Sunday, July 10, 2011

July 10, 1969

My good pal Lee has requested more entries from the travel diary. While the entry for this date in 1967 is not all that interesting, I did find an entry from a family vacation to New York City when I was 13 (almost 14!). Once again, my comments are bracketed. Note the increase in verbosity and the lack of paragraphing:

Well, wouldn't you know it. Just when I get the hang of the subways and streets and know my way around [LOLOL! As if!], I have to leave! Well, this morning I got up and ate breakfast at Suttons. I had hotcakes and 1/2 & 1/2 coffee again. Then Mommy and Grandpa and Grandma went for a stroll in Central Park, while Johnny, Daddy, and I went to look for a Snoopy Astronaut doll. He [John] found it and we rode back on the IRT subway lines [sic]. It was very nice and clean and modern. Then we decided to find me a souvenier [sic: obviously, a couple of years have not been enough for me to master this word!]. We went into a card shop near our hotel and I got a mini-swinger [here is inserted a sketch of said item: one of those wooden frames with large ball bearings suspended on plastic wires so that when you pull one back and let it go, it hits the others and sends the ball bearing on the opposite end swinging] and some hand-painted, original cards. Then we 4 [?] went for a walk in Central Park. It was very pretty. There was a little baby boy with his nurse in the park and he was so cute! He was laying [sic] in the grass. Then he picked up a stick and was holding it when we we left. Then we went back to the hotel, packed, and caught a cab to La Guardia. The driver told us how to remember the streets. The streets go east and west. The streets going east were even numbers. The streets going west were odd. The avenues went north and south, staggering. [!] We arrived at the [Eastern] Shuttle terminal and I had a doughnut and a coke at the snack bar.

[Whew! A paragraph break!]

Johnny and Daddy had chocolate pudding. We loaded the plane and I got a window seat. When we started to ascend, it felt so cool! [This was my first plane ride; we took the brand new Metroliner train from D.C. to NYC.] We flew over the Unisphere from the 64-65 New York World's Fair [which the family went to in 1965]. We got into the clouds then and were between 2 cloud layers and all that was outside was white as snow. When we started to descend it looked like we were right on top of the city. It only took us 50 mins. to get to Wash, D.C. from N.Y. At the airport, I bought a book called "The Hobbit." I've wanted it for a long time. We got lost going out of Wash, D.C. [It was family tradition to get lost driving into and out of and within Washington, D.C.] This time we got caught in Arlington National Cemetery and also in a fort! We finally got out, without too much difficulty. Then we drove and drove and we ate at a diner in Warrenton [VA]. Boy! The food was good! I had the shrimp platter. Boy was it superb. We drove and drove, till [sic] about 7:00 we reached home. That ends this summary of my trip to New York City.

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Monday, July 04, 2011

July 4, 1967

Okay, okay. I know. I've been lax. More lax than ever.

I'll try to do better. I will. And yeah, Star Wars nerds. I know there is no "try." Heh.

The problem seems to be that, while I come up with lots of ideas for this blog, I've just been too damned lazy to sit down and put fingers to keyboard.

So today, I'm going to call in a guest blogger from the past. Long past? Yes, and my past.

Meet 11-year-old Cathy (so soon to turn 12!) as she reports faithfully in her diary the events of July 4, 1967. She is on a cross-country road trip with her parents, her little brother, and the family dog. My comments/annotations in brackets. Enjoy!

Today we started out thinking that we would reach Yellowstone tonight. Well, we didn't. We stopped for lunch and some shopping at Spearhead [Spearfish?], S. Dakota.

First we went shopping in a souvenier [sic] shop. Johnny bought a Mt. Rushmore T-shirt. I bought a giant Apache tear for Linda [who was, at that point, my best friend]. Then we went to another souvenier [sic] shop. I bought a cedar box. We went to a pizza parlor and we saw the man toss the pizza dough.

On July 1st we saw a butcher cutting up meat for the first time. [Ever?]

Then we went on. I wanted to see the passion play but I didn't have time to.

[As you can see, SOME of my interests have changed over the years. Obviously, shopping for cheezy souvenirs and poking around in rock shops are obsessions that have lasted a lifetime...]

We then went to a place in Wyoming and got some rocks and film. It was called the Alabaster Shop. We went on to the rockies and continental divide and an awful windy [i.e., winding] road. We stopped at a service station and got some rocks. I got Indian Money (aragonite) and some Apache tears.

[Does it surprise anyone that young Cathy grew up to ace the infamous Rock Test in Geology 101?]

We stopped at a place in Shell called Spence's Camper Court and when it got dark enough, we shot off fireworks. Others had firecrackers and scared the dog.

Cathy

Happy Independence Day everyone! Hope we can all spend the holiday as carefree as an 11 year old on a cross-country road trip!

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