User Comments

1. 

   6/05/08

   calais50

   We always went to Daytona Beach and Disney World. As a kid, just staying in a hotel is kind of magical.

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      Oh it is. What did you all do in Daytona-- hanging out at the beach?
      
      I still remember my first trip to Disney when I was five. I was so excited I was almost sick.
   2. 

      6/05/08

      calais50

      We hung out on the beach and at the pool.
   3. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      As I recall, even the hotel POOL felt extra special. I don't know about your area, but we had lakes to swim in, but no pools.
2. 

   6/05/08

   jafabrit

   Camping in Scotland, I LOVEd that.

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      Were you in tents, or cabins?- What was the best part?
3. 

   6/05/08

   wenfri

   I loved summer vacation with my family
   
   We never went to the same place twice, so saw lots of everything.
   
   Can't say there was any that truly stuck out as being better than the last one.
   
   Although a few of them were totally different
   
   Now I have to write ahead for my blog cause have already posted for today. Will help when I have to take 2 weeks off Cause then I just post them and it won't take that long.

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      Yes, it's funny how now we know we're going on vacation and still think-- what about content for the blog?
   2. 

      6/05/08

      wenfri

      Tis crazy but yes thinking ahead and worrying you will miss something LOL
      
      Youngest son is getting married in 2 weeks time but t he Company starts arriving this Sunday. My middle son and family will be here. Then the Ex brother in law arrives later on in the week.
      
      So going to be busy
      
      Won;t even be able to make it here Pout
   3. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      Well, let us know how it all turns out when you get back.
      
      (But really, Wendy, do you REALLY think you won't sneak in here at least once during the two weeks? It's addicting, you know...)
4. 

   6/05/08

   Anok

   We (meaning the family) had a family vacation spot that we went to every year (up until a few years ago) since the 1930's.
   
   It is VERY special to me, even though it is being ritually sold off and privatized and no longer functioning as a family vacation spot. It was special as an adult - and quite frankly nothing else quite measures up.
   
   But, I think that family vacations were special when you were a kid (or when I was a kid) because actual members of the family showed up, and it wasn't a hurried frenzy of events and "things to do and things to see" on some rigid schedule. Extended family came - people you only get to see a few times a year - and they actually spent quality time.
   
   I haven't seen too much in the way of family reunion and family centered vacations for some time. I thought it was just me, but I noticed a trend with other families as well.
   
   *shrug*

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      I think it's interesting how you were saying you still enjoyed the place as an adult. It's great you were able to SEE it as an adult, and have that sort of comparison.
      
      I went to Cape May for the first time as an adult a couple of years ago. And it's funny what I remembered accurately, and what I totally mis-remembered.
      
      Most of it was wrong in terms of logistics. I knew the FEEL of the place almost perfectly, but not direction or distances at ALL.
   2. 

      6/05/08

      wenfri

      TSR
      Perceptions as an adult are different. I think it is cause we were little then and everything seemed sooo big to us.
      Always though me Gram was tall Till I grew up She came to my shoulder when I was done
   3. 

      6/05/08

      Anok

      Oh yeah - I still get that messed up LOL. When I was a kid the bike ride into town was nuthin'. As an adult however I was like Woah! That's some trek
      
      I also got to see more adult things - as a kid I stayed with the family, and we stayed in the vacation spot which was awesome in and of itself - but as an adult I could go into town, at night, and catch the night life.
      
      Which, honestly, was fun, but not as much fun!
      
      But what I remember most - and most clearly, was the smell of the place. God I love that smell! And the feel of the wind...every now and again I catch a breeze here, at my house that reminds me of it.
      
      Damn, now I'm all nostalgic and stuff
   4. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      It's true. The size of things and time it takes for things are the two things kids estimate totally differently.
      
      A half hour to a kid can feel like a millennium!
      
      And Anok-- SMELL is such a powerful trigger for memories, isn't it? Think about how your elementary school or your vacation spot SMELLED....
      
      So much of the memory is wrapped up in it!
5. 

   6/05/08

   lordiwanttobewhole

   When I lived in the city (Toronto, Ontario) we used to visit Nova Scotia and I would cry and run and hide in the woods when it was time to leave. I loved playing in the woods, picking blueberries and getting smothered with kisses by the grammies & aunts. I loved swimming in the cold ocean and warming from the sun on the rocky shore.
   
   As an adult, I moved myself here and can't see myself moving back to the city again~

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      Such nice images-- I think woods always seem special when you're a kid. Maybe because so many childhood stories are set in them. It's lovely that you've moved back to the place you didn't want to leave as a child.
   2. 

