Illustrated Account of 1982 Trip East
Robert & Barbara's family trip east in 1972 Ford station wagon, July 1982
Click on a picture for a larger view and more photos
Our first major family trip started with shopping
for a vehicle large enough to carry two adults, two or three
children plus camping gear and one small dog which we could
afford. We managed to buy a 1972 Ford Gran Torino station
wagon for $400 a few days before departure. First stop was
Minneapolis for the 4th of July weekend. Warren and Patty
live just across the street from the Park where Minneapolis
has its big fireworks display. While there we enjoyed the
company of Evelyn and Eric Henderson (my mother's sister)
who we hadn't seen in years. They were making their first
visit to Warren's home, traveling with a little house trailer
which they parked behind the house. They invited us to stop
overnight at their house in Ottawa with their daughter
Hildegard who was house sitting for them while they traveled.
On the way to Ottawa we stopped to see the Mackinac Bridge
connecting the upper and lower peninsulas of Michigan and
spent a morning in Deep River, Ontario, where I showed Barb
and the boys the home and town where I lived on the beautiful
Ottawa River when I was 5 to 9 years old.
After a pleasant night in Ottawa with Hildegard we pressed
on for my sister Betty's place in Fredericton New Brunswick
by way of Vermont, New Hampshire and Maine. Our several days
in Fredericton gave us a chance to see not only Betty and her
husband Charlie but Betty's daughter Linda, Tony, and their
5 month old son Jason. Other highlights were a day at King's
Landing Historical Settlement with its authentically restored
shops and homes, horse drawn wagons, etc.; swimming from the
sand bars in the St. John River a short boat ride from Betty's
home; and gorging ourselves on fresh strawberries from Betty's
enormous patch.
Heading down the coast from Fredericton, we camped two
nights along the coast of Maine and visited Camden Hills State
Park with its exceptionally picturesque view of Camden Maine
and its harbor from the top of Mt. Battie, and toured Fort Knox
(a cannon era river fort with no gold) where Mischa smashed his
toe on a rock while running barefoot to catch up with Robin.
Next we spent a night in Boston in the small but
accommodating apartment of Holly Loring, former Prairie member
and R.E. Director who's folk singing we have enjoyed at Prairie,
at our home and at the Wild Hog in the Woods Coffeehouse in
Madison. She took us to see the U.S.S. Constitution, an old
square rigged sailing ship which the U.S. Navy maintains in
the Boston Harbor.
Then on to North Branford, Connecticut (near New Haven)
where Barb's 14 year old daughter Casey was visiting her
grandparents. Casey missed out on the first part of our trip
because at the end of the school year she went directly from
Chicago, where she goes to school, to a Unitarian Universalist
youth conference in Maine. A day at the country place of
Casey's great grandfather with her great grandfather and
numerous other relatives, spent mostly in the swimming pond
on a very hot July day, highlighted our stay in Connecticut.
Having gained Casey we next lost Robin and Mischa for
the remainder of our trip, delivering them to the country home
of their mother's aunt and uncle near Shirley, Massachusetts,
where their mother was visiting. Then on to Barb's parent's
home in Syracuse, New York where I met her stepfather for the
first time along with various old friends of Barb and her
family. After a relaxing week in Syracuse it was on to brief
visits with my uncles Clifford Park and Wesley Leonard and
their families in southern Ontario, with a stop at Niagara
Falls on the way. Our time in southern Ontario included
visits to the town and house where my brother James and I
were born, to the town where my father and Clifford were
born and where my mother lived until the parsonage burned
down (we talked to a town employee who remembered the fire),
to the town and house where I remember my maternal grandparents
living when I was a boy, and to a small rural schoolhouse no
longer in use where my mother once taught before marrying my
father. We also had a gathering of local relatives on the
Park side of the family with Wesley and his wife and son at
the Sand Hills, a traditional Park family gathering place not
far from my father's birthplace. Casey missed the Sand Hills
picnic because she had to fly to California, poor kid. She
went along to a conference with her father; and got to represent us
at the wedding and reception of my older brother
Doug's daughter Renee.
From Ontario, one long day's drive got Barb and me and
the dog back to our Lake Wisconsin home with its uncut lawn
and a thriving garden which Barb had thoroughly mulched before
we left.
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