[jackandnancy]

Most of the time when one thinks about camping with family, they assume it is the kids. Although we have taken the kids and grandkids, most of the time it was my Mom and Dad. There are lots and lots of stories of camping with them and things that happened along the way. One of the times, we were in Denver for a ship's reunion for my Dad. He was a Pearl Harbor survivor on the USS Maryland when the harbor was attacked on Dec. 7th. His ship would hold reunions all over the country, so we got to see lots of things thanks to Dad. More stories on those adventures later. On this trip, Dad wanted to see some of the elk in the Rockies, so off we went. My brother from Calif. and his wife, my nephew, my brother from Alaska and the four of us all took off for the Rockies. It was a breathtaking experience and we ended up about 2 miles above sea level. :thumbup1: Dad got to see his elk and got to hear them bugle when they were on there way to the town of Estes Park, which we were told was a nightly trek for a large herd of elk. Dad had always had a problem with his nose bleeding and this time was no exception. When I say bleeding, it was actually hemmorahging! Off we went to the nearest hospital and got to see the doctor fairly soon. He ended up having his nose packed and I never thought so much packing could be pushed into someone's nose:rolling-eyes: Dad endured it all and felt really bad as he thought he had ruined the trip for us. Not so...all part of being a family. He ended up with another pad taped under his nose and had to attend the banquet with that thing under his nose. I took some photos of him with the family and was able to "erase" that from the photos with some of the tools available to enhance photos. It was another great reunion being there with all that living history with those Veterans and hearing the stories they told about that horrible day in their lives. The pride, humility and patriotism from those men during those reunions was almost tangible. Some of the places where these reunions were held were: San Diego, Jacksonville, Flor., Denver (twice), Kansas City, New Orleans, New London, CT., Bremerton, Wash., Valley Forge and many other places. We have many great stories from these trips and will be posting them later if anyone wants to hear them.

 

[grace]

I can't believe your Dad is a veteran of Pearl Harbor. I am a great fan of World War II. My grandpa served in the Army during World War II. He also told me stories about serving during that special time. It must be something to go to all of these reunions in all of these cities. World War II was a time when America was united against a common foe. The innocence was still here. That's why I admire these brave citizens and soldiers who stood together. It something that can never be repeated. I just got to meet a Tuskegee Airman yesterday. He was in our library. So, I love listening to the stories.

 

[jackandnancy]

response

Yes, it took him a long, long time to talk about it. His ship was on the inside of the USS Oklahoma. In the photos, if you see a ship with the keel facing up, my Dad's ship was behind it. I think everytime I see this photo or see something about the attack, my Dad was there living through this Hell. His ship helped to rescue some of the sailors on that ship. He had a bird's eye view of the USS Arizona when it blew up and sank. For the 25th anniversary of the attack, Mom, Dad and us four kids when to Hawaii for a reunion. What an emotional event that was. We went on the Arizona Memorial which spans the actual ship and you can see it through the water and the oil still bubbles to the surface. I still tear up when I think about being there. Very, very stirring. He was in the Navy for six years and his ship was hit by three kamikazies during that time, including the day of the attack. His ship was the first one hit. He served in the following battles: Phillipines, Kawajelan, Sirago Strait, Tarawa, Leyte and Leyte Gulf, Okinawa. He was a humble, quiet man and very rarily raised his voice to us kids. He never said a bad thing about anyone. He was interviewed lots and lots of times and was on TV, too. He died last year in April at 92 and I miss him terribly.:sad:

 

[grace]

Well I can definitely understand why you miss him so much. From the wonderful things you wrote about your Dad. We do miss the people in our lives who were so kind and made our lives heaven everyday we spent with them. Because the truth is usually you don't have anyone like that. Your Dad is one in a million for sure. Measuring yourself against that is futile. You always have many more times that you miss them.

 

[ctfortner]

We absolutely would like to hear them, the stories about your trips. And your right, we usually assume family camping is parents and youngins. We started out camping as kids with my parents, but as they have gotten older they dont care much for it anymore. My mom has to have all the amenities of a hotel now days. We did talk them into going with us once last year and they had a great time, I think they forgot just how fun it really is. My daughter spends a lot of time with both grandparents and I want them to go camping with us, as those are memories my daughter will never forget. Camping with mom and dad is fun, but add the grandparents in and its twice as good.

My dad was in vietnam, never saw any real combat though. Granddad and father in law were both in world war 2 as well.

 

[l2l]

We brought my mom for the most of our trips last year and she said it was the best summer she has ever had!

Camping is all about family and I plan on bringing her to more trips this year as well..

 

[cassiem]

My parents go with us at least a couple of times a year, and we love it. I wish they would go more, but I wont complain about what we do get

Its so nice being with them camping, because everything else at home (problems) tend to stay there and we can actually relax and not worry about thing for a couple of days.

