What was Your First Big Vacation on Your Own (or w friends) and not...

[electric_blue68]

your parents?

Where were you headed, and why? How did you feel? Did it work out well?

I'd gone w my sis, and a cousin to DC in ?1970 from NYC during cherry blossoms time that was relatively close by, and a day visit.

But then there I was in Winter '79 watching a PBS Special on the USA's National Parks System. Besides highlighting their wonders it was talking about encroaching pollution, developement, etc.

Suddenly, I "jumped up" "mentally" thinking: "I've got to get out there before It's all going to be ruined!"

So I saved up, and in July went off by bus (a 2 week get on & off the bus as much as you want pass) to Arizona's Northern high desert, met up w a friend in Flagstaff, renting a car to visit The Navajo & Hopi Nations, Canyon De Chelley, and a one night sleep over in Monument Valley.
I then headed to San Fransisco,
, a city I'd always wanted to visit, L A. to visit a cousin, to Alberquerque to my dad's friends, and back to AZ, and the Grand Canyon, and an extra tour back to The Hopi Nation.

I was nervous about going, but my excitement, and anticipation were stronger. Luckily, I'm often comfortable talking w strangers [not w everyone] so I'd chat up some of my seat mates since I was taking 2 1/4 days to get to Flagstaff.

Just other than a few glitches it it was glorious!!! The magic of the desert, the wonderfulness of San Francisco, the interesting people I met, etc. Traveling by bus I got really see the changes in the landscape, looking at different cities, towns, farms etc.

I still have the journal I wrote along the way, along w sketches in colored pencils!


So what adventures did you set for yourself?! 👍

[elleng]

1. 'Teen tour' to/from The Western U.S., by bus.

Jr/High school; I'm from NY.

Worked VERY well, even have some pics/little album, and think of it often, Jenny Lake, Arches, Canyonlands, and Grand Canyon, I think.

[electric_blue68]

7. Wow, a school "Teen tour" to The West!!! ...

Googled up Canyon Lands...not sure I'd seen photos. I don't think so. Gorgeous.
Otoh, def seen plenty of photos of Arches!

Def seen pics of The Tetons! Didn't know about Jenny Lake. What a view!
What a fabulous set of sceneries you all experienced!
Glad it worked out so well. 👍

My GC trip started out quite disappointing, but got waaaay better later on.
Idk what 😑 I was thinking; thinking I could book an overnight at the hotel in GC from Flagstaff ?1day, maybe same day in advance in the summertime?! Uh, noooo.

I settled for a afternoon visit arriving from Flagstaff at noon, leaving at 4PM.

I'm all full of anticipation! Arrive, walk to near the Canyon's edge...
and whaaaa?!

Well...except for the pale yellow beige of the ground, and the toned down brick-red of the next set of rocks down ?10-?20+ feet down everything else was...
"blued out" in medium to lighter blues, pale nearly white blue, and purples, maybe some cool gray's.

It (the rest) looked "flat" almost like a diorama; a flat photo pretending to be 3-D behind glass!
l was seriously shocked! What happened to the glorious warm tones in photos I'd seen since I was ? 8-9 yrs old, now 17 years later at 27?!
Course, I walked around to the hotel, then leftward back to where we entered and kept going near the edge.

Finally, around 3PM the sun got down to an angle where all the warm colors emerged! 🥰
The pale yellows, ochers, more glowy yellowish-orange, oranges, rust-oranges, reddish-oranges; now contrasting with browner, and blue shadows!

There was our wonderous, and 3 dimensional looking Grand Canyon.

The colors, and sculpturalness of the high desert blow my mind w their beauty & wonderment! It was such a blessing that still glows inside me. Luckily while I lost a bunch - I still have some of my best slides!
🥰 📷 🥰

[elleng]

8. Glad you had such experience!

Mine was not sponsored BY my school, private, actually run by teachers (from different schools) for xtra income, vacation/summer trip. NOW I'll have to find my little album!

[electric_blue68]

10. Ty! I hope you find it! So peole paid this group of teachers to run this trip?

[elleng]

12. 2 teachers established small company to try to increase their income,

by offering summer vacay trip to small groups (15 or so kids) of jr/high schoolers; don't know how many they did each summer.

