Photo Sharing Theme of the Week: Vacation

+14 votes
1.1k views

This week's photo sharing theme: Vacation.

To participate, simply:

  1. Choose a family photo that fits this week's theme.
  2. Add it to this week's free-space gallery.
  3. Reply with an answer below to let us know which photo you're sharing. If you want to include the photo but don't know how, click here.

The photo you share might be featured on the WikiTree home page and in our social media channels as next week's Family History Photo of the Week.

If you use a social network (Facebook, Instagram, etc.) you might want to share your photo there as well. This can be a great way to involve more family members. Many people love seeing old family photos. Be sure to add #52weeksofphotos and #wikitree to your post.

Also see: Profile Accuracy Theme of the Week: Bridge.

in The Tree House by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.4m points)

23 Answers

+16 votes
 
Best answer

I have no vintage vacation pictures,My dad's idea of a vacation was "not going to work" and my wife's parents never left their farm for more than three days at a time. That said, I surprised my wife and children with a trip to the Grand Canyon for our 20th Wedding anniversary. Here are my two children (grown now). Two different personalities. One is reserved, the other craves attention. Can you guess which is which?

by Bryan Lawson G2G6 Mach 2 (21.3k points)
selected by Kimberly Ann Lindsay
Great photo, Bryan. Did you continue to take vacations after that trip? I want to know if your daughter is a famous model and if your son is a high power exec.
We still take vacations, although not so far. Being from the mountains of East Tennessee, we still go to the beaches: Myrtle Beach, SC, and Kure Beach, NC. although we're thinking of taking a trip to Yellowstone.

My son is a 1st Lieutenant in the Army Guard and a project manager for a military contractor in Knoxville, Tennessee. My daughter is a graduate teaching assistant in flute performance at the University of Wyoming in Laramie. So, yeah, Robin, one's an exec and one's a performer.
Wow! Perfect!
Go Big Orange!
You must be a proud Dad.
+17 votes

Margate was once Britain's most popular holiday destination for the working classes of London. And in Margate there was one photography company, more prestigious than all, Sunbeam Photo Ltd. This postcard (although nothing's written on the back) was taken in Margate by Sunbeam Photo and eventually found its way to myself. Although I don't know who these people are, I love everything about this photo, so many little things to look at and wonder about.

by David Smith G2G6 Mach 7 (76.9k points)
Any idea what year that was taken?

Well Bryan, I did some quick digging and Sunbeam have a well documented history so I have a date range of 1946-1953.

1946 is when they started printing numbers on the photos so you could get more (the 'v8627') and in 1953 they moved office from 82 Sweyn Road which is the address listed on the back of the photo.

I had previously thought it was taken earlier, in the war years but I guess I wasn't that far off.

Glad you could narrow down the year so quickly. I thought her dress might be from the late 40's, but his outfit looked more modern.You fielded that question so nicely, here's another: what flavor is their ice cream? Ha.
Hmmm... well it looks pretty white so I'm going to say vanilla. And, to be honest, I have no idea what other kind of flavours would have been offer since many of the ice cream flavours we have today didn't seem to reach the English market until the late 1950s.
I see why you like this photo, David. It is a relatively simple scene overall, but packed with fascinating and curious details!
+19 votes

This is a photo taken in 1959 of a vacation to California. From the left is my cousin Carolyn, my mother, my cousin Jeff and my maternal grandmother. It was a great trip, and Carolyn is holding the fox that she got at Disneyland. This is the first photo that I have shared that I actually took. It looks like I was trying to get the Pacific Ocean in the background.

by Alexis Nelson G2G6 Pilot (842k points)
Thank you Lloyd, likely Carolyn is not smiling since Jeff was grandma's favorite. She and I had a great relationship, and we were able to laugh about it as adults.

