Memory Lane Monday: VACATIONS

I’m using the ’52 Weeks of Personal Genealogy & History’ series as an aid in beginning my personal history this year.  See the entire challenge on my Examiner.com article at http://exm.nr/jX6wSe. I create an article about this series each Monday.  Click subscribe (at the top) if you’d like to get my articles automatically delivered to your email inbox, or click the RSS icon to read my posts via a feed reader.  These weekly challenges are authored by Amy Coffin of the We Tree blog and hosted on the GeneaBloggers website

Here is the beginning of my memories about VACATIONS:

I had  very few relatives that lived in California near us, so summer time usually involved visiting our family in Utah.  My father’s parents and brother and most of his sisters lived in or near Salt Lake City (Grandpa died when I was in my teens.)  My mother’s family was from Santaquin, and many of our relatives lived in or near there. (My grandpa died when I was three and Grandma when I was ten.) 

On the long trips, my parents and I would sing songs and listen to the radio when the mountains did not interfere with the reception.  We always packed apples, cheese and Ritz crackers for snacks.  Now that they are no longer living, I have fond memories renewed each time I see the paring knife we took on those trips to cut the block of cheese.  Just last night I was thinking about staying on the first floor of some hotels back then and hearing the creeks from the floor above.  My parents were light sleepers, and the noise would wake them up—even though, for those times, we stayed in nice hotels.

In Santaquin, I can remember the smell of farms and sitting on the big porch outside my Aunt Eva’s house.  I also remember my grandmother sitting in Eva’s living room.  In Salt Lake, the first thing my Grandma would do is call all the family members near us, and they would come immediately to visit.  Grandma would bring out all sorts of fruits she had bottled, including peaches and tomatoes.  We would have sliced bread and butter and a hodgepodge of homemade, yummy, yet simple foods.

A few summers, we went to what was called Family Camp in the High Sierra mountains.  Lots of families from our church would vacation there—from our congregation and others of the same denomination.  I was quite shy, so this was hard for me to be with so many other families and youth.  Yet one of my best friends came with her family and we had a blast!  I loved going to Shaver Lake and being out in nature.  There were crafts and games during the day.  We had lunch together in one big assembly hall. At night, there would be a huge gathering with skits or some kind of presentation.  On the porch of our cabin, there was singing, watching the stars and talking together.  My dad played the harmonica. Except for the Daddy-long-legs and mosquitoes, it was lots of fun. 

We did tour different sites and keep busy seeing “things”, but, as usual, I’m noticing it’s the connections in relationships that count. I loved our family vacations.  It’s a blessing to have fond memories with my parents, extended family and dear friends.  Feel free to tell us about your favorite memory of vacations in the comment section.
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Do you ever fit your family history goals into your vacations?  Seeing relatives provides a marvelous opportunity for family history interviews, sharing photos, and peaking interest in your family line.  There are a couple products I highly recommend:

Flip-PalMobile Scanner-  Take your scanner on trips with this netbook-sized portable scanner.  No computer needed in order to scan.  The Flip-pal can scan pictures while they are still in the frames and is great when it comes to scanning pictures which are still in the photo albums of the relatives you visit.  Visit their site to see all it’s incredible features.  (Great for summer craft projects, too.)  See my Flip-Pal mobile scanner 5-star review by clicking here. 

Pocket Tree-The carry-with-you family tree.  9+ Generation Ancestry Chart fits in your pocket or purse.   Includes handy interview questions for writing life stories of your relatives (and more).  Great for family vacations and reunions. See my Pocket Tree 5-star review by clicking here.  

Investigate these two amazing products today.

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As founder of Family Tree Quest, people sometimes ask what tools I recommend for organizing and recording personal and family history.  Here are my highest recommendations.

Heritage Collector Suite-  Your complete Family History Management System  (my highest recommendation)
This has everything you need to get your family history clutter into one, orderly place.  Store and retrieve photos, documents, videos, etc.  Create a PDF for a bound book.  Many bonus items such as storybook and GPS modules.

Personal Historian Software-  I love it’s timelines and personal history prompts. 

I hope you feel free to leave a comment today.

Disclosure of Material Connection: I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.” I have not received any compensation from Amy Coffin or GeneaBloggers.com for writing this post. I am listed on the GeneaBloggers Blog Roll because I find it to be a valuable, shared community resource. As founder of Family Tree Quest [dot] com, I am an affiliate of LifeStory Productions, Inc. Flip-pal, Pocket Tree and Amazon [dot] com.