Saturday, May 24, 2008

A Trip Down Memory Lane

I don’t usually post on the weekend, but kind of a cool little thing happened 57 years ago today and I thought I’d like to note it. My parents had always wanted to take our family on some kind of big trip. However, my oldest brother had a heart condition and was never well enough to go. After he passed away my parents said, “There are no excuses left. We’re going.” So my dad bought a 1951 Chevy sedan and the eight of us drove to Hood River, Oregon for three months. We lived in a small “migrant workers cottage” in the middle of a fruit orchard owned by my uncle. From that base, we traveled all over the Northwest, enjoyed getting to know our cousins, met wonderful new friends and renewed old acquaintances. My oldest sister kept a diary and expense account every day of our trip. You’ll see from the first entry that this was a way different time.

“May 24, 1951 – Left at 7:55. Breakfast with the Wasdens before departure. Picnic lunch given to us by P.K. Edmunds. Mileage reading, 841. Beautiful day. Arrived in Hyde Park at 7:30 p.m. Mileage reading, 1202. Joined by the Hazen Cooley’s at Nephi for lunch. Stopped at the Springville Fish Hatchery. Called on Joel C. Barlow family at Provo. Stopped in Salt Lake. Gas - $5.75. Food - $4.60.

We invited two couples over for breakfast on the patio this morning. Afterward, I re-read the entire three-month trip diary. It was a real “trip” down memory lane.

4 comments:

ellen said...

That's really cool. What a fun trip! I love old diaries! My grandparents are from Nephi. :)

Unknown said...

There are so many things I didn't know about you. There were cabins on the lake and the sound and mom rented them some summers for a week. Those were fun memories. Three months would have been heaven.
Today I was thinking it would be nice to see some pictures of you as a child.

June

Britt said...

Fun times. Just think in two and half weeks we might all be able to relate to "gas $5.75" but...wait...that will be per gallon!

Aprilyn said...

That is so fun to learn this about you. Times certainly have changed.