[electric_blue68]

17. Ok, then. 👍 That was kind of inventive!

[msongs]

2. first time I went to Hawaii and realized I was 2800 miles from anyone who knew me.... nt

[electric_blue68]

9. Woooahh..

I think I'd first think of most basic fact of all that Ocean!

Then that would trigger the "I'm x thousands miles away from all people I know" reaction.

Since I live In NYC: NYC > San Francisco >
Honolulu = 5,304 miles! A friend just outside of DC would knock off a couple of hundred.

If a cousin still lives in Washington State that'd be around ?2500+. SF to Honolulu is
2,398 miles.

[Chipper Chat]

3. 3 weeks in Hawaii with a group called "Sea Trek"

Camped out on 5 islands including backwoods of Maui (huge mosqitoes), Lanai and Molokai.

[electric_blue68]

13. Wow! I've heard of all these islands plus...

Hawai'i, O'ahu, and Kauai.

I'm not a camper, but I know it's a lot of fun, and interesting for those who do it.

I love Nature, but not sure I'd want to be deep in the woods. Though a walk on a very well defined path in lighter woods with no big carnivores around....maybe that'd be my speed.
I've picked up bits & pieces of camping how to's through the decades.

If you were ever in some clear area at night - how was the sky? Lots of stars when the moon was set, or only a sliver?

My one overnight camping experience was amazing.
A friend (he drove the rented car) and I camped out in Monument Valley. Went to sleep around 9P, and woke up around 3:30A. The full moon had set and The Milky Way spanned about 2/3rds of the sky! Mesmerizing, incredibly beautiful.

[LeftInTX]

4. I got suckered into going to Arizona with some friends because they needed another driver.

I ended up pulling over somewhere near Independence, MO and fell asleep. They got mad at me because they invited me so that I could "drive overnight" while they slept. We also stayed in a tent in AZ. I really didn't have much fun. I don't like camping.

A year later, I went to Daytona Beach for spring break. It was fun. We went on a chartered plane, package deal with a group of students. Typical party scene!

[electric_blue68]

14. If you were in Independence, Missouri going to AZ where did you start from?

Daytona Beach wouldn't be my scene,but I'm glad you had fun.

See the end of my post #13- my one amazing overnight camping trip. 👍

[LeftInTX]

29. Milwaukee, WI

I was with two friends who hadn't "been anywhere", who wanted to "go somewhere". I would have preferred Colorado. But they wanted to see "cactus" etc.

Fortunately, we were in northern AZ (Oak Creek Canyon) and stayed at a very nice private campground. The restrooms and showers were all indoors and nice. The campground was run by a couple of eccentric artists. It also had a very nice pool. The weather wasn't bad either. Considering that the year was 1977 and no internet, at least my friend picked a good campground!

One of my friends got a crush on the husband of one of the owners. It was weird, she was actively flirting with him etc. I couldn't believe she was doing that. She was one those "good Catholic girls", who never did anything exciting. I couldn't wait to leave.

We also took a side trip to Phoenix, where my friends became enamored with Scientology and Wendy's Hamburgers. That was another weird thing.

[mnhtnbb]

5. Flew to Cabo San Lucas

With my fiance, his roommate, and girlfriend in a little 4 seat plane from Santa Monica that the roommate was piloting. This was 1972 when Cabo was barely more than a fishing village. My first realization that the roommate/pilot was inexperienced was when he asked us to help look for the landing strip in Cabo that was the airport. I spotted it before he did and his explanation that he'd been flying around looking for it was that he had the map in his lap folded wrong!
While we were there went out on a fishing boat. Coming back we encountered a school of hammerhead sharks that were swimming very near the surface. Freaked me out to see so many of them right alongside the boat.
On our return flight, we stopped on the Mexico side of the border for fuel. I came very close to phoning my father to ask him to come get me (he lived north of San Diego) because the pilot's flying skills---or lack of them scared me. I didn't. When we took off, we all had to convince him to gain more altitude before flying over the mountains along the border. Damn good thing we did, because I watched the altimeter drop 500 ft when we hit a downdraft and if he hadn't agreed to gain more altitude over the mountains, we would have been splatted all over the mountains. It was that close.
I later told this story to my tennis instructor who had been a pilot in WW II and he said if the guy lives through getting 1000 hours flying time, it might be safe to fly with him again, but otherwise don't go up with him again!
I did marry my fiance, which was also a mistake, and we divorced after seven years together. My next husband turned out to have a general aviation license and there are some stories to tell from flying with him over the 32 years of our marriage. But that's for another post!

