I was a little girl when I started traveling with my grandparents in the 1960's. Nan and Pop, as I called them, took me on a trip every summer for many years. My older brother Jeff went too, as well as Tom, a family friend. Tom was there to referee Jeff and I for "car fights". He sat in the middle of us. He was a handsome boy and kind of chubby but I had a huge crush on him. I was quite young to be having a crush on a boy, but I watched him all the time and he had the coolest crew cut! I just remember thinking he was cute so crush may be a relative term.
The family always went by car, never by train or plane. The car was always an Oldsmobile, my Pop loved his Oldsmobile. He thought they were the best and very luxurious. He had an unusual way of driving. It went something like this...lead foot...hard stop...lead foot...hard stop. It never bothered me like it did my Nan. And we did not wear seat belts back then either, so it was a bit of an amusement park ride! I chose to sleep either in the back windshield or curled up on the floor of the car like a cat. Remember, no seat belt rules back then.
My Pop was kind of a "dude" back then. He always looked sharp and had a wad of money in his wallet. He used big words like "congenial" to get us to behave. We didn't even know what that meant but we shaped up real fast when we heard that word. He bought me whatever I wanted and we stayed in the best hotels/motels. He smoked and had a cocktail every night at dinner. He didn't say much but he laughed at my antics every now and then. I jumped on every hotel room's bed where we stayed , acted silly and this seemed to entertain my grandparents very much.
My Nan was always decked out in a dress with matching shoes and purse. Of course, she wore jewelry that coordinated with her outfit. She was beautiful and stylish with her red lipstick applied with accuracy. She and I had our hair styled at a Las Vegas Beauty Salon on one of our trips. She did worry a lot but she didn't make a big deal out of it most of the time. She never, ever went into the sun without a hat and/or sunglasses. Her skin was alabaster white and would prove to delay the aging process in her old age. Smooth as silk was her skin with very little lines and wrinkles when she was in her 80's. She was kind to me and I just knew she loved me very much.
My brother and Tom wore suits to dinner with bow ties. Tom always had a parfait for dessert and I thought that was the coolest thing . We always had cherries in our coca colas too. I wore fancy dresses that cost some money back in those days. Little ruffled white socks and Mary Janes completed my ensembles. My Nan loved to dress me up and I loved dressing up!
The memories I have of our fun summer vacations is why I love to travel. It was" home away from home" no matter where my grandparents took me. The things I remember happening each and every trip were kind of funny things that make me laugh now as an old broad. The endless times my Pop got lost driving us to our destination. Always taking us somehow, into the seedier parts of a city. I was not allowed to walk barefoot on the hotel's "dirty" carpet, so I had slippers to wear. I always swam in the pool no matter how cold . And we dressed up every night for dinner at the hotel's restaurant. Fancy group we were , but those were the times . No one ever would have showed up for breakfast in their pj's like some people do now!
Our last vacations together were always to Daytona Beach, Florida. As teenagers, all we wanted to do was swim and lay out in the sun. My Nan would stay inside the hotel room and read. My Pop would sit on the wall in back of the hotel watching us in the ocean . He was in full street attire. He told us he paid the lifeguard to watch us specifically. We did this for several years and finally it all ended when our lives became too busy with high school , friends and summer activities.
My Nan and Pop instilled in me a wanderlust that I am not sure will ever be satisfied . I thank them with all my heart and may they rest in peace. I love you Nan and Pop. xxooo