Thank you Gio for liking my photography.smiley

You have a good eye, Alexis!  Aside from the nice composition, you somehow captured expressions on everyone's faces that showed their personalities.  I always love the photos you share.
Thank you Betsy for your sweet comment.
Alexis,  The watchful eye, of your grandmother, Nellie, caught my attention and upon looking further discovered she had gone to normal school and become a teacher, like my mother. The words 'normal school' that I would hear, starting as a child of four, for the next five summers, puzzled me as to their meaning......now I understand that she was increasing her teacher's certificates each summer at normal school.....a term that had been dormant in my mind for some 70 years.
Thank you Alexis for sharing this wonderful photo of your wonderful family, your mother are beautiful and you look like her

I am always looking forward to seeing your photos
Hi John, i do think that your mother had more education than my grandmother Nellie. Living out in Oklahoma at the tIme Nellie did, someone was allowed to go to Normal School after the eight grade, and that is what Nellie did. There are good school records, and something that is interesting about Oklahoma—it looks like many students stayed in their one or two room “school house” until they were nineteen or twenty, so I would be interested to know what they were studying.
Thank you Susan, this was a good holiday trip, and I remember it well.
Alexis,  My first year and a half were in a one room school with my mother as teacher......she instructed me to call her Mrs. Thompson.....I must have done it well, as I remember one student telling me at the end of grade two, "I didn't know she was your mother".
John, your mother had to have been a very wise lady, and you were wise to listen to her.
+14 votes

My great uncle, Dale Omelia Allison (19003-1978), and his wife, Suzanne "Susie" Lee-Allison (1906-2000), spent their later years on what some in the family called a constant "Vacation"!

Just before they retired they ventured into the vacation business.  They bought a motel in Palm Beach, Florida.  Then they bought another motel in Estes Park, Colorado.

So, they spent their winters in Florida and Summers in Colorado.  Two of the greatest vacation locations in the USA.

Below are photos taken at both locations

by Bill Sims G2G6 Pilot (126k points)
edited by Bill Sims
I like that, a "permanent vacation." But I can barely afford one room in one motel much less in two locations. I guess they put a lot of miles on that '53 Chevrolet.
Yeah, I understand ... and they forgot me in their Wills....
My husband and I like the idea of permanent vacation. This is why we moved to Maui, Hawai'i, USA.
+21 votes

Rose anf Frank on holidayThis is a photo taken in 1955 in Lancashire, England of my mum and dad on holiday six months before I was born. When I arrived, my dad converted that sidecar to take my carrycot. 

by Gillian Loake G2G6 Mach 5 (59.0k points)
Looks like fun. Did you get to ride in the sidecar when you were older?
What a great way to travel! This is a wonderful photo -- looks so fun. Thank you for sharing it.
Gillian, in April 1953 my mum was very pregnant with my older brother, and my dad was the medical officer at an RAF base. She rode pillion on my dad's motorbike, the commander's wife got quite upset and suggested a sidecar would be more appropriate.

I'm not at all sure that getting into a sidecar at 7+ months pregnant would have been possible.
I did Bryan, I remember being shoehorned into a sidecar with my mother and younger sister.
+17 votes

My son sent me this picture from a vacation in Florida.

by Joyce Vander Bogart G2G6 Pilot (198k points)
Let's go!

That is awesome! wink

This made me laugh, Joyce!
Off to university in the city of Vancouver, Joyce, and my mother warned me to be careful.......downtown, late after the theatres were out, we raced a block to the all night 'Sportsman Restaurant'.......I took a short cut down an alley and my mother's warning briefly crossed my mind......it was then I realized we were who she was warning me about......
+16 votes

These gangsters had to getaway and hideout in the Dells. It was a wild ride in the 80's for sure. 

by Deborah Campbell G2G6 Mach 3 (32.6k points)
edited by Deborah Campbell
Thank you Deborah for sharing such a fun time photo.
We need a getaway car......no, maybe a boat in the Dells...... did I get that right?.....Deborah.....
+18 votes

I've always loved this photo- while growing up, my parents made a point of taking me on the ferry relatively regularly, & I fondly remember waiting in the long line of cars to board one. By possible coincidence, one of my favourite songs has the line "waiting for the ferry" in its chorus.

Anyway, this is my great-grandmother, Margaret Monroe Koehnline, waiting for the ferry. We're not sure of the location, but I'm guessing this was taken late-'40s or early '50s; she died in '54.

by Thomas Koehnline G2G6 Pilot (102k points)
Great shot, Thomas.  The cars all look like our 1949 Meteor.  I loved ferries too as a child and loved crossing Lake Champlain as an adult. Your great-grandmother looks so relaxed.  Sometimes I feel we've lost the art of waiting patiently.
Oh wow! Happy, happy, joy, joy! That's a picture of old car heaven. I don't see a single vehicle newer than 1952. Whenever we go to Cure Beach, NC, we take the ferry over to Southport. Thanks for sharing.
+18 votes

Though not a very good photo, this is my husband and his family camping at San Elijo Beach in San Diego County, California in 1958.