[LeftInTX]

6. OMG!!! I would have called my dad!

Heck, we drove from WI to Dallas in an ice storm. (I wasn't the driver) It was a "rideshare" thing. (I think it was 1980/81)

On the return trip, I chickened out and flew back. The driver was pissed because she was counting on me to help out with gas. But she drove right through that ice storm, which encompassed the entire state of IL and I just didn't feel safe. There were warnings on the radio. We had stopped numerous times in IL, and lots of people were holed up in truck stops waiting for things to get better. Well, that's my brush with adventure!

Well another brush with adventure was driving in 10 inches of snow in San Antonio!
I was studying for my NCLEX. (Nursing exam). We had a prep class on a Saturday. It was snowing with about 3-4 inches of snow on the ground and the forecast was not good, winter storm, blizzard warnings, stay off the road etc and skies did not look good. I called and asked if the class was cancelled. They told me, "No". So against my better judgement, I drove into class. When we got out, the entire city was closed! There was 10 inches on the ground and it wasn't stopping. There are no plows here. And I had to drive 15 miles in it. I tried stopping here and there, but no luck. Everything was closed. I just wanted to find a phone, so I could call my parents. Maybe I could bunk overnight in a store or gas station. No luck. Everything was shut.

I finally saw a cop and asked for a ride home. He responded: "Lady you're on your own". (You know like those people who don't evacuate during a hurricane)

Of course, no cell phones back then. I was from WI and was used to snow, but we had snow plows, My drive home consisted of fishtails and donuts. I was afraid I was gonna get stuck and die because there was no one else on the road. It took me three hours to get home. It was one of the scariest things!

I was so pissed they didn't cancel the class. How stupid of them. I did get above the 99th percentile on my NCLEX exam.

[electric_blue68]

19. Woah! One thing at least when your State has snowplows! It's another when...

they don't!
I certainly would not think of snow and San Antonio, TX!

How scary: 3 hours in an ice storm totally alone on the road for "only" a 15 mile drive!

Congrats on your top 99th percentile!

[LeftInTX]

21. It was a freak snow storm.

We got seven inches during our 2021 big freeze, But the snow associated with that event largely seems to be forgotten due to the whole state being a disaster. We had several inches in 2017. It thawed when the sun rose.

Other than that, we went for decades between 1985 and 2017.

[electric_blue68]

24. Oh...Look at that headline and photos!...

I have a friend who's a bit southeast of Dallas.

The last time they had some snow....I can't remember whether she kept the dogs inside - but I think she took a video of not too many flakes coming down in the ?morning.
May have been gone by late afternoon.

[LeftInTX]

30. I think they got a decent amount in 2021. Dallas usually gets several inches of snow per year.

Dallas has different climate than South Texas. They are in tornado alley and get those strong thunderstorms. South Texas is in the Horse Latitudes. It's extremely humid with stagnant air and it doesn't rain much here.

Horse Latitudes: According to legend, the term comes from ships sailing to the New World that would often become stalled for days or even weeks when they encountered areas of high pressure and calm winds. Many of these ships carried horses to the Americas as part of their cargo. Unable to sail and resupply due to lack of wind, crews often ran out of drinking water. To conserve scarce water, sailors on these ships would sometimes throw the horses they were transporting overboard. Thus, the phrase 'horse latitudes' was born.

The Gulf Coast is basically the Horse Latitudes. That's why Columbus didn't end up in the US! He went further south and took advantage of the late summer-early fall trade winds. (Hurricane route) He returned after the hurricane season and took advantage of the winter westerlies. (I know people love to hate Columbus, but considering what he didn't know, his voyage is quite amazing. He knew how to take advantage of the weather)

?content-type=image%2Fjpeg

[electric_blue68]

34. I think I knew that about Dallas v like Houston in that Houston is very humid...

Ick!

