got to choose a souvenir. I must have driven my parents CRAZY because there were so many things I just couldn't live without and it was very difficult to make up my mind. I finally chose a DisneyLand sticker, a red address book (it had a "gold" embossed image of The Castle on the front, and alphabetical tabs), and a Mickey Mouse pencil (one that had the ears shaped into it) so I could write addresses in the book.
We also got to visit my Uncle Bob and his family...they lived somewhere in Southern California on the ocean. It was one of the few times our families got together. Only vague memories of that day ~ a pool table, the ocean, and maybe some snowcones...
front: Julie, Sheila, Lisa and Karen (yes ~ her shirt says" Flick my Bic") back: Missy holding Scott, Cyndie
Driving home to Utah, we drove past Las Vegas...I was very impressed with the lights of the Strip. But to this day, I have never BEEN to Las Vegas.
I'm sure my parents' memories would be different, but that's how my favorite vacation plays out in my mind.
5 comments:
The sea lion cups!! I remember those!!! I also vaguely remember a few rides at Disney, the most vivid being the Pinocchio ride, on the whale..?? Like I said, it's vague. I don't think I went on it, I just watched other people get on. I think I waited with mom. I think I was 6 at the time.
My favorite vacation....I will say it was when Dad and Mom took me to see Missy (you!) in California (I was 9, 10?). I think we were bringing you home for something...and the reason they brought me was that Missy was the nanny for a girl my age, and I guess Missy had told her about me, so Heather was excited to meet me, and I was about her, too. I remember being AMAZED at how nice and fancy and clean and big her house was. I remember that she had one of the American Girls dolls, and I had was so jealous. I think that's when I first "met" the American Girls dolls. Heather and I got along well, despite having such huge differences (in my mind anyway): she had beautiful hair, mine was blah; I wore glasses, she didn't; she was an only child, I had 7 siblings; her parents were RICH, mine were NOT; she had an American Girls doll, I did not. LOL I remember feeling slightly depressed when she didn't offer the doll for me to take home. ROFL
The summer after I turned 17, I had earned enough money for a plane ticket from Seattle to Utah (and back again!), so I visited my friends and some family. I had a great time, despite last-minute changes and such, and I was especially pleased that I had paid for all of it myself, PLUS I had enough money while there, that I didn't have to worry about it (this was pre-credit cards for me) and was able to just enjoy it.
Looking back now, I think that's when my own tradition started of taking vacations to see friends more often than seeing family. hhmm...
My favorite vacation, or most memorable, was January 1964. My mother, sister and I had been baptized into the church 1 Sep 1962 and mom had remarried on 5 Dec 1962. We were now a family of 4 children and in January 1964, we were sealed together in the Los Angeles Temple. Karen and I were sealed to mom and our new step-dad and our step-sister and step-brother were sealed to their mom and dad, with my mom as the proxie. It was a glorious day. The only thing I didn't like was being told I had to stay in the "nursery" until time to go to the sealing room. I was 14 years old - surely too old for a nursery!
A-hem... The Disneyland story goes like THIS. It was getting dark. We had entered the gates of that fabulous place at opening. We thought we had been on all the rides there were and it was getting to be sundown. Time to go. How sad to leave Disneyland. As we were walking we heard singing coming from Tom Sawyers Island. A large crowd had gathered to watch the free concert. It was the Pointer Sisters. Honest. All of us being of the short variety, I said follow me and up the Swiss Family Tree House we climbed. Once on top, we had a birds-eye view of the Pointer Sisters on stage right below us. The song I remember them singing was "I'm so excited..." Now when I hear that song I think of Disneyland with the kids... Scott was just a baby... and I am amazed how fast our lives go. When Ed McMahan brings my check ROFL I'm going to take all my kids and the grandkids to Disneyland. Sandii and I went for Christmas this year and our favorite ride is the California Screamin' Dad
Yes, I do have that 'composite' picture. It hangs in my office at home. That was back when my brain tumor still had not been disgnosed. On the way down the coast we stopped at Sea Lion caves in Oregon. As we were leaving I felt one of my blinder headaches coming on. By the time we arrived at the parents of a friend of ours, I was in a lot of pain. I slept all night and part of the next day and felt a little better but we stayed an extra day anyway. The morning we were leaving I took a picture looking north up the beach below. As I started to turn away, it occurred to me to step back around and take a set of "panorama" pictures of the beach from left to right. Later I had them blown up into 8 x 11 size and put them together end-to-end. They have a nice polished metal frame and matting. I had tickets for the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson but staying the extra day to get my head right caused us to miss that opportunity. Oh well. The picture was taken just north of Bandon, Oregon. Someday maybe I'll remember the name of the people who took us in... or maybe their daughter's name. Deanne! I just thought of it. She ran the BodyWrap place across the hall from my office at the Utah County Bureau of KUTV2 in Orem. Maybe Ill remember more later.
Dad
Come on down! We'll leave the light on...
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