To me, the word “vacation” conjures The Great American Road Trip! That’s what our vacations were when I was a kid. Dad was in the military, so in the summer, he’d take his thirty-day leave, load up the car and hit the road! Mom packed a cooler of food - nothing fancy, usually sandwiches and apples and Fritos. Dad would drive like mad, and we’d stop at roadside rest parks for lunch. If we were really lucky, we might get to eat at a hot dog stand - what decadence!
This was before the interstate system, so we drove on US highways and state roads, with the windows down (no air conditioning). We always packed books to read (no radio stations in the middle of nowhere), played automobile bingo (we had wax tablets for that - oh my), sang camp songs, and stared out the windows. Dad would drink coffee from a steel Thermos and munch Fritos to stay awake. We often camped in national forests in a 9x9 canvas umbrella tent (now there's a memory - that distinctive canvas odor). There were FIVE of us! Somebody had to sleep in the car. Oh my. How did we do it?
We had a Coleman camp stove and a Coleman lantern (no propane, just camp fuel/white gas). We had an aluminum Coleman cooler. Pepsi in returnable glass bottles. No Garmin. No smartphones. Real paper maps! But we saw a lot of national parks and monuments, and a lot of interesting sights (Wall Drugs, Dodge City, Tombstone, the Corn Palace). We stopped at all the tourist traps where they sold rubber tomahawks, shot glasses, postcards, and Minnetonka moccasins.
I know Dad had an overarching plan for these trips, but to me they always felt improvised and spontaneous. If there were giant dinosaurs along the way, we’d stop. If there was a rodeo in a town nearby, we’d go. Caves? We must! Wild West towns? Of course! Cliff dwellings? Imperative!
I still prefer road trips for vacations. I’m sort of puzzled by people who fly. I want to go on MY schedule, not some airline’s. I want to see what’s between me and my destination. I want to make a side trip or two down some back roads. I want to go exploring!
THAT’S a vacation!!!
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This post is part of the Five-Minute Friday link-up. Today's writing prompt was "VACATION." For more information on Five-Minute Friday, click here.
Thirty days of adventure! Imagine that! We were lucky to get two nights away from home, but there are still many stories to tell of our adventures and a photo or two taken along the way. Thanks for sharing!
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