It's a biiiig State and Dallas is quite far from the Gulf Coast, so it makes sense weather difference-wise.

"Horse Latitudes", Wow, I haven't heard that phrase for decades! Ty, I never knew what it was, nor the legend of It's name origin!

[electric_blue68]

15. Waaah, how Scary the plane flights!...

A four seater!!! 😱

Have to laugh at myself - I almost half freaked when I ran most of the way from one end of the Detroit Airport to nearly the other end only to find my flight to Lansing was on a ?32 seater! 🥺 Omg!

Thank goodness there were 3 of you trying to convince the roommate to fly higher! Geeeeeebz!

Oh dear, about your first husband. At least you left and found a better man! And someone who had serious fying cred!

Maybe someday you'll share a few plane traveling stories.

Hamnerheads?! Ohhhh, boy....

And why... Cabo San Lucas all the way at the tip of Baja California Sur? Bc it was a pretty small place, away from the bustle of San Diego?

[mnhtnbb]

25. Cabo in 1972

was a somewhat exotic destination that a third year law student ( the roommate pilot) and a PhD candidate (my fiance) from UCLA could afford.
https://blog.cabovillas.com/flying-to-baja-in-the-1970s-and-1980s/#:~:text=Bahia%20de%20los%20Angeles%20%E2%80%93%20Baja,much%20closer%20can%20you%20get?%E2%80%9D

There was a third roommate --also a law student -- in this house that the guys rented in Beverly Glen Canyon. He was apparently smart enough not to go on the trip!

[Figarosmom]

11. A camping and fishing trip

With husband and friends throughout WI. From Devils Lake to Bayfield. I always thought we would move to Bayfield some day.

[electric_blue68]

16. Sounds like you might have enjoyed camping enough to do that. But...

Bayfield, WI; or Bayfield southwest of Toronto, CA?!

I was totally shocked when arriving in Detroit by bus on my way to East Lansing, MI bc there was a highway sign pointing to Canada?!!!

From NYC the shortest route to Canada is somewhere around 500 miles!
I has no idea the border was so close there in MI!

[Figarosmom]

18. Wi

It's known as the gateway to the Apostle Islands.

[electric_blue68]

20. 👍

[DFW]

22. I worked like demon the summer I was 17 to explore Europe the summer I was 18.

I remember telling one great-grandmother (I knew two of mine) of my plans, and she gave me $100-a lot in 1970-toward the trip because she so highly approved of the idea. At the time, I only spoke French, Spanish, Catalan, some Italian and some Russian. I knew nothing of three European languages I would later master that turned out to be very important to me: Swedish, German and Dutch. I got a sense on that trip how important they would be for me.

I went to see the midnight sun above the arctic circle, the Swiss Alps, the west coast of Norway, the walking areas of København, revisited people I already knew in southern France, and went back to my first “second home,” Barcelona in Catalunya. As an 18 year old straight male, I was fascinated by all the different girls/women I met, and how easily people my age were comfortable with those of different cultures. It made a difference that so many different cultures existed in close proximity with each other. I thought I might even want to live here some day.

On my fourth solo—sorta, since my brother joined me for part of it—trip to Europe, I met my wife-to-be in what was then West Berlin. I knew then ( way before she did) that this was the one I wanted for my life’s partner. She wasn’t against the idea, but didn’t want to leave Germany. I thought “for her, I’ll figure something out.” We did a lot of commuting and jumping through bureaucratic hoops. The Europeans do love their paperwork, which I find counterproductive more often than productive, but they have centuries of experience with working around/against it. And so I did “figure something out,” and now, here I am, based near Düsseldorf. I still travel around a lot from country to country for work and some leisure, but it’s not a solo trip any more, hasn’t been for decades.

[electric_blue68]

35. At first I thought "Oh, he 'only knows' X number of languages'. Then I immediately remembered...

'Of course, DFW lives in Germany so, of course, he learned German (and the other lanuages you mentioned)!

