Category Archives: On the Road

Traveling with the Butterscotch Sundae clan.

On the Road

Every great adventure includes travel by horse

Today’s Summertime Rewind guest writer is Rockford’s Aunt Sally. She is also the Keeper of the Family Photos, and she isn’t kidding when she talks about her childhood. Every picture I’ve seen, every story I’ve heard paints the picture of an idyllic time.

Sally is a Master Gardener; a top-notch hostess and decorator; the one-of-a-kind mother of McW and Kevin; the provider of Poppy’s first cupcake; and the brains behind the multi-purpose muffin cup as well as, I’m certain, many other household innovations.


Philippa Willitts photoFavorite childhood summer memory? Throw a dart at the photo album — they were all pretty great. I’m a child of the 1950s, the stuff from which “Leave it to Beaver” and “The Donna Reed Show” were made. Our vacation road trips were worthy of a feature film. We sang and played Travel Bingo as we drove along. We searched for Burma Shave roadside signs. We ate fried chicken brought from home and drank tap water from a red plaid thermos. When the sun began to set, the backseat scoured the motel signs for the dynamic duo: Vacancy – Pool.

And we knew that we were on the road to real adventure.

Pretty sure it was 1957. Mom has identified the car: the giant white Oldsmobile. I had a ponytail, so it must have been second grade. Close enough! We went to Estes Park, Colorado. Mountains, horses, fishing, cabins. New experiences. Did I mention horses?

Mom and Dad made sure I got to do the one thing on my list -– a western trail ride. We had days of memory-making experiences, but my Rocky Mountain horseback riding day was splendid. I didn’t know the first thing about riding, and Mom wasn’t too excited about saddle time — “I’ve never been so sore!” — but we did it. Lots of laughter, great scenery. One happy little girl!

On the Road

A Midwestern family shakes it up with stingrays, sharks and outdoor showers

Today’s Summertime Rewind is brought to us by guest writer Andrea. I met Andrea when I worked at a newspaper in Missouri. We were on the copy editing staff together, which is absolutely as wild and adventurous as it sounds.

Andrea is a trivia buff who enjoys raw radishes; throws wacky, themed parties; runs for fun; and compiles the most all-encompassing yearly family report I’ve ever seen. (Seriously. It’s one of the highlights of my Christmas card season.) She lives in Missouri with her husband Jake and their baby Finn.

My family was a Branson family. By this I mean that we vacationed in Branson, Mo., every year. Sometimes more than once a year, in fact. If you’ve never been to Branson, it might help to think of it as Nashville for old people. (At least that’s how it seemed from approximately 1988 to 1999. I hear it’s changed a lot since then.) And if you don’t even know what Branson is, it’s a touristy city in southern Missouri that’s a big draw to country music fans. And old people.

I’m not trying to offend any Branson fans. In fact, until I reached the why-would-I-spend-any-more-time-with-my-family-than-I-have-to phase in my teenage years, I enjoyed our Branson trips tremendously. Couldn’t wait to go; didn’t want to come home. I have so many wonderful family memories from those trips.

But one of my best childhood memories is the first real vacation we took to somewhere other than Branson. When I was 10, my mom, my younger sister and I drove to Sanibel Island, Fla., with another mother and her daughter –- our good friends. My dad had to stay home to work. (Note that last sentence. It will come into play later.)

It was amazing! It was my first time seeing the ocean (actually it was the Gulf of Mexico, but we Midwesterners don’t understand that distinction), my first time finding seashells on the beach, my first time fearing (and hoping) I might see a shark.

Andrea at Disney World
Andrea at Disney World
We stayed in a house –- owned by our fellow traveler’s dad –- and there was a pool in the back, so when we weren’t swimming in the ocean (ahem, the Gulf), we were swimming in the pool. We rode rusty old bikes all around the island. We looked for alligators (that sounds crazy in writing) and actually saw some. We saw dolphins too. All these things were so different from my usual vacationing activities.

