Vacations

The earliest I remember is going to the Stanford camp by Lake Tahoe. There was a scare one night when a bat was flying around.
Our first summer in Newport Rhode Island was in 1965 (I think). Pop was invited to spend a month at the Naval War College in Newport. The Navy rented a fantastic (though small) apartment in an old mansion called The Waves. It was out on a peninsula and had its own little cove to swim in. There were acres and acres of grass to run around on. The apartment was a straight through where you had to walk through each room to get to the next one. While in Newport we went to a lot of museums. After our month in Newport we drove up to Boston and New York City. In New York City we made our parents mad because instead of wanting to go look at a lot of interesting stuff we just wanted to swim in the pool. We did go to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building and the United Nations. In Boston we did the Freedom trail.

For the second summer in Newport we had an extra apartment down in the basement. That summer instead of going to NYC/Boston we had the trip from Hell. We drove to Nova Scotia. The reason it was so bad is that it got off to a bad start. We took a car ferry from Bar Harbor Maine named the Blue Nose. We acted like we were going on a cruise ship. After we boarded the ship we got to eat anything we wanted, which for some of us included greasy donuts. It turned out to be the “worse” crossing so far that year. All of us children got very sick. For the rest of the trip every time we came to a ferryboat crossing, and there were many, we begged to find a bridge to cross instead of going on a ferry. Nova Scotia did not have nearly the same amount of fun things to do as the previous summer; it was a long boring drive.

The third summer that Pop was working for the government was spent in Newport Beach, California. I think that Roy didn’t go with us, instead going to spend some time with Auntie Gladys and Uncle Paul. We had a nice house on an inlet where we could sail. We got to visit with Mom’s family.

Several times during my childhood the family spent time at the Tree Farm. The Tree Farm was a large piece of land that Grandpa Roy (Senior) bought in the 1920’s after it had burned. I think originally there were over 400 acres. There is a very old cabin on the property and at some point Aunty Gladys and Uncle Paul also built a cabin. There was running water and in later years a flush toilet was installed when it became hard for Grandma Vi to get around. It was wonderful to spend time at the Tree Farm. For the kids it was very relaxing, though I know it was a lot of work for the adults since all the cooking was done on a wood-burning stove. Most of the time we hiked around, read or played cards. There was also a swimming hole to visit. Another favorite past time was shooting at tin cans. A couple times it was a real reunion because all of the Hendricks came to stay. On the way to and from the Tree Farm we had several great vacations stopping at Big Sur and San Francisco.

When Joanne and I were fifteen we went to Europe with Aunty Gladys and Uncle Paul. We were gone for about a month. Uncle Paul had a brother named Norm who let us use his old VW camper bus. We went to a few famous places (Florence and Rome) but mainly we stuck to the back roads of Switzerland, viewing scenery, hiking, and camping. It was a terrific trip.

Starting at the age of sixteen Roy, Joanne and I all participated in Amigos de las Americas. This was a medical program that sent students (mainly high school) to Central and South America. During the year we would meet every week to learn culture, Spanish and medical procedures. The rest of the time we did lots of fundraising. It cost about $800/student to run the program. The volunteers were sent with 1-2 other students to a village to run a medical program. Most of the time in was mainly giving vaccinations. I went to Guatemala in 1972, Nicaragua in 1973 and back to Guatemala in 1974 when I was on the staff for Amigos. We all loved this program because it really enabled young adults to do something significant. High school and college age students ran the whole program in Central and South America.