With seven children and a 1954 Ford station wagon, you can imagine the feat it was to get everyone and everything to the beach. They were camping on a cliff overlooking the Pacific Ocean. They all had a wonderful time.

by Robin Shaules G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
Robin this looks like the most fun ever, camping and the beach how fabulous. Thank you for sharing another great photo.
How fun! I'd love to see the car.

Well, Bryan, I just learned it was worse than I thought... it wasn't a station wagon and it wasn't a '54. It was a '49 2-door Ford. Here's a photo. 

They pulled a trailer for their stuff, but they still had 7 kids. The '54 came later. Oh, how things have changed!

Robin, did you post the second picture to 52_weeks? apparently since it's in your living Profile, it can't be displayed.
Bryan, does the car show now?
Yes, there car shows now, but it's hidden behind a bunch of kids(◔‿◔)
Bryan, do you remember when the college kids tried to see how many guys they could fit into a phone booth? These kids must have been doing that with this car.
Robin,  My wife, Kathy, tells me about travelling in the back window of her father's '54 Ford.....as that is where she fit.
Oh, the things we did in that bygone era... I wonder how we all lived so long.
Thank you Robin for sharing this wonderful photo with your husband on camping, what an awesome photo

Everyone look amazing and like they have fun

Thank you for sharing
Thank you, Susan, for your always kind comments!
+14 votes

Photo taken 26 July 1928 by my great-grandfather Jack Hammell, of their campsite at Lost Creek Campground (now known as Limberlost), near the McKenzie River east of Eugene, Oregon. The woman on the left is his wife Sarah. The couple on the right are "Mr & Mrs Hall," presumably friends of the Hammells. I like this photo for the glimpse it provides of what camping was like in the late 1920s in the forests of western Oregon.

It's difficult to make out the details in this 500 pixel wide image. Higher resolution is here, if you're interested.

by Lloyd Wright G2G6 Mach 3 (32.6k points)
edited by Lloyd Wright
Lloyd, Thanks for the post. Again, I'm loving the old cars. I find it funny that the Mrs.brought a broom... to sweep the dirt? And it looks like laundry folded on the running board.They've put a tent over top the one car, and I'm not sure the point of the branches tied together like a teepee at the right. But yeah, lots of detail.
Thank you for the comments, Bryan. All good questions, which I wonder about myself.
The photo captures the moment, Lloyd, and I see what appears to be a Packard Twin Six automobile on the right.
+13 votes

At the beach summer 1957. 

This photo is my dad, and the three oldest kids (of 7 kids) of the family,  myself, my sister, my brother and my granny, I am the child on the left, then my sister born 1956, and my older brother born 1953, there is less than 3 years between us. My dad was probably looking after the three of us with the help of his mother while my mother had a few minutes to herself, I think my grandpa took this picture. 

I'm not sure where this photo was taken, perhaps at Dawlish on the south Devon coast, England. I know we went on holiday there several times when I was quite young. I do remember vividly my brother deciding to climb the tall dresser in the bedroom in the hotel we stayed at, he used the drawers as a ladder. And of course the dresser fell over, the mirror smashed and we were in big trouble. It wasn't the first time the 3 of us were in BIG trouble and it certainly wasn't the last time. 

500px-Ross-19808-2.jpg

by M Ross G2G6 Pilot (708k points)

he just caught you and holds you tight to avoid more trouble .. smiley

+13 votes

This is a Photo of my mother ,  Shirley Ann Williams Isleman and me , we went to a family reunion, in Wooster , Ohio, USA of my father's family , he had passed away a few years before , my mother was a cancer survivor , but still worked , and went places she did not let it slow her down , my son and my oldest daughter's son went with us , she passed away in 2011, the pic was taken around 2006 or so , we had stopped at Buckeye Lake in Ohio is where this pic was taken 

by Janine Isleman G2G6 Pilot (102k points)
Thank you Janine for sharing such a wonderful photo. Glad you have such a great memory of your mother and having fun together.
+12 votes

