Old school Florida

Our family has been vacationing in Florida off and on for about 45 years. Mom and Dad took the original 6 way back when and the trip plan most of the time included leaving for Destin late at night and arriving early in the morning. It was always so exciting.

Just a scant few memories :
All of us packed up in our blue Cadillac station wagon headed out of town but we had to go by the bank to make a night deposit before we left. Becky had some "stinky shoe issues" and Big Frank declared he would not travel all the night with her horrible smelling shoes. So he made her take them off and he put them IN THE NIGHT DEPOSIT BOX AT THE BANK. I remember being stunned at that when I was little but NOW I wonder what in the heck the bank people thought when they opened the box and found Becky's ridiculously smelly shoes.

On another trip, we were leaving early evening and Mom and Dad had told Frank, who was hanging out with his friends, if he wasn't home when it was time to leave, they would leave without him. Well he wasn't home and we left without him and I remember being panicked FOR HIM. (I was less than 10 years old.) So I don't know if they drove 2 miles an hour or if they were squishy inside but we were almost to Louisville Ave. and a car with Frank and his friends came racing up alongside us and he jumped out of that car and into ours. There was a big WHEW on my part for sure and I bet his hiney was as tight as it could be. In the end, all was well but raising teenagers is tough on younger siblings.

I remember another time in the same Cadillac station wagon Big Frank and Frank blew up air mattresses and put all the seats down in the back and they slept a lot of the way while the rest of us were crammed in the front seat. And why did Billie June let them get away with that? I have no idea. There were no car seats back in the day and we crawled around like monkeys in those old cars. We even had a seat in that Cadillac that faced backwards out the back window. Of course it was the most coveted seat in the car for the little kiddos.

We used Coppertone suntan lotion that had about a 4 protection factor. That's just about unheard of now. But these pictures are evidence that we had fun back in the day.

I've posted these before but they're worth a second. As far as I know these are the only pictures of our family trips to Florida. If anyone has any others, please sent them to me.

Carrie Anna ready for the beach.

And the close up



Big Frank ready for the beach.

And the close up


Billie June, Me and Carrie


Melanie and Carrie

This walk from the hotel to the water looks extreme. And that's maybe one lone plam tree in the middle of the picture. This is Destin Florida before it was "somebody."