Childhood Summer Memories

Family Vacation Pics!

As a child, there are memories which stick with you. Then there are singular memories which stand out, for better or for worse. There also may be the occasional odd memory from a trip in which you remember nothing else. Some are wonderful, like shell collecting during my early teenage years on Sanibel Island and others aren't so wonderful, like getting attacked by green heads (biting flies) at Strathmere Beach, NJ. Each of them cemented into your psyche bring you momentary joy or scarring you for
life.

This is a collection of the truly odd singular memories which stand out from various trips I took as child with my family, in random order, with a little explanation of each. I either chuckle or cringe each time I think of them! It's amazing what makes us up as individuals.

#1.  I was 10 or so years old, snorkeling at the now defunct Holiday Isle Resort in Islamorada, Florida. Behind the hotel, there was a quite deep swimming lagoon and just beyond that, a band of shallow coral reefs. My brother and I would snorkel for hours looking for shells and different species of sea life. I came across a sea sponge and grabbed it.

Holiday Isle Resort, Florida Keys 

So excited with my discovery, I brought it over to my brother and squeezed all the water out of it. Not a smart move. Within minutes, my hands began stinging and burning and then swelled up to resemble cabbage patch kids hands. No one had ever told me I couldn't grab them a sea sponge! I had to soak my hands for hours in vinegar to reduce to pain. Definitely not the highlight for my Florida Keys vacation.

#2.  My family was traveling up to Boston to visit my Dad's friend Larry. We ended up meeting for dinner at a French café. I was 6 or 7. Nothing appealed to me on the menu. I insisted on eating French onion soup. It came out but was way too salty for me. I hated it. My meal that night was just a French baguette. One lonely French baguette.

#3.  My family was traveling in our Country Squire station-wagon up to Mesa Verde, the ancient Anasazi Cliff Dwellings in Colorado at an altitude of 7000 feet. The road up is was very treacherous at that time. I was 7 or 8 at the time and screaming my head off because there were no guardrails at that time! The road meandered up 7000 feet around switchbacks with the cliffs dropping off only a couple feet off the road! My parents put me in the back trunk area of the station-wagon and covered me in the summer heat with a thick woolen blanket as I continued to scream my head off.

The torture continued through the drive up 7000 feet to the Cliff Dwellings. We made it up to the top of the mesa and I survived. I saw Mesa Verde and apparently stepped onto the "four corners" spot where one goes to step onto four states at once. I don't remember anything about it. ALL I remember is being covered by a hot woolen blanket in the hot summer heat in that station-wagon screaming my head off.

#4. On the same trip, we were in New Mexico driving through the state. We visited Taos and Sante Fe, New Mexico and did all the touristy stuff. I loved it. One of the major memories HOWEVER was the family stopping at a road side rest stop in the desert. My family took a major break for 30 minutes to just relax and refresh when I decided to climb the hill behind the rest stop. Climb and climb as I might. I remember telling my folks I'd be climbing the hill and they were like... "OK see you whenever!" without a care in the world. LOL (times were different).

Vacation Pics 2!

I remember looking down below at the rest stop and I was a good 100 feet above the stop if not more! I decided to pick a beautiful pink cactus flower at the top for my Mom. Unbeknownst to me, picking the flower would result in a good hour in extreme pain! I was stuck with what seemed like a 100 or so cactus spines just for picking the flower for my Mom. Still.... to my day... I believe it was the most romantic gesture I have ever done. Even though I was only 10 or 11 and it was my mother whom plucked out every single cactus spine!. :)

#5. The year after, we spent several weeks at our family's ranch in South Dakota.  We were hunting for arrowheads on the ranch when I leaned back to regain my balance. AGAIN, I plunged my hand deep into a long spine desert cactus. The spines plunged down into my palm. It felt like they pierced right through. They were picked out by my cousin Helen Dreiske over the course of a couple of hours. There were THAT many! The nice end of the story was that I found and still have a Sioux Indian arrowhead from times past.

#6. It was the first time we traveled to New Orleans circa the early 80's during one summer. We were set to see a historical plantation home, the Houmas House, the next day. Mom and Dad made a reservation at the local Howard Johnson motel. After we settled in, we headed down to Bourbon Street to explore and get a bite to eat. Mom was just looking for a pub to grab some sandwiches and a kid's meal or two.

