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