Memories of Road Trips

Today is Wordfull Wednesday from Chocolate on My Cranium. Visit Cocoa's super blog to read more Wordfull Wednesday entries. The topic for today is memorable family vacations or summer time memories.

There are two family vacations that I remember most, however I sometimes get a little mixed up as to what actually happened on which vacation. Both of them were long road trips from Idaho to Tennessee to visit my great-grandmother, Grandmama Templin. The first was when I was 5 and the second when I was 8. We had a little red station-wagon, and my parents just folded down the back seat and laid out some blankets for my brothers and I to lay on and away we went. We had such a wonderful time back there! We counted semi trucks and played games like Cat in the Window and Bug. Sometimes my mom would take a nap in the back and I would get to sit up front with my dad and be the navigator. That was always a prized spot! When I was old enough, being the navigator meant that I would study the map and then make decisions about where we were going and which road we would take to get there. I'm sure my dad gave his input, but I was still the navigator and was in charge of getting us to our destination. That was a great feeling to have.

We couldn't just drive straight to Tennessee without stopping, and so we did stop at some wonderful places. Even though I was only five I can still remember looking at Mt. Rushmore and seeing those great big stone faces. We also stopped at Nauvoo. The only thing I really remember from Nauvoo is a little cemetery we walked through. We also stopped in Missouri to visit my Aunt Ruby. She was not really my aunt, but a cousin of my great-grandfather, but she was an aunt to us. I remember going with her to visit an old house out in the country, and it seems that it had been a house that she or maybe her mother had lived in as a child. There were some loose boards with nails strewn around, and I remember she held my hand and made sure I stepped carefully. Some time I need to write a whole post just about Aunt Ruby.

Finally we made it to Tullahoma, TN. I remember sleeping in sleeping bags in Grandmama's living room with my brothers. We did a little sightseeing with Grandmama, driving around the beautiful hills of Tennessee. I had never seen so many deciduous trees! We also went to Lynchburg and toured the Jack Daniels distillery. When we went into the huge room with the giant vats of corn mash, I just about got sick from the smell and one of my parents had to quickly take me out. Isn't it funny the things you remember? I remember going for a ride with Grandmama in her great big black car.

I don't have any pictures of Grandmama so I got this picture from my Uncle Jim's blog.

I only got to visit Grandmama three times before she died, but I am so grateful for each of those visits. I was young and don't remember very much now, but I do remember Grandmama and what she looked like and how she talked and what her house looked like and smelled like and what a neat yard she had and how she loved us.