 

[kiteri]

I wish that my children's grandparents would be more likely to camp with us.

I was looking through photo albums last month to pick pictures for a collage for a funeral, and there were these pictures of the grandparents, parents and children... All three generations... all together at Ocean City, MD for summer vacations.

I wish I could give that to my children, but I doubt I could convince the grandparents to go into the woods and "rough it" any easier than I could convince them to cut off a limb!!!! hehehehehe

 

[grace]

My children would love to have the grandparent's at camp too. Our grandparents live in other states so it would be impossible. But if they came for a visit I would love to go camping together. My Mom would probably go with me. My husband's parents would take them to the beach for fishing and shell hunting. We took long walks on the beach the last time we visited my in-laws. We also got on the ferry's going from one town to the other in our cars. They load about ten cars on the ferry. They cross the water with the ferry. We saw seagulls that flew next to us. It was beautiful weather with the sun shining on our faces. The blue waves crashed against the ferry boat.

 

[cricket2]

I always camped with my family growing up, and miss is alot. They still have a 5th wheel and camp often, but since I moved 8 hours away, we havent camped together in years. I dont regret moving away so much, but I do miss things like that.

 

[roadhouse]

jackandnancy, thank you for sharing those stories of your father. it was great to hear them, keep them coming.:thumbup1:

My mom lives in CO. She came to visit us last summer for a week so we took her camping. She camps a lot in CO with my aunt and uncle, so we didn't have to convince her to go. Now that we have the camper there is plenty of room for her to stay with us(kinda). It was great, and the kids loved having grandma around for the week.
I need to get my dad out sometime, but he works every weekend. Now my mother in law on the other hand....nice lady, but I wouldn't want to spend any time camping with her. Luckily my wife feels the same way:rotflmao1:

 

[grace]

Welcome to the forums Roadhouse!

I didn't officially welcome you to the site.:welcome: It's so nice to have another family added from Michigan. I am originally from MN and camped with my Dad every summer. We visited Wisconsin, North and South Dakota, and Canada. I haven't had the pleasure to camp in Michigan yet, but maybe I could in the future. I read what you said about camping with Grandma for a week. My mother-in-law wouldn't camp with us, either. But she's wonderful too visit. My Mom however goes all the time. She went with my brother and his family, to Wisconsin, and Turtle Lake, MN. This weekend she's going again to Wisconsin. She drives an older car there. It's been years since I've visited her.:comfort_: She lives in Hibbing, MN (1 hr. south of International Falls, MN).

 

[jimjmiii]

Camping with parents

Well my parents got me and my wife started camping. We started camping in a tent for about 7 years around ILL, IN and Minn. We up graded to a pop up ( 83 Coleman, That the parents found for us at a garage sale.) We used it for about 5 years. We just upgraded to a newer pop up (2001 Rockwood ) First time out with it will be next weekend. When we go camping the parents want to come with us and they are always welcome. My father is 80 and mom is 78 they use a 19 foot TT. If I wanted any to start me camping I am glad it was them. Thanks for readin this from a 20 yr. vet of the Air Force. Thanks to all the Vets in the US for serving for our country.

 

[ecc]

My dad actually got us back into camping several years ago, we camped with our boys some while they were young, but now they are grown and we enjoy taking the grandkids, in fact we are taking them this weekend and i'm asking my dad to come join us.
Had a funny experience with my oldest grandson when he was about 5, we hadn't been camping too much before this but we had an older pop-up, some friends had went camping with us and she asked him if he wanted some popcorn (she was going to make jiffy pop over the fire) and he made the comment we couldn't have popcorn so she said oh mommy don't let you have it, he said no its not that its we don't have a microwave, poor kid only thought popcorn came from a microwave, hehe. Oh course mawmaw & pawpaw had to get a microwave to put in the pup.

 

[antigua]

Wow! I really enjoyed reading everyone's posts. I have to admit, I only went camping once as a child with my dad to a place called Albion Hills in Bolton Ontario. That was my first and last camping trip as a kid. It wasen't till I was a teenager in college my girlfriwnd (now wife) started camping in a tent. We went maybe a total of 5 times and never went again until my daughter was about 3 and asked us to take here camping. (About 10 years later!!). That's when I bought my first pop-up. And the rest is history. My son has been camping sense he was a new born and he loves to be out doors. Do you know how hard it is to keep him inside the house?
Michelle on the other hand, she used to go to her grandparents trailer every year and camp with them all the time and she loved it. When Emily was 3 and wanted to go camping, guess who was the first to approve before I had a say.........SURPRISE SURPRISE, It wasn't me!!!!!! But I'm glad and I'm hooked. I'm glad I can provide my kids the memories of a lifetime and maybe they will take their kids and remeber all the good times they had.