| Family Vacations Sure Have Changed Family | | | | over a fire or on a cranky gas camp stove, drunk in |
| vacations sure have changed. No self-respecting | | | | stainless steel cups, Fruit Loops and Honey Smacks |
| parent today would dare put that minivan into reverse | | | | eaten right our of the tiny boxes that you cut open |
| and head out onto the interstate without making sure | | | | and poured in powdered milk, bacon and eggs, and |
| the kids had at least five different electronic | | | | Snakpak chocolate pudding. These were things that |
| diversionary devices: The iPod, the individual DVD | | | | were rarely if ever (the sugared cereals specifically) |
| players (God forbid the 7 year old and the 9 year old | | | | eaten at home and so tasted like pure ambrosia out |
| watch the same Disney movie!), the Gameboys, even | | | | amongst the pines. Walking to the shower house with |
| the phone that lets you play Asteroids. Constant calm; | | | | your bucket of toiletries: Ivory soap and flip flops and |
| no crying and again, God forbid, no boredom). That's | | | | Deep Woods Off created olfactory memories for a |
| the goal of the vacationing parent with kids. If its to | | | | lifetime. What did we do out in the Maine woods? |
| Epcot or Evansville to see the folks, a child not | | | | Nothing. That was the point. Simply living out of a tent |
| occupied is a danger. But this wasn't always the case. | | | | and out of your element made you slow down and |
| There was a time when a six hour trip with nothing but | | | | relax. We didn't even know it. Today one might spend |
| a rousing game of liscense plate bingo, some bug juice | | | | a bushell of money to do the same things at a Canyon |
| and a few sandwiches wrapped in wax paper was a | | | | Ranch or Club Med. An entire day could be spent with |
| vacation unto itself. Actually I have to amend that. This | | | | a kid in the woods with a Peterson's Bird book and a |
| trip about which I speak did have a very high tech | | | | pair of binoculars. But then again the day could also be |
| device used to keep the kids occupied. Childrens' | | | | spent just hanging out by the campsite figuring out |
| stories, read into a cassette tape recorder! We kids | | | | how to make the next meal in one pot. Now all this |
| loved it. So, this trip to Maine camping. Remember | | | | nostalgia did have a downside. A family camp trip |
| camping? No, not the kind with GPS and microfibre | | | | could really go south if it rained. You were always |
| clothing. Camping! With musty cotton canvas bags. | | | | trying to stay dry and usually not successfully. Today |
| Flannel sleeping bags from Bean's and Coleman | | | | the tents are better and easier to put up and the |
| propane lanterns that always were brighter than you | | | | games (travel Scrabble and travel chess) you can |
| could ever imagine. The simplest things were the | | | | pack would make a rainy day inside one tolerable. |
| whole experience really. The main goal may have | | | | Heavy cotton clothing was pretty awful wet. A quick |
| been to canoe down a river or on the lake or maybe | | | | drying shirt or a little fleece would have certainly taken |
| even bike. But with none of the intrusions of home | | | | the chill off. Janet Schaeffer - wife of LeRoy |
| (even before cell phones and computers) the small, | | | | Schaeffer, owners of |
| little things took on grand and almost spiritual | | | | More articles from this pro: J. |
| proportions. Getting up and making breakfast: coffee | | | | |