Car Camping 1964

Fabulous memories are made when we experience something out of the ordinary.

Car Camping, 1964.

Here’s a story written by my brother-in-law, Tom:¹“Blees, Thomas. “Camping,” Karrie Blees, comp. A Wonderful Life. (North St. Paul MN: Sewing for the Harvest, 2007). page 150.

By the time Dave was born (Jim was almost eight then), the rest of us were getting old enough that we’d gotten the idea that camping would be fun.  So we started bugging Mom & Dad to take us camping.  Mom finally came up with a response that we’ll go camping when the baby is out of diapers.

Then she proceeded to have two more babies, so by the time we got to go camping (how long did Pat use diapers? I forget) Jim must have been about 16.

So we had eight people to go camping.  Mom packs light, of course.  Dad had to build a large trailer just to haul all the gear, and setting it up took hours.  Suffice it to say that camping trips were another one of many selfless parental acts, because just the logistics of doing it with six kids were prodigious.

I remember one of the first camping trips we took was to a lake called Lake Shum­way (quickly re­christened Scum­way), and what I remember besides the fact that the lake was unre­markable in every way is that there were a jillion mosquitoes, and I think maybe it rained to boot.  Ei­ther that or it was just so humid that it felt like it was raining.

What’s Next?

What vacations to you remember?
Thinking back, what makes vacation memorable?
What trip from your childhood would you want to re-live?
Just for Minnesotans: What is your favorite memory of Brainerd’s Paul Bunyan Land?
Do you have photos at Paul Bunyan Land?

SOURCES

• 1
  “Blees, Thomas. “Camping,” Karrie Blees, comp. A Wonderful Life. (North St. Paul MN: Sewing for the Harvest, 2007). page 150.