Tuesday, May 24, 2011

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND

 My mom is running over to her end table about now, saying" That girl has been into my pictures again!". They are safe in an envelope mom!!!  ... I don't have good pictures... Like These.....
 This is my dad's family camping. The Whitaker's!!!  That is my Grandmother - Dot in the yellow & orange bathing suit. the other lady is her sister... Ummmm Lily? or Helen?  I can never keep them straight. The young girl in the above picture is my aunt Gaynell. Don't you love that old truck? I can just imagine it full and stuff hanging all over it,'s on it way to Whitaker's Lake. They also pulled a boat there. They loved to water ski....They would go and camp for weeks... In Tents!!!  We, as a family started off tent camping. Then my dad bought a VW van.. We camped out of it in the 70's. Can we say HIPPIES!!!   not really..... When Raeanne was little we started out with a couple of different pop-ups. I miss these Weekends

 That is Raeanne when she was 9. Year was 1991 in May. We were at Cheaha State Park. One of our favorite places to camp. This is 1st real camper trailer. My dad bought it in a divorce sale. Cheap....and the guy threw in a Weber grill too.  We laughed about that a lot.... Not much stuff accumulated so far.....
 Trailer #2 was the most fun !! We pulled this thing everywhere. Bigger with bunk beds. This is the final place this trailer was pulled to. Mom & dad rented a lot in a Park. Had a beach, swimming pool, boat launch, store, bath houses, and other places. Our pulling from place to place was over.. Because they got this:
 Yes... Trailer #3... In 1999 , they decided we needed something with more room. Can we say slide out room.  During this time me and hubby decided we wanted to do some pop-up camping again. We purchased a good fixer-upper pop up. Fixed it up and away we went on our first Back To Camping Trip... All I will say is Daughter tried to lean against the walls.. ( which they are tent canvas) many times and almost ripping the walls of canvas out.. Hubby says" did you bring the popcorn?" which I take to mean Microwave popcorn.. That is what we are used to... No microwave-No popcorn.. then there is the absence of the TV... I will not go there.. Yes I will... Dad had a tv in the big trailer.. Raeanne always brought have VCR with her tapes to keep a teenager busy.... Pop up... No TV.  Needless to say... we came home and sold the pop up! Re-fabbed pop up.. used once !! someone got a great deal!!  lol
This is mom with Sadie... As you can see, by 1999 we had accumulated a lot of stuff. Those party lights hanging from the swing are from the 1970's VW days !!! I still have them. That Weber grill, in the background is the only thing left from Camper #1. (divorce camper)  I miss camping on Memorial Day Weekends.. It is so fun. We get together and start talking about camping and the funny things that have happened over the years. We do have some stories...... I could remember and talk all day about them.. Our friends we go to the beach with each year Debra and Wayne. We met them camping at Cheaha, some 20 years ago.  I need to start back camping to show my grandchildren what camping is all about. My mom booked us a cabin at one of our favorite state parks one year when Hannah, ( brother's daughter) was about 4 . She said we were camping!! we laughed at her.. We might be at a state park but we were in a modern cabin.. Hannah will now get to see what camping is about now.. She is 10 years old and her camping raised dad just bought this:
Her Summers of fun are just beginning!!!  Hope she makes as many great memories as we have !!!  Hate to end this camping post... Watch out for the mosquitoes this weekend !!!  I hate the smell of OFF !! BYE...

6 comments:

Flat Creek Farm said...

What great memories! I hopped over here from Deanna's (My Loves, My Life) blog. Something jumped out at me in your comment.. Perry, MO! My mom grew up there, and hubs and I lived the first year of our marriage (ages ago) in the dear little town of Perry. It's still very close to my heart, and only about 45 miles from where we live.
Nice to meet you, and I'll come back to visit again! :) -Tammy

Maggie said...

Looks like you had fun camping! We too had a caravan (UK term i think?) as kids we used to love going, but mum always used to moan that it was no holiday for her as she did exactly the same as at home! We used to go on caravan holidays when my children were little but camping dosen't really apeal to me now, i sort of know now where my mum was coming from now i'm older, lol,
Still the best holiday for families with young children i think though :-)

Eggs In My Pocket said...

Well, I figured out my computer problems and am able to post a comment now! Just love old family photos of happy times like this! Have a happy memorial day weekend.

Michelle May-The Raspberry Rabbits said...

Oh my gosh I do love this post girlfriend! Happy campers!!! Love it!!!!
xx, shell

Siobhán said...

We used to go camping when we were kids and we loved it! We had a tent, though--no fancy campers or pop ups (I wish!). We'd go to Assateague Island State Park or to Vermont. My kids have never been so we've been talking about renting a camper van sometime after flying into the US and going to various camp sites around the NW. It's a dream but I'd love to do it.

vivian said...

my husband was raised traveling and camping, but I am NOT a camper. I like the beach and a nice place to sleep! I like a campfire as long as I can go home to my own bed afterwords too! But I did enjoy hearing about your camping adventures. and I love the old pictures. thanks for sharing
have a great night!
vivian