The AYM assignment this month was Geography. Here are the results:
I’ve always liked to travel. It may have come from all the “Rides” I went on as a kid. (A “Ride” now seems a strange thing to do but it was when my dad would take us drawing around the city, going to areas we never normally would go.) Growing up we also were able to go on vacations, mainly to fishing parks in Missouri. We would pack up the car – and add the car top carrier and head out. A few times my Grandparents even came with us. I really don’t have a big drive to be a world wide traveler, well unless the opportunity was just right, then I may go. What I would really like to do is see All 50 U.S. States. I have been through or have gone to quite a few, at least 37, but there are still more to see and a few to take another longer look at. My out look on traveling is, no matter what the weather does or what the moods of your fellow travelers are or the reliability of your transportation or the condition of everyone’s health or the standard of your accommodations or how any other traveling factors that may affect a trip, all are an -- Adventure to Remember.
Pictures: 1959 (I’m 4) Jerry, Mom, Susan & I at Washington Park, marked on the map ; 1961 (I’m 6) we stopped on the way home from Bennett Springs, marked on map, in Sullivan MO on Hwy 44. Our 59 Plymouth packed and on the go; 1963 I took this family photo with my own camera, before we left our camp site.- Mom, Grandma, Grandpa, Jerry – Dad & Susan and I swear the scarf wearing never rubbed off on me.
Pam's Layout
Susan's layout from last month.
Susan's layout from May.
Karolyn's layout.
Karolyn's final scavenger hunt page.
I love the West and came up with the idea that we should
white water raft down the Colorado River through the Grand Canyon.
Our friends, Mark and Nancy Kimble joined us. We flew into Las Vegas and were taken by a
prop plane to a dude ranch. We enjoyed a
night of country western singers performing and the next morning we were taken
by helicopter down to the riverside for two days of rafting.
We slept on a sand bar just throwing blankets down on the
ground. It was hot so no one wanted to
pitch the tents. During the night I
awoke to find Jim staring at the Milky Way.
I had never seen it so beautifully in my life. It was truly amazing and we still talk about
that wonder.
We ended our journey at Mead Lake and were transported by
bus back to Las Vegas. As soon as I
could get a signal on my phone, I called my daughter. She was due any day with my first grand
child. We then drove to our Flagstaff home and a call the next morning informed
me that Adrian was on the way.
Jim and I were already catching a flight to St. Louis that
day to close on our current home. As I
look back I wonder how I could have gone through with the rafting trip, but we
had to book it a year in advance before we knew about the pregnancy. It all worked out, and I have never regretted
floating down the Colorado River.
Carla's layout and journaling:
When pointing to
this globe in my kindergarten classroom, I had no idea there was an entire
world outside of Red Bud, Illinois. But as a learned when I got older, an
entire world was waiting for me to explore it.
In the summer of 2008, by brother Ryan and I set out for a road trip in
his 18 wheeler. I had no idea what I was
in for. Ryan and I have chosen very
different paths in life. It was important for me to go on a trip with him as I
wanted him to know that even though he had chosen a much different path than I,
that I still supported his decision. So, off to somewhere around Indiana we
went for our sibling bonding experience. We left at the absolute crack of dawn,
I think 4am. Everything was going fairly
well until Ryan asked me how far we were from Indiana. My reply was “about a
thumb length.” He rolled his eyes and said he couldn’t believe I have a
Master’s degree and can’t read a map. Well, it takes all kinds! This picture is
of Ryan at two years old at Disney world. Clearly he could read a map at an
early age, I’m still not proficient. Siri is my lifeline. So, after Ryan was
less than thrilled with my “thumb” length response, he took the atlas and then
informed me that I was not even looking at the right state. Oopps! While Ryan
may know North, South, East and West in a hearbeat, he will not get on an
airplane. It makes him crazy. I may not know how to read maps and might be
directionally challenged, but I do not think twice about getting on a plane to
sit in the sand beach in Mexico. While we may be completely different
individuals, we have both managed to find our path in life.
My layout and journaling:
When someone asks me where I’m from, I always say St.
Louis---and I have the Midwest accent to prove it. Technically, I am from St.
Louis---but where I grew up was not nearly as cosmopolitan as it sounds. I grew
up 12.7 miles north of downtown St.. Louis. Specifically---Spanish Lake.
Although still part of metropolitan St. Louis, Spanish Lake was the “boonies”,
the “sticks”, the country. Spanish Lake is a farming community. My
great-grandparents raised their family here. My grandmother and her siblings went
to St. Aloysius Church and School. They had long moved away by the time my mom
and dad built their house in Spanish Lake and sent us kids to St. Aloysius.
Growing up in Spanish Lake was an idyllic childhood. It was
a much simpler time---screen doors and window fans---one car families---which
the dads took to work. We rode our bikes all over tarnation. We traipsed
through the woods on our many incredible journeys complete with packed lunches
and walking sticks. We swam in the lake where we defied the “no trespassing”
signs. We called our friends by standing outside their back door and yelling
their name---“Ohhhhh Reeenieeee!” We left the house early in the morning with
our packed lunch and wouldn’t be seen again until dinner time. Our parents had
no idea where we were or what we were doing. We just had to be home for dinner.
Of course, there were no electronics back then. We spent all day outside,
playing ball, mumblety peg, mother may I, red rover, red light green light,
wall ball, jacks, run-ups, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians and assorted
“made up” games. We sledded and skated in the winter. We built tree houses and
dug underground forts. We went anywhere our imagination took us. Honestly, I
can’t think of a single disadvantage to growing up in the country. It’s just a
shame that Spanish Lake is no longer the peaceful place it once was. But that’s
another story.
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