Ooooo, above the Artic Circle! My sis was in Alaska once in May, and while she missd 'the midnight sun' it didn't set until around 11PM! Quite unusual for us in lower latitudes. I have a on line friend from Finland who has about a 3 month midnight sun, and conversely 3 months of darkness!

What part of the USA were you from? I as an NYC'r, and unless you live in, and stay in a highly singular ethnic or other group category nieghborhood: you're often running into other groups especially bopping around our 5 Boroughs.

[DFW]

44. When you live in a country that borders on nine others

You have to be a cultural hermit, very arrogant, over the age of 80, or a complete idiot if you know only one language. Since I’m in a different country practically every day for work, I’d lose a huge amount of time if I needed to find someone who spoke English every time I needed to communicate. Plus my wife and I have spoken only German with each other since we met, and that was back in the early days of the last Ice Age.

Although one grandfather was originally from South Carolina, my other three grandparents are from the NYC area. My mom’s dad is descended from deadbeat Mississippi river boat gamblers who fled north to escape their gambling debts. Her dad, my other grandfather, grew up poor in Hell’s Kitchen. He came into an upper middle class income late in life when his incredible wit was noted by some Madison Avenue advertising agency, and suddenly he could afford a decent apartment at age 50. My South Carolina grandfather worked his way through college as a janitor, but got an education that was enough for him to be deputy mayor if NYC for a while. His wife, my grandmother, was a firebrand “libbrul” who worked for Fiorello LaGuardia as labor liason until he canned her for being friendlier with labor than with the mayor (LaGuardia was a Republican).

As a small child, I would travel frequently with my parents to NYC to visit the grandparents, great grandparents, and various other relatives. We visited my former ad agency grandfather a lot, since he lived to 102. My elder daughter was especially taken with NYC, and as a teenager was already saying, “This is home. I will live here some day.” And now, indeed, she does. We always tried to convince our daughters, despite the Darwinian German school system, that there was nothing that they couldn't do.


Although he grew up in NYC, my dad’s employer, a newspaper in a small one horse town in upstate New York, decided on a (for 1950) bold experiment, and opened one of the first one man permanent correspondent bureaus in Washington, DC. of a tiny provincial newspaper. My dad was offered the post, and jumped at the chance. As one of the first of his kind, he got to be one of those not-famous “he knows everybody” guys in the DC print press, and he introduced me very early to a LOT of people whose names are well-known in the history books. In the beginning, I didn’t why my friends were all named Bill, Jimmy or Greg, and his friends all had the same weird first name, namely “Senator.” Hey, I was 7 or 8. How was I to know? Some used to come out to our house in Virginia on weekends. Senator Church of Idaho, Senator Javits of New York, just the usual friends of my dad. Again, how was I to know?


The midnight sun was very disorienting, but down in places like Oslo, Stockholm or København, I loved the ling summer days. I hate the grim short days of winter here. In Norway, winter is known as the time of the most suicides, as many people can’t handle the eternal darkness. It is called “mørketiden,” or “the dark time,” in Norwegian. Even “down” here in Germany we have sunset at 10 PM in June (fine with me) and at 4:15 PM in December, which I hate. We must be a thousand miles or so north of Virginia. The things we do for love, right?

[electric_blue68]

45. Very interesting stories of NYC, DC and The South in your family!.

Yes, I remember reading some of your DC experiences.
I remember Sen Javits, and Church.

I worked briefly for a small Madison Ave Ad agency as a paste up & mechanicals person.

I don't think I ever knew LaGuardia was a Republican! I'm old enough to have known of a few good Liberal Republicans back in the day: Mayor Lindsey, and (there's that odd 'name') Senator Charles (Goodell).

True, since you travel so much for work in the different surrounding countries you have to learn some! It does seem that you have a natural knack for languages from an early age.

I took Russian in Junior High, and did well. The specialized HS I was to attend didn't offer it.

Imagining that each US State had a common language, and a State language.
I'd have to learn "New Jerseyan" since I still have relatives there I visit.

