Tuesday 1 August 2017

A Road Trip Down Memory Lane

Hello Friends!

We're stepping out of the garden and away from the cottage today for a trip down Memory Lane ~~~

There are a handful of words that bring delight and joy to my spirit ~ some of these words are funny, or require some thought, such as "discombobulate" or are just happy sounding words, such as "marshmallow" or "sunflower", and some aren't really words at all, but are just lovely, silly words, such as "jumbleberry" or "mimblewimble".  There are other words, however, that string together and intrigue me or invite me, and two of these words are "road" and "trip" ~ Road Trip!

I love a Road Trip, and a couple years ago this was my interpretation of the prompt "Route 66" for the annual ICAD challenge ~~~



I haven't been on a Road Trip in some decades, not properly, and maybe the last time was wa~a~a~y back in 1984 when my lovely Dad flew out to San Francisco and over three weeks we drove across America to Virginia Beach. Now that's what I call a Road Trip indeed.  Here are a few photos from that epic journey, please don't expect fantastic compositions, they are photos of photos, for back in the day it was 35mm film and the photos have aged over the decades between ~~~

Let's start at the very beginning ~ remember back in the 1980's when scrapbooks and photo albums looked like this? Three ring binders which we covered ourselves with padding and fabric, adding a frill, and the insides were nothing more than photo sleeves with no room for movement?  We've come a long way, baby!



and we're off ~~~

At the time, I lived in Northern California, in a small village called Ferndale. After we picked Dad up in San Francisco, we back tracked 150 miles to show him where I'd lived for a year ~~~ I can see the little church I attended every Sunday, middle right!


Daddy in the Redwood Forest
Heading South ~ no trip to CA is complete without a winery tour!
Then it was on, south, to San Francisco where there were many things to see, so here is a selection ~~~

Golden Gate Bridge at Sunset

Alcatraz

Skyline


Dad with my 'Californian English Springer Spaniel' Gwen

Then we carried on further south to Carmel and took in the sights of the world famous Seventeen Mile Drive ~~~ secretly, we hoped to see Clint Eastwood!



Then we turned inland, and visited the abandoned ghost town at Barstow ~~~


We spent a night in Las Vegas ~~~


and the next day we continued to journey east, and the next major stop was the spectacular Grand Canyon ~~~



We then followed the road to Arizona where we were in total awe of the giant cactus, and, as Daddy was a massive fan of westerns, a trip to the set of Old Tuscon was a must ~~~




There's a rather large gap now because some of the photos have gone missing, but we ended up, safe and sound in Virginia Beach before heading north to Washington DC for a few days before Daddy flew home after his month long visit to America, and a trip of a lifetime ~~~



The dilemma I now face is whether or not to upgrade these photos to a new album. I'd love to see them in a scrapbook format, but then I'm taking away part of the history, the time in which this is how photo albums looked. Maybe I'll tidy up my photos of the photos, have fresh prints made and make a new scrapbook with them?

Recently, a lovely and generous online friend of mine went on a Road Trip, up, and down, the Pacific Coast North West {some more words that, when strung together, tug at my heart strings ~ for I long to be there, Seattle, Puget Sound, Olympia, and so on} and guess what? She took me, and a few others, along for the journey!  We were all very well behaved, well, we were for most of the time.

Anyway, to bring me along on this virtual journey, I've received, in the post over the past few days, a series of lovely post cards that have made it feel as if I really was there, and isn't this such a kind and generous thing to do? Here's what I got in the post over the last week ~~~


