You may have noticed if you've been following Photo Friday with any regularity that Doris and Ray took a lo-o-o-o-ot of vacations with friends and family throughout the years. Today's find is another trip with Doris's sister Ruth and her husband Robert, this time down to Florida in 1968. And it wouldn't be a set of vacation snaps without a picture of the group packing the car!
Looking over these pictures reminds me that a) I don't document near enough of any special travels Bab and I have taken-- we're usually so busy running around and trying to see all we can see that I totally forget to photograph any of it! and b) the pictures I take need to be more editorial, like these! You've got a natural progression from "Oh, RUTH, REALLY, we can't take ALL these suitcases!" to the ladies of the party getting into the car with their massive thermos-es (plural? how?). See Ruth's natty little pink suit and her extra long cigarette.
That picture takes us to one more of Doris and Ruth getting into the car, and Bob enjoying the fruit of their labors as he sips Thermos coffee from the cap of one of those. Something about Bob's head, sunglasses, and expression, always makes him look like early Eastwood to me.
The group crosses the Florida state line! The red older model sedan has pulled over to take a picture, but not our group! I think dashboard pictures from this era are so exciting. Notice the lack of those over-the-whole-highway-signs! When did we start having those?
Some worse-for-wear looking ducks and a great, modular hotel. Don't sixties' buildings like this look like something Soviet Russia would put on the moon? I love how distinct and "apart" buildings with balconies like this look from the rest of the landscape. And each room its own private balcony!
Two interesting things about the next two pictures: one, Doris and Ray have bought matching kimono-esque robes, and are super excited about them; two, look at the little makeshift buffet the sisters have set up in their hotel room! Was there no cha-cha-y hotel bar and restaurant at this place? Between that and the thermoses, Doris and Ray and Co. are going very thrifty with this vacation. It looks like they're having cold cuts and pretty good time on the right there. Check out the crazy wall light fixture and mark me down for two, thanks.
I told you they were crazy about their robes! Doris goes all Revlon model in this one:
Return of the striped one-piece Doris favored for most of the sixties'...how cute is her sister Ruth's bandeau bikini top? I like how Bob's like "Nah, I'll be keeping my shirt on, I think." Notice in the far background of the picture on the left, you can see the indoor pool on the beach-front hotel. I like to have choice! You can either brave the saltwater and whatever lives in it for real ocean swimming, or enjoy chlorinated freshwater in a heated, indoor setting. Either way though, you're going to have sand.
There must be another fifty of these little envelopes, all from about 1967- 1980, each with between fifteen and twenty little snaps in a packet of a particular trip. I'll keep going through them and let you know what I find!
Any big plans for the weekend? I just remembered the Flea Market is today, Saturday, and Sunday. I guess that means I know what I'm doing tomorrow morning, now!
Have a great weekend, I'll see you guys on Monday!
lol "something Soviet Russia would put on the moon."
ReplyDeleteThe adventures of Doris and Ruth never cease to fascinate me! Indeed, Ruth is a little fox in that bikini top!
The CLOTHES these women wore over the years! Always dressed to a "t".
DeleteIn defense of the Thermos and in room, BYO food, remember this was in the days before the plethora of Starbucks, McDonalds, rest stops with flush toilets and food. You had to bring your own or else you went without. I know from being part of the luggage my parents and Aunts and Uncles used to haul around, there was not a lot of choice when you hit the interstate highway system! I will spare you the details of bacon and eggs grilled on a propane gas stove, having a bologna sandwich and some delicious pastry placed before me on a wooden picnic table with a now vintage, at that time old and unwanted, tablecloth, real stainless flatware and real plates! Then not wanting to use the restroom facilities placed in some brown, old wooden structure. Also forget about drinking from the lone water fountain. It tasted like metal! Yuck! Oh, but those were the days! My parents were in heaven and my mom still fondly remembers those times they shared!!!! I guess I do too now that they re gone.
ReplyDeleteI am so happy you found, saved and now share these photos of this family. You make me smile. Enjoy your weekend too!
I hadn't thought about not being able to stop for coffee without actually stopping the car to go in somewhere and *have* a cup of coffee, or the sparsity of places to stop on a long trip. Good points! I've been spoiled by the proliferation of fast food joints or at least a Mapco at every one-horse interstate exit! Thanks for sharing your memories.
DeleteThose ratty looking ducks are Muscovy ducks. The are heavy, low to the ground and looonnnggg-lived. There was a Muscovy that lived at the local park where I ran for years. He originally had a wife, but she disappeared and he lived as a widower strolling around accepting bread. His head was bare, red and wattled, with random white sprouts on it like an old drunk's beard. His eyes were...rheumy. He had some sort of prehistoric tail wagging walk, jerking his head back and forth, hissing. Getting the picture? He was so repellant and strange that the park hellions left him strictly alone. Yuck.
ReplyDeleteI was like, "Why would you even take a picture of these ducks? They look destitute!" but now I'm glad I included them so I could hear about your poor widower ugly duck in the park! So funny.
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