Mom confidently strode into a pub right on Bourbon Street commenting to Dad, "This looks like a nice place Bob ..." and then gasped. I looked up and there was a fully naked woman dancing on top of the bar. Mom had walked us into a strip club!!! I looked up and down the bar and there were breasts all over the place, several sets! With the right hook and speed of a professional fighter, Mom swung her hand down over my eyes and dragged my brother and I out of the bar.

#7. We visited Florida one year in the mid 70's and of course made the obligatory trip to Walt Disney World. I remember from that trip that I fell in love with a young black girl my age, about 7 or 8 in front of a fountain in the Main Street area. It was a short lived romance which remained all of the duration of 30 minutes perhaps. I gave her name was Josephina February after a favorite children's book from childhood. She went on her way, I went on mine. There were no children.

#8. The same year, after Walt Disney World, we visited my Dad's cousin Bob and his wife Aileen in Kissimmee, Florida. They were my Dad's age at that time, in their 50's. Their home was SO modern, lots of Asian antiques. The rooms were arranged around a central courtyard. Very modern, very chic, very sophisticated.

Vacation Pics 3!

Besides that, the ONLY other thing I remember about that entire visit is cousin Bob taking my brother Adam and I out to show us the yard and then pointing out the clouds. He stated that the cloud formations were mammatus clouds because they looked like women's breasts. But Cousin Bob stated he liked calling them "Titty clouds." I was confused and pretty mortified at this description.

#9. Apologies in advance to my sister for this embarrassing story! Love you Sheryl! My family traveled to Nova Scotia when I was 5 or 6. I remember glimpses of rolling hills with long grasses. People often compare it to the rolling hills of Scotland. In fact, it was originally settled by native Scots and therefore took the name Nova Scotia meaning New Scotland in Scottish Gaelic. Now besides the rolling hills, there is only one memory I have of a trip up to Nova Scotia.

My brother Adam, sister Sheryl, and I were in the back seat of the car. I was of course, as usual, stuck in the middle, never got the window seat. We had made a stop earlier and picked up some cherries which Mom had placed in a large bowl. Suddenly, Sheryl got nauseous in the back seat and exclaimed she was about to get sick. Mom dumped the cherries out of the bowl into the front seat and thrust the bowl back to my sister. Sheryl proceeded to get sick into the bowl. I squirmed as close to my older brother's seat as I could, with him pushing back towards my sick sister. UGH. Brothers! My poor sister recovered.

#10. The last memory which triggered the idea for this blog involved a yearly ritual with my Mother down in Ocean City, NJ. We would travel down to the Jersey shore and if we weren't on the beach or visiting my Uncle John in Ocean City, we were strolling the boardwalk. At some point during the trip, we would drive past Princess Grace of Monaco's family home/compound at the beach. My Mom was fascinated with it, I mean here was royalty and they had a beach house right in Ocean City, NJ!!!

Dad would pull over the car across the street and we'd look at the modern mansion with wonder and awe! Sometimes, someone, usually a woman it seemed, would come out onto the balcony and walk around. We'd gasp! Mom would exclaim, "Oh my God that could be Princess Grace herself!" Someone in the family would quip and joke that it was probably just the maid. Mom would shoot us a dirty look and retort, "Just be quiet!" and go back to her gazing and the woman on the balcony. We always stared at the home on the beach, hoping for a glimpse of Her Royal Highness.

Princess Grace's Ocean City home, NOT the one we gawked at!

Recently, I was trying to show a coworker the mansion through Google maps but couldn't find it. So, I looked up the home through Google and it immediately came up through the search. I spied on the map where it was located and then looked at home again. My coworker exclaimed, "WOW, what a beautiful home!". It was a Spanish-style elegant mansion commanding a corner on 26th St.and Wesley Ave. in Ocean City.

I paused, looked at the mansion again and then bust out laughing. Well, apparently, we had been gawking for years at the WRONG Ocean City mansion. The Princess Grace mansion had been across the street the entire time. No doubt Princess Grace was staring at these local tourists staring at her neighbor's home all those years... Oh well! It makes the memory all the more funnier and special now.

I look back at these memories and smile. I may not remember which touristy spot I visited but you can be rest assured I remember, for better or for worse, something about each trip! At my age, even the cringe worthy ones make me chuckle!