The Beginning of Annie's Adventures

 As a teacher (retired teacher), I think all children should be taken on numerous trips around the U.S., to see wonderful, historic things and beautiful, natural wonders, so they can connect with what they learn in the classroom; so it makes sense.  In a perfect world, their parents might go on extended trips around the US, to expose them to all kinds of historical events.  That won't ever happen, but like I said, in a "perfect world".
     In my non-perfect world, I was one lucky child, when my dad started taking us camping, in the 1950's, with one of the original pop-up campers, the Heilite camping trailer.  It had a single wheel, so it was impossibly easy to swing in and out of places. It retailed for about $420, which was probably a lot of money for my dad.  It had a double bed and then the tent area went over the bed and on out, where it made a side tent area, where you could put sleeping bags on the floor.  The sleeping bags on the floor were occupied by myself, my sister and my brother.  Nice, but the first time we had it out, our sleeping bags were floating in water. Dad had forgotten to put down ground cover. We eventually dried out, but we remembered that trip forever. Where did we go with it?  Michigan, our neighboring state, New England, South Dakota, Yellowstone, Colorado Springs, a trip that made a swing through Des Moines, where my mom was born and raised, and then to Colorado and then south to Kansas to find some Harvey relatives and finally home. On our trip to Yellowstone, my Gram Harvey went with us.  Due to an extra person, the back of the tomato soup colored, Plymouth station wagon served as a bedroom, for she and I. When we traveled we always pulled off the side of the road for lunch.  Dad would pull the cupboard out of the side of the camper and we went about making sandwiches.  I never liked those sandwiches, because they tasted like metal.  The Heilight had an aluminum frame, so I guess that is why the bread tasted bad. He gave us memories, so many memories.  Some good, some not so good, as when we were in Boston.  First we parked the car in a big parking garage, got out and started "down" not  "up".  When we finally found our way out, we headed toward the square and ready to do the Heritage Trail.  We couldn't figure out where to go to start it, so we asked a policeman, who said he had  never heard of it.  We went back to the car and my mom wouldn't talk, because she was pissed we didn't explore Boston.  We went to see Old Ironsides, while she sat under a bridge, in a parking lot, while we were having fun exploring the ship.  She didn't speak to Dad all the way back to Ohio.  We went to Maine, where we got live lobster, from a shed, and boiled it in a pot.  Since I was the oldest, I was allowed to try it but not the others.  In Maine a storm came up and I remember my mom sitting on the floor, trying to hold the tent down.  Oh well, fun times. Fun times because my parents expanded my horizons by taking me places others had only dreamed about. We did it in a camper because that was affordable and away we went. By the time I left home I had visited 38 states of the contiguous U.S.

When my husband, Jim, and I had a family, we decided to follow my parents example and 

take our children to see things, too.  Our trips were a little different, because when we did our summer vacations we usually went with my sister's family.  We, unlike my parents started camping in a tent, because that is all we could afford. Our first trip to Yellowstone was in that tent, where Jim either froze to death and wanted a Coleman heater,  or roasted to death and was sure Coleman made an air conditioner. Next, we graduated to a pop-up Palomino camping trailer, that my husband surprised us with. Our final camping trip as a family was in a Winnabago motor home, that my dad bought and brought home from Florida, so we could use it on vacation.  Our trips were to many varied destinations. We went to Michigan, Kentucky State Parks including General Burnside, out west to Mt. Rushmore, Yellowstone and the Tetons, down south through Virginia on our way to South Carolina; a trip to Arkansas and once to Florida. We were on a tight budget and so when we returned home each year we were totally broke. Our kids didn't get to do things that had a price tag attached to it, like the time they didn't get to go into Mark Twain's home, but Becky Thatcher's house across the street was free, so guess where they got to go? Of course they couldn't use the pay telescopes. We've never heard the end of that one.  Sometimes, my sister's family would stop and buy lunch and of course we pulled out the supplies and made lunch, just the same as my Mom and Dad had done.  The kids didn't like that any more than I had years before.  

     Our kids and their cousins got to know each other well, as we shared various vacation destinations.  They probably particularly liked to watch their fathers setting up camp.  Uncle Jim was an electrical engineer and Jim had a degree in education.  Kind of polar opposites.  When we would pull into our campsites, the engineer had all poles marked with color coded tape, so that set up went quickly as opposed to us, who just dumped stuff out.  One time in Michigan the engineer stayed at the campground trenching around the tents, while the rest of us, just went to town to see a movie.  One night at Hungry Mother State Park in Virginia, we were camped side by side. It was a hot night and my sister recalls feeling a slight breeze across her face.  Only a short time later they discovered a bat in their pop up, which Uncle Jim had to usher out.  There was the time my niece, Jennifer, got her hair stuck in fly paper and also the time that nephew, David, almost cut off his toe in the folding lounge chair.  Once when we went to set up our pop-up we had a leak in our water and all the sleeping bags got soaked!  Oh the stories we all could share.

    Family vacations were possible because we went camping. We couldn't afford hotels or motels, so we did the traveling the only way we could.  The kids got to see things that would have otherwise been impossible.  If I had one wish for my own grandkids and all kids out there, it would be to be able to experience traveling, exploring, experiencing and thus learning, about all the wonders of our world.