Until next time ~~~
~~~Deborah xoxo

22 comments:

  1. Deb, this is a fantastic post, my friend. I love that you and your Daddy enjoyed this trip together. A real once in a lifetime journey! Your Daddy looks like he was enjoying himself so much. It reminds me of when my Mama and Daddy came to visit us when we lived in the San Francisco area when our daughter was a baby. It was their first adventure across the USA. I think your photos tell a very happy story and I thank you for sharing. xoxo ♥

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    1. Thank you, Martha Ellen ~ oh! he was like a dog with two tails the whole time. He had catfish in Louisiana, enjoyed his hearty, American breakfasts every day, ate fresh caught fish cooked on Pier 39 and his first fresh pineapple in San Francisco, stood in deep snow at the Grand Canyon when the day before we'd been in hot summer like sunshine below, watched a gunfight in Old Tucson, we went to Tombstone AZ, and so much more! It was a Grand Adventure for him indeed! ~~~Deb xoxo

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  2. Dear Deborah, LOVED your Road Trips ~ both of them :) How very wonderful that your father could spend a whole month with you doing what many of us wish for - a long drive cross country to see the USA. That is a Road Trip I would also love to take. Sweet dream = possible reality someday. Meanwhile, these photos are magical mileposts to help you remember that most special of times. Thank you so much for sharing what is so dear to your heart. And for sharing the other Road Trip, too. You will be the first Road Trip companion I look for the next time I follow 'the Road (that) goes ever on and on' xoxo

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    1. Thank you Christie! I'm so happy you enjoyed my writing today. I have driven across America twice, done 2/3 by Greyhound, and flown over once. I reckon, in an RV, you could spend decades just exploring the vastness and diversity that is America. I'm so looking forward to our next Road Trip, down from the door where it began! ~~~Deb xoxo

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  3. Such precious memories to treasure Deborah. And whats wrong with the original photo album,
    surely you will loose the essence of that special time if you change it.

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    1. Thank you, Denise, and, yes, I agree about losing the essence ~ that's how we did things back then! I will take copies to put in a new scrapbook format ~ it will be a fun thing to do.

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  4. Deb, this was great. Thanks so much for sharing! xoxo

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  5. "Those were the days, my friend, we thought they'd never end..."

    Such precious memories you have to hold dear in your heart. Thank you for sharing, Deborah!

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    1. Thank you, Marigold ~ ah! We'd sing and dance for ever and a day" ~ one of my favourite songs by one of my favourite Welsh singers, Mary Hopkin.

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  6. Lovely! What a unique idea! You brought back some memories for me, too, as Gene and I began our marriage in California and traveled throughout the Southwest collecting subjects for his pencil books. We visited Calico Ghost Town many times -- just an hour or so from us! We have pencil drawings of Old Tuscon in his pencil book! And spent our honeymoon in San Francisco and Carmel/Monterey! And I lived for 7 years in Washington, D.C. before that! So your footprints and mine are probably trampling all over each other! How fun to think of that! Jane xo

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    1. Thank you, Jane ~~~ wow, sometimes I get shivers down my spine and goosebumps ~ this is one of those moments ~ our paths have truly crossed, and here we are now thanks to crossing paths with Susan Branch! Of course, I struggled to remember that the ghost town is called Calico! Thanks for the nudge! ~~~Deb xoxo

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  7. What a wonderful trip down memory lane, you have lived an interesting life. I miss having photo albums as all photos now are stored on the computer but it's not the same, this year I decided I am going back to proper photos but instead of an album I am making a scrap book of the year. x

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    1. Thank you. I agree, while 35mm photography was not cheap, digital has meant I've got hundreds of images on the computer to each one of my real photos. I really should print some of them off, and that is the plan now. Scrapbooking is the new way to hold photos, and I quite like it. xo

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  8. What a wonderful post - thank you so much for sharing it is lovely to go along on your road trip - what great memories you must have.

    I've been decluttering here at home recently so OH can redecorate our bedroom and have been going through many of my old printed photos some in photo albums some in card index type files brings back so many memories especially of when the children were little. A shame though that some of the photos have suffered with the passage of time and no doubt cheap processing!

    These days all my digital photos are on external hard drives but I do think it is a good idea to have a year book made with prints of some of the best. You can't beat looking through photo albums :)

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    1. Thank you ~ yes, digital photography has revolutionised not only the amount of photos we take, but how we store them. Do you go into panic mode over losing them and have back ups of the back ups? Odd how I never did that over old, celuloid negative strips, if we lost them that was it!

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  9. What wonderful photos and great memories! Thanks for showing us them. I especially loved seeing your Dad.

    You will have such a great time making those scrapbooks. Oh the memories they will stir. Have fun, my friend.

    Love and hugs,
    Darlene

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    1. Thank you, my Dear Friend. Yes, I will enjoy my scrapbooking! My photos are few, but all are treasured greatly. Love, Deb xoxo

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  10. This must be a very special album for you since it is of your Dad. I vote for leaving it as it is because the album itself is part of that time you had with him. I started albums when my first child was born and kept them up until the end of last year--almost 38 years of albums! I've run out of storage for them so am now only doing a page a month of my grandchildren and special occasions for them. The rest are on a private blog. I figure none of my boys have space for 38 years of albums (some years it took 3 albums to hold everything) so I don't know what will become of them when I'm gone. I've told them they'll have to keep the house so that have some place to store the albums.

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    1. Thank you, Cathy. My goodness! You could have a library dedicated to just your photo albums! We were never a photo taking family, so I do not have many at all. I will be recording all of mine digitally for added safekeeping. Of course, this gives more material for writing later ~~~ Houses are great places for storing things until we have so much that we need a bigger house! You might find they are more than happy to take their albums in the future.

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  11. i really likes your blog and You have shared the whole concept really well. and Very beautifully soulful read! thanks for sharing.
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  12. I really enjoyed you post...what great memories you have. I am new to your blog. I see that you are a Tasha Tudor fan...she is a big part of my life. I was looking at your Pinterest board and we seem to enjoy a lot of the same things.

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