This week sure did fly by ... here it is time for Sepia Saturday once again. This week's theme photo shows a happy woman enjoying her time on the beach; and to me the beach means the ocean. Unless you happen to live in a town right by the ocean, you probably need to take a road-trip to visit there. (Just in case you wanted to try and follow my logic on choosing which pictures to post.)
So, here are some pictures of my Mom's family going on road-trips when she was young and living on Mayfair Lane, (the subject of last week's Sepia Saturday post).
My maternal grandparents, Floyd Albert Traylor and Florence Hedrick Traylor, loved to go on drives and spending time in the great outdoors. When their three daughters were young, they went on many family road-trips, and took pictures to remember the high points of each one.
I have been informed that the picture below is of Donner Pass, the place where the unfortunate Donner Party was stranded and had to resort to cannibalism when their wagon train was stuck for the winter:
One trip included a stop at Mt. Rose Summit, in Nevada:
The family tradition for these sort of trips was for the three girls,
Mardelle, Jody (my Mom) and Sondy to stand next to road signs.
Mardelle, Jody and Sondy walk along the beach with their father, my Grandpa T. What does Mom have in her hand? Is it a bag for shells, or is it kelp? Check out the grass growing on the dunes. There was a lot of debris on the beach that day. I wonder if there had been a recent storm?
What in the world is this structure? I thought it was made out of driftwood, but two of my Sepia Saturday friends assure me that those are deer antlers. Oh, Mom just sent me an email, and they are antlers, most likely in the town park in Jackson Hole, WY. The Traylors did make a trip to Yellowstone one year.
Aunt Mardy is looking quite stylish in her shorts and halter top, and Aunt Sondy too. I wonder what brand of pop that Mom is drinking?
Over time, the family covered a lot of ground.
According to the sign, Utah is the friendliest state.
Aunt Mardy, somebody's baby doll, Aunt Sondy and Jody are eager to re-enter Oregon. This must be near Klamath Falls.
Mom must just be to big for dolls, but the other two girls want to make sure that entering Idaho is documented with their favorite babies.
Grandma and Grandpa used to take us grandkids on drives too. Grandpa was a logger, and drove in the woods all week long. He would then would take Grandma to some of her favorite spots on the weekend.
Some of those drives were quite scary to my little bro and me ... the Buick station wagon would get need to be turned around on a logging road with a huge drop-off into a valley or ravine below. There is no such thing as a guard rail on a logging road. The two of us would hide on the floor and cover our eyes in fright. There were not even seat belts back then, and the floor seemed a safer choice to us. Sometimes we would get out of the car, and out of the way, just in case Grandpa might accidentally drive over a cliff. Grandpa never worried about it though; he had done things like that before in a log truck, so the station wagon was a breeze to him.
One time, Grandma got out while Grandpa was maneuvering the car to head back down a mountain, and we got out with her. She got out because she need to take a pee, and we were quite amazed at how much she had stored up. We later whispered to each other that it sounded like an elephant having to go. We were quite impressed!
One last photo for this post ... here is Jody, years later when us kids were small. On the Oregon Coast, using a diaper on her head as a scarf, and sticking by the main two beach rules in our family: "Cover your ears, and never turn your back on the ocean." Well, she probably turned around just for the picture.
So, there you are, my friends. If you enjoyed this story, please visit my Sepia Saturday friends by "CLICKING HERE" to find other neat photos and stories. To read more about my family and other stories featuring old photos, memories and more, please look for this picture of me and my dad on the left-hand sidebar and read whatever else catches your fancy. Thanks so much for visiting!
~ Kathy M.
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| Oregon Gifts of Comfort and Joy ~ Kathy Matthews |
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22 comments:
What a great idea to have the girls standing by the road signs. I realised we still do that today to mark which walks we have been on! It's interesting that they wanted their dolls in the pictures; I remember having ALL my dollies on display (like trophies), for one picture - why did we do that?
What? A diaper on her head? Who let that happen???