Oh, I get that "dark time" stuff. I know from my on line Finnish friend that Heavy Metal is a thing in Finland. I said to him is it to help keep you awake during the dark time, and fend off scary feelings. He said yeah, something like that.

I hate the short days. Our Day Light Savings Time ends 2 days before The Election. So sun setting at 4:30 PM soonish. Bah!

My mom and her family spent a bunch of years living in Hell's Kitchen just west of 8th Ave in the mid-upper 40s. On the poor side, too.They were there when the Independent Subway line (A, D, B, C) was being cut into the ground, tracks laid, stations built up, etc.
And my mom hit a "two sewer" playing stickball!

Have a good day since it is morning for you, and very late here. 😄

[DFW]

47. My dad and Charlie Goodell were friends

He used to come out to the house every now and then. He knew Agnew was out for his hide, and that his days in the Senate were numbered.

[OldBaldy1701E]

23. What is this 'vacation' you speak of?

The first ''vacation' I ever took was ten years ago at age 50. We went on a cruise.

Just trying to survive has been more of an 'adventure' than I ever wanted.

[electric_blue68]

36. I'm sorry life events kept you from a vacation for so long! I hope your cruise was very enjoyable.

[Emile]

26. I was 18 and I came home on leave from the Navy.

[electric_blue68]

37. I guess that would seem like a vacation from such a highly regulated life at that time.

[Turbineguy]

27. Three of my college classmates and I went to Baja California to fish

on the Sea of Cortez side during the Thanksgiving holiday in 1974. It was fantastic.

[electric_blue68]

38. I just read it has a very diverse amount of sea life.

[claudette]

28. Mine was

right after high school graduation. 4 of us went to Miami in October where one of the girls was going to visit relatives. HUGE mistake. Hot. Humid. Huge bugs and disgusting racist talk by some residents we met. I will NEVER go back and regret spending the money there.

Added: one good thing. It was my first experience flying. Loved it.

[electric_blue68]

39. Oh, sorry it turned out to be so unpleasant! I'm often anxious about flying...

but I really love seeing the clouds while flying, and am still amazed everytime (a rare travel experience) I feel the increasingly speeding jet - leave the ground!

[claudette]

43. Oh yes

I forgot to mention our trip was soon after a hurricane had hit and no one was allowed in the ocean.

About flying I love the feeling of being up so far away from the ground and traveling fast!! However, today’s security measures and frequent delays make flying so much less enjoyable. In my view

[malthaussen]

31. Three weeks in UK in 1990.

There was a professional conference I was attending in Edinburgh, so I decided to leave two weeks before it and see a bit of the country. 1 wk in London (in a Bloomsbury hotel), 1 week roaming around the West Country and then 1 week in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Worked out just fine, and I timed it so I could attend the second night of the Proms in London, and the last night of the Edinburgh tattoo in Scotland. Also got to eat at Le Gavroche, which was (then) the biggest three-star restaurant in London.

-- Mal

[electric_blue68]

40. How lucky you could explore 3 different areas in Great Britain before your conference.

And to get to eat in a top rated restaurant!

[malthaussen]

46. I capped it off by taking a night sleeper train to London my last day...

... did a lot of travelling on BritRail while I was in-country.

-- Mal

[Lifeafter70]

32. Summer of 1968

Went with friends to San Francisco. I had just turned 16.


Enjoyed it so went back in 1969.

[electric_blue68]

41. Niiiice! I loved that city! If I could I'd visit again.

And you went during the psychedelic era!

[IcyPeas]

33. Acapulco, 1980

We just wanted somewhere warm. Three of us, co-workers at the time in NYC. It was a blast... we loved the food, the pool, the beach, tequila, parasailing.

A memory that stuck with me: my friend Robin is Jewish... I dont remember how it came up but we met these 3 guys from Toronto and they had never met anyone Jewish before. I thought they were just kidding but they weren't. I mean Toronto is a big city. If they were from some small nowheresville maybe.... it just surprised me.

[electric_blue68]

42. What fun! Para-sailing; scary & exciting....

As for the Torontoians - If that city had a small Jewish population they might not run into them. And if they were secular Jews,depending on your interactions they might not be any reason to that out. bout.