Trending
It's summer and for my family that always meant an annual vacation. In many ways, think of it like a Chevy Chase vacation.
As I look back on life now, I realize how blessed my brother and I were to have grown up in a family where a vacation happened every year. That ritual was one my wife and I continued for our family as our boys were growing up - and they continue as well for their families.
While the need for a summer vacation hasn't changed all these years, how that vacation looks is quite a bit different.
For instance, remember when the main qualification that earned a vacation "five star" status was whether the motel you were staying at had a pool or not? A basic outdoor pool was worth three stars, a heated outdoor pool earned four stars while an indoor pool jumped the evaluation to five stars.
If the motel offered a breakfast buffet, well ... you thought you had died and gone to heaven.
Of course, getting to and from a vacation spot could be interesting. My parents decided we would all head out west one summer in a 1968 Rambler. While I'm sure that trip had many memorable stops, what I remember most was us stopping every couple of hours to pour coolant into the radiator until we could get it into a legitimate repair shop to fix a leak.
Those were the days of no seatbelts and many station wagons with back facing third row seats. Remember those old land yachts like an Olds Custom Cruiser? The kids would pile into that back seat and make faces out the back window to the drivers following behind.
The kids would get extra excited if a truck was passing and they would signal the driver to blow the horn by making a fist, bending the arm, then moving that arm up and down. Getting a driver to blow the horn was priceless.
Many of my immediate family's vacations took on a sports theme. I've shared recently in another column about son Jeremy's suggested detour for us to the Field of Dreams in Iowa, and how that ended up being a great memory for everyone.
What had the potential to be equally as fun, but failed to live up to the hype, was the year we chased the Detroit Tigers for a week. We started off in Detroit watching the Tigers play, then followed them to Cleveland for their next series, and finished with them in Toronto. Much to the family's dismay, the Tigers lost all three games we went to and watched.
Not all was lost, however. In 1998, during the historic home run season battle between Mark McGwire, Sammy Sosa and Barry Bonds, Jeremy and his brother Andrew saw all three hit home runs - Sosa at Wrigley Field, Bonds in Pittsburgh's PNC Park and McGwire in Detroit.
Of course, every vacation has its "unbelievable" moments, like the time I ran into a cousin I hadn't seen for 20 years in Disney World, or a family from our town that we spotted first in Florida at Disney, then the next year in Toronto at a hotel swimming pool.
Those both pale though in comparison to the family from our hometown that we ran into at the Yosemite Park Camp Store in California. Who would of "thunk" you could drive across the country and run into a neighbor at the grocery store?
And what would a vacation be like without a bit of drama?
Take for instance the year we were at Niagara Falls, and we were 45 minutes down the road when it was learned that a favorite stuffed animal, Kermit the Frog, had been left behind at the hotel. Since this was a time without cell phones, we turned around and headed back to where we had lodged. Much to a little boy's relief, Kermit was found safe and sound.
Then there was the year when we went on vacation and left our cat with a co-worker to watch. Returning home Diane was anxious to see her cat, only to discover that in an effort to keep cool the co-worker, her boyfriend and the cat had taken a ride in his convertible, and the cat jumped out of the car and disappeared.
That is a whole other story for another time but here is the short version: Bill searched every night high and low, put up posters seeking help in locating the cat, then found the cat. Wife, cat and Bill lived happily ever after.
The End.
Cue the credits Chevy.
Bill Speer retired in 2021 as the publisher and editor of The News. He can be reached at bspeer@thealpenanews.com.