What did you usually do on your summer vacations as a child?

CooCooforCoCoPuffs said:
From the time I was in first grade, when we moved from the Eastern Shore of Maryland to Arizona, every summer we would road trip to visit my mother's sister on her farm back in Maryland for 30 days.

Six of us in a 1957 turquoise station wagon just like this one. My parents would lay down the seats and throw a thick pad down, pillows and blankets for us kids; load up a big cooler with cheese and mustard or bologna sandwiches and a round cooler of water. We never stopped, my parents (mom and step dad) would take turns driving 55 HOURS straight, only pee/fuel stops. No hotels, no restaurants.

My Mom kept us busy by expecting us to learn all the states and the capitals, doing spelling assignments, reading so many pages of a book each day, and making list of car tags we saw.

It was the only time we girls would get to see our real father, who also lived near my aunt in Maryland. The best part was seeing and hanging out with our five girl cousins on the 80 acre farm; all NINE of us girls would sleep in three beds upstairs in an old SMALL farmhouse. When young we would pick "pickles" cucumbers and peppers for .25 a bushel and then later, as young teens we would help load hay and alfalfa onto flatbed trucks...pitching hay was much easier than pitching alfalfa, trust me.

Did the hay and such for about 5-6 yeqrs years - the best part was our young uncle who was in the Navy out of Norfolk, VA bringing his service buddies home with him to the farm, on leave from Vietnam.

Nine giggling girls (five of them teenagers) and 3-4 service guys. I was too young of course, but my one sister and four of my cousins were older than me...so it was interesting to watch the male/female goings on....the sneaking out...

The rest of summer was spent back in Arizona, working at jobs (Jack in the Box, from the time I was 14, and doing chores, babysitting younger sisters, going swimming at the park pool, riding bikes, rollerskating, fixing dinner as both parents worked. No TV allowed without parents home of course, no telephone use unless parents home and ZERO other people allowed in house when parents not home. They kept us busy expecting ALL the housework and cooking to get done, though.

Work before play. Am still that way.View attachment 400264View attachment 400269When I was about 12-13 my parents got a new road trip car: a VISTA CRUISER!! It had cool windows to look at stars during night time travel.
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What a great story. Beautiful car and that Vista Cruiser was our dream car. But dad bought a Valiant station wagon.....first new car ever. We did a lot of traveling with two Jon boats on top The 10 footer inside the 12 footer.
 

My family usually went on vacation somewhere for two weeks every summer in late July - August. I did a lot of boating, bike riding and eating. It was fun because we always managed to vacation near family so they would join in and I would get to have fun with my cousins.
 
Started going to summer YMCA camp for two weeks when I was 9. As I got older I worked at the camp, first as a dishwasher then junior counselor. During my college years I worked at the camp every summer as a counselor or in other positions. Fast forward to adult and senior adult years, I have continued to be involved with the camp as a volunteer and advisor. Clearly summer camp got into my blood.
 

When I was young we spent 2 weeks every summer in Scotland, took the train from I think St Pancreas to Dundee, I loved it. Would take day trips to the many beaches. My dad always loved going back home. My granny was one of thirteen and often we would meet a family member in the town. Happy memories. When I was older we went to holiday camps.
 
I did get to go to camp every summer from 4th grade into high school. Sleeping on lumpy mattresses (my first two times, there were still straw-filled mattresses and I don't ever want to have to experience that again) in rickety bunk beds in old cabins and eating in the mess hall didn't detract from the fun.

All kinds of sports and crafts, putting on skits, singing around the campfire every night, and ghost stories after lights-out.

Paradise.

My daughter attended the same camp one time. She got a "boyfriend" who turned out to be the son of one of my best friends growing up. I reminded them that the last and only time they had met was when she was 4 months old and he was 1 and he bit her. They were humiliated.....
 
We went to Dinkey Creek one year cabin camping and took my grandmother along. We never did that again!
When we got older, we would go to Santa Cruz for 2 wks. My dad would drive us over there, then he would turnaround and drive back home to continue working. He'd drive back over to pick us up and bring us home.
We stayed in an apartment style motel w/a kitchen so we could cook our own meals. We'd take a big side of beef and one of ham for meals. The beach was down the hill and my mother had a big red and white stripped umbrella that was guaranteed to help find her. Fun times.
 
My dad was in the Merchant Navy when I was young so my holidays were mostly day trips with mam to nearby Heysham and Morecambe. On other occasions we went with her friend and young son for a few days in Blackpool or Southport

Other than that, I spent summer holidays exploring the area with my friends and their dog, Monty. We would take sandwiches and a bottle of water with us and be out all day. Once we had moved to the Middle East then holidays were with both parents and mostly driving through Europe en route to the UK.

Me on a donkey ride in Blackpool.

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I remember 2-3 road trips from home in the Detroit area to eastern Tennessee, where my mother's family lived. Watauga Lake with its red mud. A rope swing out into a neighboring creek near the house in Elizabethton.

From 12-14 or so, Boy Scout Summer Camp. Wound up one year with poison ivy over every square inch of my body, enough to have to go to the hospital. Rifle shooting with little .22s. A tiny bit of fishing, but I don't remember catching much.

My stepdad only got one week of vacation per year and money was always tight, so most years we just did the staycation thing. That was just as well, because of the usual amount of drama that always occurred when we went somewhere.
 
OOoh, when summers were summers.... always seemed sunshine was guaranteed in those days (in the UK).

The ones that readily come to mind:

Summer holiday camps with the guides was great. It was always fun and on farmland where we used to get milk from. I can remember 2 farmhands, quite young and fit lads šŸ˜
When it was my turn to pick up the milk in a bucket like container, I tripped and dropped it, losing all the milk. I was mortified as I had to go back to the farm for more.
And when my turn to get the fire going, sometimes I'd go dizzy and nearly pass out with blowing and getting it going.
Oh the memories are coming flooding back šŸ˜ƒ

Days out in the countryside taking picnics and playing amongst the ferns and bracken and in the rivers with my 2 besties and their parents who took care me a lot in those days.
I always remember one had an Austin Sheerline car, which was HUGE (to me) and smelled of leather (see below Austin Sheerline).
So many lovely memories with them. I'd be here all day if I kept going.

Other holidays at my paternal grandma/uncle/aunt/cousins (who I adored) south of the UK. Always showed love and their emotions - whilst my parents were very reserved.
It was all about fun, visiting castles, air displays, and tons of hugs and laughter.
Later on uncle and aunt bought a higgledipiggpiggledy pub in a lovely village, and on their death a particular celeb bought it and made it his home. He's still there.

Holidays with maternal gran/grandad up north of the UK. Tuna sandwiches, walks to park, seaside. Not much to write about on those hols, although my grandad was an excellent trumpet player which fascinated me.

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Hotels in the Catskill Mountains in New York state, or the Jersey shore. We lived in NJ, and in the world I lived in, most people didn't travel much farther than that.
 
hollydolly said:
who could forget , my granny always got us ice cream cones from there, and we'd go and sit in the bus shelter across the road of it was raining , her with her rain hat on ....? :love: ... do Nardinis still exist in Largs ?
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Most certainly although it's a few years since I was last there. The harbour area had been modernised and I think it was a new ferry to Cumbrae. When I was visiting IBM Greenock, I used to stay in Largs. At that time Nardini's had closed, but subsequently reopened.
 

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