August 1, 2023
PUBLISHER’S CORNER
My Memories of August Vacations
By Eloise Graham
My dad got two weeks’ vacation time in August. The usual vacation would be going from our hometown in East Central Kansas to my Aunt Margaret and Uncle Gus’s place in Central Illinois. Aunt Margaret was my mom’s sister. This trek had probably been the routine for five or so years before I was born and was still the norm in my early years, and was the norm for many years after. However, when I was four, they mixed things up.
We loaded into our car, a 1939 Plymouth I believe. There were five of us; my mom, my dad, my sister, my brother, who were both teenagers, and myself. We set out for Pike’s Peak area where we were going to meet up with Aunt Margaret and Uncle Gus. A few happenings got buried deep in my psyche.
Memory number one. We drove up a hilly road and parked in a huge parking lot. The lot had a slight slope to it and a guard rail all around. My brother, who loved to tease me, took me to the edge and asked if I wanted to jump off. Or maybe he threatened to toss me off, I don’t know, I just know I didn’t like that parking lot. Suddenly that slight slope seemed very steep. I knew I was going to slide down and slip through the guard rail.
Memory number two. This was a beautiful sight; sheer mountain walls, lush greenery, exquisite waterfalls and lots of wooden steps near the falls. There were lights shining on the water as it cascaded down the mountains.
We will come back to these memories later. For now we will proceed with the vacation.
I have vague memories of picnics in the woods, campfires and family time. After a few days, Aunt Margaret and Uncle Gus headed back to Illinois and we proceeded on to Yellowstone. There we would meet up with some cousins of my dad’s, Doc and Mrs. Kieruf. We had rustic cabins where we stayed while in Yellowstone. We saw Old Faithful and a lot of other scenery. This was a lot for a four year old to take in.
But it was at the cabins that I had the most vivid memory. Our cabin was on one side of the dirt road and Doc and Mrs. Kieruf’s was directly across from us. There were probably five or six cabins on each side of the road. At the end of the road there were big garbage cans.
One afternoon, my dad was going to visit the Kierufs. I decided to tag along. We crossed the dirt road and climbed the three or four steps up the stoop to the cabin door. We entered and the visiting began. I became bored with the conversation and decided to go back across the road to our cabin. At the same time three bears decided to check out the garbage cans. Someone was down there beating the cans with a stick to scare the bears away. It worked. They came running up the road as I was going down the steps of the stoop. I was certain they were coming after me. I tried to scream but no sound came out. I tried to run but my legs only moved in place.
Later I learned that my brother was watching it all, and laughing, from the cabin window. He said I looked like one of those cartoon characters whose legs were moving a mile a minute but were not going anywhere. He could tell I was not in danger, the bears were running away not towards me. Be he still got a lecture from mom.
Now back to my memories I mentioned earlier. I often had nightmares about a slanted parking lot, sliding down it, over the edge and into… well, I always woke up. I would question my mom about it. I was sure I had been someplace like that, she told me we hadn’t been. I would also have dreams with that beautiful waterfall, and again, I was sure I had been there but she didn’t seem to think so.
Well, fast forward to my honeymoon. Jim and I went to Colorado Springs. We decided to go up to Pike’s Peak. We drove up to the 1/2 place. From there you would get a tram to take you the rest of the way up. As we parked the car and got out I knew instantly that I had been there before. Yes, the parking lot did have a slight slope to it, but it was not like a slipper-slide. And those beautiful waterfalls, they turned out to be Seven Falls. My memories fell into place.