Here are a few more of the many highlights of my Florida trip:

  • The house we stayed in had an outdoor shower. This blew my 10-year-old mind.
  • Sanibel Island is known for having lots of sting rays. Therefore, people do what’s called the “Sanibel shuffle” while they’re entering or otherwise walking around in the water. Basically it means you shuffle your feet in the sand to scare the sting rays away rather than stepping on one. And, boy, is it fun.
  • Remember how my dad had to stay home to work? Well, my mom informed me one day that we would be going to the airport to watch the planes take off and land. I’d never been on a plane, so I thought this sounded like a fantastic idea. If I were older and wiser, I would have thought it was a ridiculous idea. Anyhow, after one plane landed, my mom said we should watch the people who were exiting the plane. Lo and behold, my dad stepped off the plane! I don’t think I had been that surprised in my entire decade of life.
  • I loved playing in the waves, particularly jumping around and diving under them. I did this over and over and over again. Keep in mind that this was in about 3 feet of water. I guess I got complacent because I forgot not to dive straight down. Consequently, I slammed my face into the sand and ended up with scrapes and sores on my forehead, nose and chin. I just realized I probably shouldn’t have included this in the highlights list. Oh, well.

    With my scraped-up face and all, our trip to Florida opened my eyes to the wider world. And that’s a good thing for anyone.

    • On the Road

    To the best of my knowledge, I will not be spending time in an RV this July

    I’m taking a break from blogging this month and sharing some words from friends, some posts from the past and other assorted bric-a-brac. This was originally published on July 29, 2011, as “Now I know where to find great T-shirts in central Alabama” during that time when I was traveling the Deep South with Jenna on her All Thrifty States tour.

    We spent Monday night at the home of Jenna’s friend Cecelia and her husband, Ryan. Before we all crashed, we ordered pizza and watched the “Breaking Bad” pilot. I’ve only been on the road with Jenna for a few days, and it was so nice to return to “normal” life. Jenna has been on the road for 30-plus days; I can’t imagine how welcome these little in-home oases are for her!

    I woke up Tuesday to the rain gently falling against the window, with a soft light streaming through the trees. I pulled myself out of bed and got ready to face the day, only to snuggle back into our hosts’ couch to finish my book. I’ll take that every morning, please. After finishing “The Selected Works of Whimsical cat is whimsical.T.S. Spivet” — which was weird but compelling, although I didn’t really find the end all that satisfying — I ate a few pieces of leftover cheese bread from Papa John’s and begged Jenna for some ibuprofen. Despite the day’s delightful beginnings, I’d woken up with a hoopendoodle of a headache.

    The ibuprofen started to work its magic, and we headed out to visit the Goodwill store in Montgomery, Alabama. Goodwill is sponsoring Jenna’s trip, so she’s trying to visit as many of the shops as she can along her route. Like the Buckhead Goodwill, the Montgomery store was spacious, clean and well-organized. Many years ago I overheard a kid at a thrift store complaining to his mom that the shop smelled “like broccoli and old ladies.” Maybe Jenna just has a knack for choosing the best stores, but I’m thinking maybe thrift stores in general have cleaned up their act a bit. That is to say: I’ve been impressed at how tidy the stores we’ve visited have been.

    The Montgomery Goodwill gets my vote for both Best T-Shirts and Most Wonderful Book Section so far this trip. They had a vast array of N’Sync t-shirts, as well as a host of goofy slogans such as “I (heart) hot moms” and I (cheeseburger) cows.” Their book section was actually its own room, which could have functioned as a small used book store. The lack of organization in there made me a little twitchy — the “Dune” books should all be together, for one, and I spied four copies of Robert James Waller’s “Puerto Vallarta Squeeze” and a variety of Paul Reiser tomes scatter wily-nily across the bookshelves — but they had an impressive selection. I bought a copy of Tom Wolfe’s “A Man in Full,” a circa-1964 cookbook from Brennan’s restaurant and a set of flip-through explorer cards for the kids.

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    We started the drive to Mobile, Alabama, after Jenna finished a few interviews with the local media, and we made it about halfway there before HaRVey politely requested an oil change. His little dashboard notification system said, “Pardon me, miss, but I could use a spot of oil. Pip-pip, cheerio!” OK, well maybe it wasn’t that, verbatim, but it was along those lines. So we made a brief pitstop, then carried on our way.

    The sky was ominously dark in the distance for the rest of the drive, but we forged ahead anyway, with a song in our hearts and Nutella-graham snacks in our hands. The skies were clear when we arrived at our campsite, and Jenna made us some Butternut Squash Ravioli for dinner. It was delicious, but it made me miss my Poppy something ferocious. The clear skies seemed to be giving way to more rain as I typed this, and there was enough thunder to make me a little nervous. Let’s hope it isn’t a night like the one Jenna experienced in Iowa!

    Lessons learned on Day Four

  • Toasted almonds and garlic are a genius addition to butternut squash ravioli.
  • Getting the oil changed in an RV is expensive.