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