Book 3 Chapter 2 Section 5: Vacations
The best times, for the Frazier children, were the family vacations. My father liked to get everyone up at middle of the night, after strapping our luggage onto the top of the car, and then drive like a maniac for twelve to eighteen hours. He didn’t like to stop, even if one of the kids was sick, and there was puke on the side of the car where one of us had barfed after rolling down the window. The remains of the throw up would stay on the door until the trip was over and Mom could take it up to be washed. The car smelled like the inside of someone’s stomach until it was thoroughly cleaned. If Dad needed to rest, he took a power nap while Mom drove, or the whole family sat in silence in a hot car and waited for him to finish sleeping.
Yet once we arrived at our destination, our trips were the highlight of my childhood. The happiest that I ever saw my father was as he was driving down the road and whistling to whatever song happened to be playing on the radio. To this day, I cannot hear “King of the Road” without thoughts of my father singing along to that tune in the car. My mother acted as navigator and supplied my father with candy and gum. She told me that she didn’t see what a big deal the family vacations were but for me, they were the one time where we all shared happy memories of being together. The family alternated between visiting Dads’ family in Minnesota, Moms’ family in Vermont, and Florida when Moms’ mother moved to the sunshine state.
My fathers’ parents lived in a small house just outside of Minneapolis. His mother loved seeing her grandchildren and served us peanut butter and honey sandwiches. The kids slept on a floor in the basement because there were not enough bedrooms to house everyone. The kids didn’t mind, though, because the house didn’t have air conditioning and the tiles on the basement floor remained cool all year long. The Frazier kids made fast friends out of the neighborhood kids. There was a lake within a short walking distance and all four kids loved to swim, so they went every day, even when the only other person at the lake was the lifeguard. One time, it was so cold that the lifeguard on duty tried to hide from the Frazier’s in a lifeboat so that he wouldn’t have to sit in the chair, but the kids quickly saw through that scheme and yelled at him until he came out from the boat to do his job.
There was a creek on the way to the lake, and the kids were sometimes sidetracked, especially if they saw the neighborhood kids playing in the stream. The banks of the creek were made of clay and the Frazier kids scraped some of it away and made pots or animals with the clay. Eventually, the sidewalk that led up to their grandparents’ house became littered with the kids creations, but Grandma and Grandpa got a kick out of the artistry. At other times the kids played games in the alley behind their grandparents’ house or walked up to the store to get candy: it was all very exciting and life in Minneapolis seemed like an extension of their lives in Louisville, only better.
Grandmother Arlene Strachan was from my mother’s side of the family, and she lived in Florida because her sister, Evelyn, moved down there with her husband, Bill. They both retired early and bought a nice house with a pool in the back. While the adults drank their toddies, the children played bartender by serving drinks, and otherwise swam away the afternoons. Uncle Bill held watermelon-eating contests and gave each kid a penny for each of the seeds that we spit out onto his sidewalk. We were so proud that we could earn up to a dollar just for spitting seeds.
About a mile from Evelyn’s house was the Ocean Ranch, or the hotel that the Fraziers stayed at while in Pompano Beach. When we weren’t at Aunt Evelyn’s, we spent our days building sandcastles, searching for seashells, playing shuffleboard, or taking the brand new canvas rafts into the ocean When the kids felt adventurous, we walked down to the pier to watch the men fishing and cleaning their catch. However, the best part of the hotel was that they provided a director to keep the children occupied and she came up with all sorts of games to play with us. “I see something that you don’t see, and the color is …” was a great game or she challenged us to putt-putt golf. The kids really wanted to win the competition because we were awarded with a free milkshake if we came in first place. In addition, when the kids got hungry, there was a hotel restaurant on the premises. The kids could order whatever they wanted whenever they wanted it. We never got their fill of strawberry shakes and cheeseburgers. It was pure heaven for our entire time on the beach.
Our other vacation spot was Vermont. Grandmother Strachan moved there to be closer to my Aunt Blair and her husband, Bob. The kids spent their days playing with the farm animals and swimming in the pond. Our cousin Heather showed us how to bareback ride sheep, cows, and horses. In addition, Bob and Blair sponsored several family reunions there and my only memory of some of my extended family members, like Aunt Leonie and the whole Sander’s family, came from these reunions. The place was full of characters: Jed who had a cool Jeep and who was a devoted bachelor, Blair’s friend Connie who invited the kids over and served us freshly made chocolate shakes, and old man Archie who worked the farm by driving the tractor used for bailing hay.
Vermont seemed to me to be the ideal place to spend our childhood because it had farms, forests, and family. The best times were when we all sat out on the Hall’s front lawn and watched the cars drive. The adults drank their cocktails and the kids had their cousins to play with. There was much joy in Vermont, Minneapolis, and Florida and our vacations provided a respite from our daily life in Louisville.
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