happy father's day!

...to my dad. this year, I'm remembering the three week long camping trips we took each summer when we lived in wyoming (1971-1976). we'd pack up the rambler station wagon and a little trailer and I think a car-top carrier? (and of course it was my mom and dad packing - we kids were around ages 11, 8 and 6...too young to be much use at that!) with a tent, air mattresses, sleeping bags, coleman stove, coolers, chairs, anything and everything we needed.

steve, karen, mary and roy - teton national park, july 1971

my dad did all the driving while my mom navigated - back in the day when we had big paper maps of each state. and the three of us kids shared the back seat. I don't remember who sat where, but I'm guessing I had one of the window seats and my younger brother and sister fought for the other one :-).

we saw everything worth seeing in the northwest US and canada. the tetons were a relatively short drive from our home in casper and we visited there (and the bighorns) more than once. we saw some spectacularly beautiful country. and spent some wonderful time together as a family.

thank you, daddy, for giving me that time and those happy* memories!

*like I wrote in his card - time tends to fade the bad memories, and I know I didn't enjoy everything. days without showers. outhouses. bugs. dirt. not so much fun for this pre-teen. and maybe why I'm not a camper now. but those summer trips were a huge part of my childhood and I wouldn't have traded them for anything.