I enjoyed this little road trip and all the funny things along the way. I'm sure your mom is happy to know you've compared her to an elephant.
Your family was smart to record those signs. I used to get so exasperated when Barry wanted to photograph a sign, but the family historian in me now sees the wisdom.
Judging by the pictures you must have covered a lot of ground in those days!
I must say that despite the diaper Jody resembles Sophia Loren. In some of her earlier movies she also wore a scarf.
One advantage in the UK is that you are never more than 70 miles from the sea. No long road trips here, but then we miss out on all those road signs announcing where you. Generally there is too much traffic for us to stand by them when we enter different counties. I think we are missing out here somehow.
Yes! Sophia Loren ! Great Photos!
A very neat ending with the ocean at the back and ears covered. Like your old photos and the happy stories of times past. The three girls just like us, my sisters and I. Welcome to California, the girls dressed in pretty dresses and white socks and shoes. I enjoyed your post very much.
That was a fun road trip - and isn't funny the little things we remember? You hiding down on the floor reminded me of traveling by car in those days before seat belts. After dark I would play a game which required me to hide from headlights of oncoming cars by ducking down on the floor in the back seat where I was riding.
I love the idea of taking pictures by the road signs. I even collect postcards of road signs, though most do not have people next to the signs.
Standing by a road sign to take photos? What a great idea! I love that the baby dolls were included too.
I don't really like driving on mountain roads, especially while driving next to the edge of a deep drop-off. I don't blame you one bit for hiding on the floor and covering your eyes.
Wonderful photographs, This is what I imagined the United States to be like. Forget the picture postcard views of New York or LA, it is the wide open spaces and the freedom of individuals to enjoy life.
Love these photos! What a wonderful way to track their travels, taking pics by the signs. Terrific.
Amazing structure indeed! At first it appears like bones even, maybe from Dinosaurs! Wouldn't that be cool! Hahahaha! I really enjoyed your hard work putting all these photos together and captions, it's so cool, and reminds me of some of our family outings in the summertime when we went out west as we folks from Michigan would always call it!
I think the "driftwood" could be a rather impressive collection of deer antlers, but perhaps I'm being fanciful. Great range of travel photos for this week's Sepia Saturday, thank you.
That structure is most definitely made from antlers. I remember ones just like this up in Jackson Hole. And that first shot is the bridge on the old Hwy 80 over Donner Pass in the Sierra's. I used to drive that road a lot. Beautiful on a warm spring day. And indeed I recognize that bridge in Florence. Just crossed over it a couple times a few months ago.
PS, Kathy, I've nominated you for the Wonderful Team Member Readership Award. So come and get it.
http://jollettetc.blogspot.com/2013/01/awards-shmwards-im-no-jody-foster.html
I think this should be a THEME! Standing by a road sign would be a great one to share, and I'm pretty sure we've all got one of those somewhere!
I absolutely love the image of the girls on the beach with their grandfather. I love it most because it is not head one, and their body language speaks to the carefree-ness of the trip and the sense of exploration. It looks like another planet with those dunes in the background, doesn't it? Fantastic!
The driftwood sculpture reminds me of Jesus' crown of thorns (for believers).
Wonderful stuff!
wow! What a wonderful series of pictures! I love that you can re-trace your adventures just by looking at them :)
Nutschell
www.thewritingnut.com
I love all your sign photos. And now you know exactly where you had traveled. So clever.
Nancy
Love all those sign photographs! I have some like that, too--in color so the trend must have continued! Such an interesting post--as always.
Sorry for commenting this late. I enjoyed your pictures and your story. You've done a lot of traveling as a kid. Travel stories are my favorite! Thanks for sharing.
A fun travelogue. I remember those thrilling moments in the older cars too. Vacations today are too tame and homogenized.
Between cannibalism and the antlers, I couldn't decide which was more morbid. But that diaper in the last pic takes the cake as the funniest moment on all of those trips. Those dolls were possibly recent purchases for being displayed like that, no!?!
:D~
HUGZ
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