The other day I was thinking about family vacations from when I was a kid. We didn't have a whole lot when I was growing up, but my parents always made sure that we all went to Canada in the summers to visit our extended family. Looking back, I am so thankful that my parents made the effort for us to spend that time together as a family.
I don't really remember that much about the 18 hour car rides from Arkansas to Canada... I know they were probably awful for everyone - cramped up in a car, no entertainment to soothe us... just ourselves, the radio and books.
I know we must have fought like cats and dogs, but that is not what stands out in my mind. I remember mom reading to us, specifically "The Princess Bride." I do remember watching for license plates and getting close to all 50 states and many of the provinces. I remember playing the alphabet game. I remember getting to sit in the front with Dad to help keep him awake - we would talk and sing and I would read the map and help tell him where to go.
My most memorable family trip was when I must have been about 12. We had just moved to Arkansas and my Great Grandma Hotchkiss died. So we drove up to Sault Ste Marie for the funeral. I remember meeting a lot of people. This may have been my first funeral. Oddly enough I think that all of the pallbearers were women!
Anyways, the funeral, though interesting, was not the highlight of the trip. What I loved so much about this trip was that my parents decided we should visit all 5 great lakes. So as we made our way from Sault Ste Marie to Port Colborne that is exactly what we did.
We put out toes into Lake Superior (it was way too cold to actually swim in, even in the summer). We traveled on through Algonquin Provincial Park where we camped at Grundy Lake.
Grundy Lake has a special story - there were tons of mosquitoes here, so many that you couldn't breathe without swallowing them! My mom took us kids down to the lake to swim while my dad set up the tent. We could barely swim, we would take a big breath of air, hope no mosquitoes were in our mouths and then hold our breath underwater so we would not get eaten by the blood thirsty mosquitoes.
My poor dad was the hero of the story - he set up the tent for us. I remember coming back from swimming and he had a rain jacket on and a towel thrown over his head to protect him from the swarms.
We had to sit in the car to eat sandwiches and then we ran to the tent and zipped it shut. We must have spent 30 minutes killing all of the mosquitoes and then we just layed there for a long time waiting for sleep and listening to the mosquitoes buzz and repeatedly hit the exterior of our tent in an effort to get inside. Grundy Lake is a funny story now, but at the time it was pretty awful!
We went on to swim in Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and Lake Erie, but I will always remember Grundy Lake and all of its mosquitoes!
Interestingly enough, visiting Algonquin Provincial Park may have jump started my interest in the outdoors. I remember stopping at a visitor center and reading information about backpacking and canoeing. I have always thought about going back to do those things. Maybe someday Daniel and I will take our family there - we will just be sure to avoid mosquito season!!!
I don't really remember that much about the 18 hour car rides from Arkansas to Canada... I know they were probably awful for everyone - cramped up in a car, no entertainment to soothe us... just ourselves, the radio and books.
I know we must have fought like cats and dogs, but that is not what stands out in my mind. I remember mom reading to us, specifically "The Princess Bride." I do remember watching for license plates and getting close to all 50 states and many of the provinces. I remember playing the alphabet game. I remember getting to sit in the front with Dad to help keep him awake - we would talk and sing and I would read the map and help tell him where to go.
My most memorable family trip was when I must have been about 12. We had just moved to Arkansas and my Great Grandma Hotchkiss died. So we drove up to Sault Ste Marie for the funeral. I remember meeting a lot of people. This may have been my first funeral. Oddly enough I think that all of the pallbearers were women!
Anyways, the funeral, though interesting, was not the highlight of the trip. What I loved so much about this trip was that my parents decided we should visit all 5 great lakes. So as we made our way from Sault Ste Marie to Port Colborne that is exactly what we did.
We put out toes into Lake Superior (it was way too cold to actually swim in, even in the summer). We traveled on through Algonquin Provincial Park where we camped at Grundy Lake.
Grundy Lake has a special story - there were tons of mosquitoes here, so many that you couldn't breathe without swallowing them! My mom took us kids down to the lake to swim while my dad set up the tent. We could barely swim, we would take a big breath of air, hope no mosquitoes were in our mouths and then hold our breath underwater so we would not get eaten by the blood thirsty mosquitoes.
My poor dad was the hero of the story - he set up the tent for us. I remember coming back from swimming and he had a rain jacket on and a towel thrown over his head to protect him from the swarms.
We had to sit in the car to eat sandwiches and then we ran to the tent and zipped it shut. We must have spent 30 minutes killing all of the mosquitoes and then we just layed there for a long time waiting for sleep and listening to the mosquitoes buzz and repeatedly hit the exterior of our tent in an effort to get inside. Grundy Lake is a funny story now, but at the time it was pretty awful!
We went on to swim in Lake Michigan, Lake Ontario, Lake Huron and Lake Erie, but I will always remember Grundy Lake and all of its mosquitoes!
Interestingly enough, visiting Algonquin Provincial Park may have jump started my interest in the outdoors. I remember stopping at a visitor center and reading information about backpacking and canoeing. I have always thought about going back to do those things. Maybe someday Daniel and I will take our family there - we will just be sure to avoid mosquito season!!!
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