My mother has a special place in her heart for the West Indies.  She first visited the Virgin Islands with her father and loved it so much that she returned to live there for a time as a young woman.  This was our first family vacation which I do not remember AT ALL.  However, this is one of my favorite photos of me with my father.  Every time I see or hear steel pan drums, I think of the Virgin Islands and my mother's special history with St Thomas.

by Betsy Ko G2G6 Pilot (136k points)
Thank you Betsy for sharing such a lovely photo. Your father is very handsome, and you are so tiny and precious. I also love steel drums and the Virgin Islands.
Hi Alexis--I appreciate your kind words.  Also, what a lovely surprise to see the Community Star badge appear on my profile.  Thank you so much for that!!
I see you had your hair cut since we saw you in the "Hair Styles" picture. And a sweet little dress. Mom must have been very happy with her nicely dressed hubby and daughter.
+11 votes
by Jeffrey Swett G2G2 (2.3k points)
The seaweed and smile are proof positive that you have been swimming with a mermaid ;-).
You could have used this in the "Hair Styles" photo question. It's hilarious. Thanks for sharing.
+10 votes

Here is a pic of my dad and brother (both now deceased) on a holiday in Daytona Beach in June 1958. I remember staying at the Floritona Hotel and we went back about 20 years later and tried to recreate the pic. 

by Fiona Turnbull G2G3 (3.8k points)

You can see a full pic of the hotel in this 1962 postcard and the spot where they are sitting 

Fiona thank you for sharing such a fabulous beach photo, your dad looks like a great fun fellow. Sorry that your brother is also deceased. Glad you have such a great memory of a fun time.
+11 votes

Every year, the descendants of James Ross Bird

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Bird-7184

would travel from New York to Island Heights, New Jersey, USA, where James had a summer home on the seashore. Here is a picture, taken in 1926, of two of James' grandsons, Hildreth Smith (seated) a U.S. Navy Veteran

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-178806

and his older brother, Vincent Smith

https://www.wikitree.com/wiki/Smith-178803

with their boat at Island Heights.

by Marion Ceruti G2G6 Pilot (351k points)
Thank you Marion for sharing such a wonderfully clear photo of such a beautiful place. I have never been to Island Heights, and this photo makes me want to go there.
You are most welcome, Alexis. Island Heights really is a beautiful place in the summer time and I recommend it.
+8 votes

My Mother Viola Darden Tschann Lawrence and myself on a small boat in the Pacific, probably off Catalina Island. It's 1947 and my mother is pregnant with my sister who was born in January of 1948. I love seeing the joy on my mother's face!

by Terry Skelton G2G2 (2.8k points)
Terry thank you for sharing such a fun photo. Your mother certainly has a beautiful smile, and you are precious.
+7 votes

I will be working on Henry Raymond Shockey (Shockey-823), 1915-1969, this week. This photo is him and his family packing up to go on a family vacation. I did see that someone had titled the photo "happy trails". 

by Stacie Briggs G2G6 Mach 2 (29.8k points)
Thank you Stacie for sharing such a great vacation photo. I love the daughter is taking her doll with a bonnet. Lovely Family!
+5 votes

Our family has a "tradition" of taking a last picture of a vacation by the car when leaving. This can often be the only picture from a whole visit - taken after a desperate search for a camera (and film, back in the day). This is my mother's family on a visit to her aunt and uncle in Pennsylvania or Michigan in the late 1930's. Mom does not look particularly excited at the process.

Traditional end of visit family picture by the car

by s Davenport G2G6 Mach 6 (65.9k points)
edited by s Davenport
Thank you s Davenport for a great memory—yes, looking for the camera and film, seems like back in the day we were always looking for something! Great Family Vacation Photo!
+6 votes

This is a photo of my great grandma as her family went through Yellowstone in 1928. I'm lucky enough to have come across some of the photos from their trip, and I have a journal written by her father (my great great grandfather) about their trip as well. 

by Anonymous McAtee G2G1 (1.0k points)
Thank you for sharing this photo. Its composition is wonderful, with the trees and car framing the subject. Your great-grandmother looks very 1920s, and highly self-assured!
Thanks! Digging into genealogy stuff has prompted me to find out so much more about her, and she's such a stronger woman in my mind because of it all!  Both her father and her grandfather were into photography and I'm happy to have found a way on WikiTree to start sharing their photos.
Sharing photos is my favorite part of Wikitree, too.

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