1970s california camping trip

My grandparents loved camping. My mother often talks about the camping and boating excursions they took as a family when she still lived at home. After she graduated, they bought a bigger camper that was always known as "the motorhome." They spent much of their free time enjoying it with family and friends until my grandpa died of cancer in 1984. 

Instead of immediately selling the motorhome, my grandma kept it parked at their home until I was five or six years old. For that reason, I remember hanging out in it. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.

I think those childhood experiences are responsible for my love of vintage campers. I expect Jonathan and I will own one of our own someday. We have dreams of taking a cross-country trip and a trip up the California coast.

I'm not going to lie -- I googled "1977 Dodge motorhome" after I wrote this post. Turns out, a few of these guys are still on the road.

Joan and Sid's motorhome and boat parked in front of their home in Cerritos, California in 1977.

Camping with friends.

My grandpa Sid wearing a very nice apron!

Sid and his friends all donning aprons.

A toast to good friends inside the motorhome.

Also had to share this photo....

A photo of a beautiful butterfly that was taken in their backyard.

joan's trip to british columbia

I don't know much about this trip my grandparents took in 1977, but the photos are breathtaking enough that we don't really need words.

Enjoy.

The photos remind me of one of those Disney nature documentaries from the 1970s. I can almost smell the mountain air.

Isn't it funny....

Isn't it funny that the older we get, the more we realize we are just like our parents and grandparents?

I first physically saw myself in my grandma Joan a week before she died. Most of my life I had known I shared many of her mannerisms (one of the many reasons we got along so well), but that week, I noticed we had the same hands. 

Like so many things that week, that realization changed me.

Now I look down at my hands all the time, and I see her hands. Sometimes I see her in my eyes and smile as well.

Our niece Eliza spent the weekend with us a few weeks ago. While she was here, she stopped in our hallway and stared at a picture of Joan that was taken when she was around 12 years old. 

She wanted to know if the photograph was of me. I told that it was my grandma. She said, "She looks like you."

Yes, I suppose she does.

Rounded shoulders and short shorts. Yep, I'm her granddaughter.

This is how I remember her in her kitchen. 

Trimming the roses just like I do today. 

We don't own a camper yet, but one day we will.

There are those rounded shoulders again. 

Denise's family photos

My mother-in-law Denise is a very busy lady who spends most of her time taking care of her family and friends. Most women have a strained relationship with their mother-in-laws, but she is one of most selfless people I know. She spends most of her time taking care of her family, friends and neighborhood kids.

When she does have a free moment, she delights in the simple things -- a Sunday afternoon in her garden, a Saturday morning drive to the flea market to look for vintage treasures and a holiday spent with her children, granddaughters and soon-to-arrive grandson (!). She is an old soul, and many of her lifelong interests were formed during days and weekends spent with her beloved grandparents. Many of her family photos burned in a house fire years ago, so the photos she still has are very precious to her. Lately I have been working to digitize and create a photo book of her family photos. 

Here are a few of my favorites: 

Clovis and Arletta Geno, Denise's parents. 

Her adorable grandparents, James and Pearl Barnes. 

Denise (bottom right) and most of her siblings. 

Denise's grandmother, Mommie Barnes (third for left), and her sisters (Sarah Gann, Myrtle Thorton, Pearl Barnes and Mary Gann).

Denise's sweet sister Glenda who was killed in a car accident a few weeks before Jonathan was born. 

Baby Jonathan.

Jonathan again. 

Denise (top right) and her sisters. 

Denise (right) with her cousin Susan and sister Sandi.