“Take vacations, go as many places as you can, you can always make money, you can’t always make memories.”
It was around 3 am. I was reading in bed when the rumble started. I could hear it far off at first, but it started getting closer and closer. Soon enough the thunder was overhead. That was when the rain started. It was torrential for a while. I listened. I wished I had a tin roof.
The humidity is so thick this morning you can cut it with a knife. The breeze is almost wasted in the thickness. The sky is a light grey. Rain is likely again tonight.
I couldn’t open my front door last night. The wood was swollen. This morning I went out the backdoor then through the gate, got my paper then pushed the door with all my strength. I almost fell into house but caught myself.
When I was a kid, we never went to the cape. We mostly went to Maine where we had free accommodations in the tiniest of cottages. It belonged to a friend of my father’s. It was in Ogunquit. I remember how cold the water was and how high the dunes were. I remember seeing naked sunbathers hiding themselves in the dunes. When the tide was low, I used to watch the darting fish in the pools. My parents used to sit outside the cottage or in the small kitchen. My father swam, body surfed. We mostly ate sandwiches or hot dogs and burgers on the grill, sort of grab an go meals. We went there the summer I turned 16. I was thoroughly bored. I remember one night I went into town to see a movie. That was it for entertainment. I used to hide in my father’s car to read and have a bit of quiet, a little privacy. I think that was the last time we went to Maine.
My favorite vacations were what is now called a staycation. We did something different every day. We went to museums in Boston and in Cambridge. We went to the beach and once to the lake. We even went to the drive-in a couple of times. Weekdays at the beach and the drive-in were so different than on the weekends. A couple of days we just stayed home.
I have my Monday concert in Hyannis starting at 5:30. Getting there will be a struggle because tourists fill the main roads on ugly days gawking and rubbernecking as they drive slowly looking for something to do. I curse.
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July 3, 2023 at 9:53 pm
Hi Kat,
Today was mostly sunny with a high if 100°. However the humidity was less so it didn’t feel so bad today. I took a vacation day and my daughter and I went in the pool for awhile.
When I was a kid we always combined vacation with visiting the relatives in New York. The exception was the summer of 1955 when we drove out to Los Angles to go to Disneyland. It was the first year it opened. We stopped off in El Paso for a couple of days to visit my uncle Jack. He was my mother’s oldest brother. He had been living in El Paso since my grandfather signed him into the Army after WWI when he finished high school. Jack was stationed at Ft. Bliss and served in the horse cavalry and never left El Paso after his discharge. We went across the river into Juarez Mexico. In those days it was very safe to visit and the U.S. border guards would ask your nationality and never ask you to prove it. Jack told me that the army treated the horses better than they treated the men. He said there was a small border town just west of El Paso called, “The hole in the wall”, and they chased Pancho Villa back across the border on horseback regularly.
On the way back from Los Angeles, we stopped in Las Vegas. The Las Vegas back then was nothing like it is today. If you watch the original version of, “Oceans 11”, you will have an idea of the Las Vegas strip in 1955. It’s still one of my favorite movies. Whenever we went on a car trip we couldn’t convince my father to see any of the sights. He was always interested in making good time. 🙂
July 3, 2023 at 11:12 pm
Hi Bob,
The sun was outlaw afternoon, and it sent the humidity away. Right now it is down to the 60’s with a gentle breeze.
We never had such a long road trip though we did go to the Falls one summer. That was the first time we stayed in motels and cottages. We also saw the Eisenhower Locks which I loved. Instead of two days, my father drove home from the Falls in a single non-stop trip. Mine, like yours, was interested in making good time. My mother complained but it did no good.
That is neat that when you visited your uncle you went into Mexico. I enjoyed the Pancho Villa story.
I have never been to Las Vegas and haven’t wanted to go there. I have two friends who love Las Vegas. They saw Barry Manilow the last trip. I’d need to be tied and gagged before I’d see Manilow.
July 3, 2023 at 10:10 pm
We have made our way to Denver to spend a week with the family and two granddaughters. I’m not sure if that is a vacation given Mrs MDH and I now tend to use available time to enjoy our three granddaughters.
We did go to the excelllent Cheyenne Mountain zoo today to feed the giraffes and the elephant which was greatly enjoyed by all, especially the three year old
July 3, 2023 at 11:16 pm
My Dear Hedley,
Your granddaughter is adorable. I loved the picture of her and her friend.
I think it is a vacation. You are somewhere other than home and thoroughly enjoying yourselves.
I would have loved feeding the giraffes and elephants too!