Second grade had ended and I was unleashed upon the first Summer of the 1980’s. In June we took our first vacation of the year – to my Dad’s company-owned condo in Siesta Key, Florida. I have lots of pictures from this trip but mostly only vague recollections of it. What I do recall, was that I was unbearbly excited about going on it. “VACATION” had begun to elicit a strong emotional response about this time of my life and I simply could not wait to leave. Darlene went with us, which upped the excitablilty factor even more.
She spend the night at our house before we left. She stayed in my room and I stayed on the living room couch. Getting to sleep was no easy task. The funny part about it is that I was so excited for the departure day to come…only to spend the bulk of it simply driving in the car. We always took two days to get to Florida, but just getting loaded up in the car at 5:00 am, and getting to play with my car-toys and read my car-books was enough to get me pumped up. Mom would buy a selection of books, comics, puzzles, and one or two toys like Colorforms or portable pinpall that were exclusively for the trip. I couldn’t have them a minute before. Maybe that was what was exciting me so. I recall Darlene bringing me up out of my sound sleep and us loading in the car.
I always really enjoyed stopping at a motel on the way down to Florida, too. We’d always stay in Georgia somewhere (Forsyth, Valdosta, or some other town south of Atlanta) and I really loved swimming or playing on the playground – just being in a motel…on vacation!
Darlene had turned 18 not long before, so it cracked us all up when she was offered a kids’ menu at a restaurant that we stopped at on the way down. I also remember some degree of bickering in the car…usually stirred up by me. Darlene had always been my favorite aunt and seemed to give me lots of special attention, so it was a little disheartening when 4-year old Denise seemed to garner ‘undue’ attention from her. I especially felt left out when Darlene and Denise figured out how they could both lay down in the back seat and only take up two cushions worth of space – while I had to sit alone on my single cushion. I couldn’t argue with it…so I just pinched Denise. For some reason, I was always the one getting yelled at.
The condo owned by Central Printing where my Dad worked was a nice one, as seen in some of the photos below – probably the most elegant place we had ever stayed. There were two bedrooms and a full kitchen, with an attached deck overlooking the beach. The bottom shot was the room that Darlene, Denise, and I stayed in. After this, the memories of the trip begin to blur…but I have little doubt that I had a great time.
More photos to follow…
Bypass the trip and continue with 1980 here…
I was wondering when this vacation was going to hit the web site.
Darlene
March 28th, 2007