Wagons in vintage Street scenes

7/66
Wreck of the S.A. Seafarer by HiltonT, on Flickr

 

Great photo! I especially like the old Vdub's

 

I do too. I had 12 Beetles including 1 baja bug, a 2 door truck, a 4 door truck, and a Type 3 fastback.

Cars with fins, parking lot at Knott's Berry Farm, 1960 by lreed76, on Flickr

 

Kind of unusual that the 3 of the 5 closest vehicles to the camera are all '59 Plymouths.....

 

8/57

Family returning from a canoe trip. by The Forest History Society, on Flickr

 

7/5/60

Family camping at Franklin Lake. by The Forest History Society, on Flickr

 

7/1/66

Family asking ranger for directions. by The Forest History Society, on Flickr

 

Former Great Northern Depot, Fargo, North Dakota by R R Horne, on Flickr

 

Ramada Inn - Houston, Texas by The Pie Shops Collection, on Flickr

 

Except for the cars and the people, this looks pretty close to they way out campsite looked when our family first got into camping in 1960 or so. Canvas tent - check. Canvas tarps set up all over the place as privacy screens and windbreaks - check. Coleman stove - check.

I remember so many support ropes strung out for the tent and tarps that you were constantly tripping over them. We did camping for a few years - first year at Clear Lake in northern California, with some No Cal extended family, then at Bass Lake near the west entrance to Yosemite. After my mom passed away and dad remarried in 1964, my step-mom didn't accept camping conditions too well. After that, vacations changed to staying at a motel / lodge up at Lake Arrowhead. Did that all through my teen years.

One episode I do remember from the Lake Arrowhead vacations.... at the age of 14, I went down to the docks and rented a small (10 horse) aluminum motorboat and went out on the lake - by myself. Folks were pretty shocked that I was able to do that without their permission.....

 

I've fallen over so many tent stakes and ropes my legs and knees are permanently scarred! Miss the fun times of primitive camping. This thing people do today in 50' motorhomes and 5th wheel RV's with satellite, internet, cell phones, etc is not camping.

That kid's too close to the fire. The axe is dangerous. You're not allowed to pcik up fire wood. Get those ropes off the trees, Watch out for that hot pot. You're only allowed one vehicle per campsite. Hold the noise down.

 

Yeah. Imagine my surprise when the last time I went camping, there were about a dozen RVs, and each one had a gennie, antenna, huge flatscreen TVs, blenders, popcorn poppers and not a live fire in sight. BTW, this kind of high-priced lunacy is called "Glamping" (Glamour camping).

 

1973
img164 - A by epicharmus, on Flickr