      6/05/08

      lordiwanttobewhole

      It was a pull that I could not resist! I feel content living by the sea. I actually love the fog that many despise!
6. 

   6/05/08

   kataztrophy

   A sugar fueled childhood makes every event seem greater than it really was.

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      There is certainly something to that. Did you have a favorite sugar treat, or just anything sweet?
   2. 

      6/05/08

      kataztrophy

      Anything with the word "gummy" in it was my favorite. I think I ate gummy worms by the pound when I was a kid.
7. 

   6/05/08

   elitect

   I grew up going to a bungalow colony like you see in some movies. The family goes up to the country (upsate NY) and the father commutes back and fourth coming up on weekends and stays all by himself in the city during the week so that he can continue to make a living. Very hard on dad's. Best years of my life and even though I am 46 now my sister and here children and myself go back once a year for a weekend and play all the hits from the 60's and 70's. The summer of love,baby! Break out the Patron tequila

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      I like that you're still tapping into some of the things you loved before... plus tequila.
8. 

   6/05/08

   richrf

   Coney Island mostly, in Brooklyn. We went to the Catskills a couple of times, but New Yorkers didn't travel much back then. Mostly stayed in the city and went to Coney and Brighton Beaches. Under the Boardwalk, Down By the Sea.
   
   www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss_gw?url=search-alias%3Ddigital-music&field-keywor...

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      As close as my hometown to NYC, I never got a chance to go to Coney Island. I recall driving past it once as a youngster, though-- talk about tempting a kid!!
      
      That had to lots of fun, and good change of scene if not a lot of distance for you.
   2. 

      6/05/08

      richrf

      Hi there Thrify,
      
      I am probably quite a bit older than you. But in the fifties, Coney Island was much different. A tremendous amusement park, and I remember eating the hot dogs and french fries. It deteriorated in the 70s, but I understand it is coming back again, though the old days are gone.
      
      Have a great weekend!
      
      Rich
   3. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      Hey, you, too!!
      
      Ah... Nathan's Coney Island hot dogs... Yum.
      
      Maybe I need to not be thinking about this without having eaten breakfast.
      
      Thanks for sharing your vacation memories with us, Rich.
9. 

   6/05/08

   morgantj

   As a kid, you can just enjoy the vacations, they were fresh and new. As an adult you have more responsiblities, it's not quite as fresh and new anymore, you have experience already. You have to plan it, set days aside from work, pay for it, etc... More pollution of the mind and more to worry about as an adult then as a kid.
   
   My familiy was poor so we hardly ever went on vacation. The few times we did, it was special. If I were to do it again today, it would still be special, just in a different way due to the experiences I have be subject to inbetween then and now.

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   1. 

      6/05/08

      ThriftShopRomantic

      I think you've got something there that it's the responsibilities that make it feel less free.
      
      I know I'm always worried about some work crisis in my absence (which I inevitably return to).
      
      But sure, the scheduling, the place to stay, the cost... It's fun, but certainly less "free."
10. 

    6/05/08

    elitect

    I to grew up in Canarsie, Brooklyn right off the belt Pkwy and coney island was very close by. I have been on the cyclone before but never again! My bungalow was indeed in the Catskill mountains

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11. 

    6/05/08

    MadameX

    It's still that way for me. We went a lot of places when I was a young teenager, but the summer I was thirteen my mom and sister and I went to Indiana Beach alone on a Greyhound bus. My father was working crazy hours and my mom doesn't drive on the Interstate, so she made a real effort to find somewhere accessible by public transportation so she could give us something like a vacation before the summer ended.
    
    Indiana Beach, for the 99.9999% percent of you who have never heard of it, is a small, tacky amusement park-beach boardwalk sort of place. I loved it with all my heart then and when I went back with my then-fiance in law school and now my daughter and I try to spend a weekend there every summer. This year, we're taking 10 days to drive to Savannah, Georgia and go to the ocean beach, but we'll still squeeze in that trip to Indiana Beach before she goes back to school if we can. A lot of the shops (and even the signs painted on the walls) are EXACTLY as they were when I first visited with my family in 1980, and a lot of the hotel rooms don't have phones or cable TV, but it's kind of like time stops when we're there.

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    1. 

       6/05/08

       ThriftShopRomantic

       I love it-- what great imagery. It's wonderful your daughter is able to experience it, too, and with you.
       
       And somehow I think when you're a kid, it's the tackier the better.
12. 

    6/05/08

    pele1

    We would occasionally go to Florida but couldn't afford too much once Dad split. But I was fine with that. My Grandpa would take me and a friend to Cedar Point amusement park which I looked forward to. It's one of my favorite memories with him.

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