Vacationing with a big family takes patience and imagination. The Cooke family found an ingenious way to keep track of everyone on their motor home trip across America in 1971—matching shirts. These vintage photos prove that childhood fun hasn’t changed all that much.
COURTESY JOANNE SCHUELLER COOKE/REMINISCE
This was such a cool collection of old photos featured in Readers Digest, we had to share.
Things might have looked a little different, but the days were still long, hot, and filled with summer fun.
Nancy’s Dad, Ernie Ward, holds David, as Ruthie sits on the hood with Peggy and Nancy in the background, during a family trip to Colorado in 1959. Ernie had the DeSoto station wagon outfitted with a bug guard and a roof rack.
COURTESY NANCY VAN GULICK/REMINISCE
“My cousin, Paul, sister Deb and I had July birthdays, so my family drove to Denver, Colorado, and celebrated at Elitch Gardens. I was 6 here, in 1962,” says William Snesrud.
COURTESY WILLIAM SNESRUD/REMINISCE
“In 1967, my parents took me and my three friends on a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to see the Liberty Bell, and Atlantic City, New Jersey, where we strolled on the old-fashioned boardwalk,” says Linda Hughes.
COURTESY LINDA HUGHES/REMINISCE
“Every Lyons family vacation began by packing the station wagon with children, coolers, and suitcases. We always stopped for lunch along the road—whenever my dad, Frank, spotted a picnic table,” says Susan Lyons Dietrich. “Lunch was always the same: bologna sandwich, potato chips, and Kool-Aid.”
COURTESY SUSAN LYONS DIETRICH/REMINISCE
To check out all the great vintage photos in this story click the link below
https://www.rd.com/culture/what-summer-looked-like-50-years-ago/