Page 4 June 8, 2017 TORRANCE TRIBUNE TerriAnn in Torrance Summer Vacation Memories By TerriAnn Ferren The 2017 summer solstice, the day with the most sunlight in a year, occurs on June 21. However, many believe summer begins in Southern California as soon as school lets out. With the Memorial Day holiday marking the unofficial barbecue months for the rest of the country, we here in Torrance look for other markers. School is out and vacations are on our minds. What is your most memorable summer vacation? Although it is difficult for me as I narrow down my choices, I think I have two. Summer vacations at Clear Lake in Northern California every summer with my family, including aunts and uncles, are right at the top of my list. Even when I was a teenager, we headed to the water. Up at Crestline, I remember days along Lake Gregory and Lake Arrowhead enjoying the water and even taking out a rowboat; and in the evenings there were dances at Club San Moritz, or bowling in town. The entire area of Lake Gregory and Lake Arrowhead was crawling with teenagers, or at least that is how I saw it at the time. As time went by and I grew up, my favorite vacations got bigger. My husband and I were fortunate enough to explore Europe a couple of times, but the ones taken with our son Christopher eclipsed even those. Adventures with family always rank high on my list. My sister Linda’s favorite trip was when we traveled in our red Oldsmobile F85 station wagon and visited Carlsbad Caverns. Actually I loved that trip also, but remember the park ranger at Carlsbad Caverns warned us about bats flying out of the cave that might get caught in our hair! Maybe that was meant to be a joke, but to me it was frightening. Torrance resident Cindy Scotto told me her favorite summer vacations were always with family and friends also. “We would make our annual trek to Lake Powell with ski boats in tow to spend seven days on a houseboat away from everything normal,” said Cindy. “No TV, no newspapers, and no cellphones. They weren’t around when we first went in 1982. We did take lots of board games, and plenty of food. The beauty of the houseboat vacation is it’s a 24-hour-a-day adventure. We lived in swimsuits and t-shirts. Our biggest trip was with 40 people! We always had a blast!” Our resident Torrance Dodger baseball expert Carolyn Weyant told me one of her favorite vacations was “…during the summer of 1977 when my then-husband Jim [a Torrance Police Lieutenant] was invited to attend a three-month training session at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Virginia. When the class was over, his boys--Jeff, Joel--and I flew to Virginia to attend Jim’s graduation, after which we spent several weeks visiting friends and relatives across the country on our way back to Torrance.” But the best part of that trip, since they were all Dodger fans, was stopping off at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York. “I felt like a little kid at Disneyland for the first time,” remembers Carolyn. “I hope to revisit the HOF because since our last visit, Vin Scully was inducted as well as the females in the professional baseball league during WWII which inspired the film A League of Their Own.” Martha Bauman’s memories are more of a favorite stay-cation in good ‘ole Torrance. “My favorite summer was when I had turned 21,” she said. “It was 1974 and I was taking summer school classes at El Camino from 8 a.m. to noon. Then I’d hit the beach from 1 Packed for adventure? p.m. to 4 p.m., then I worked at Ohrbach’s [a department store no longer in Torrance] from 5:30 p.m. to 9 p.m. and then Beachbum Burt’s [a restaurant no longer in Redondo Beach near the marina] until midnight listening to the fantastic John Brown Band. This didn’t happen every night ‘cuz I did have to squeak in studies. But it was my favorite summer.” All that reminiscing made me hungry for the shrimp that Beachbum Burt’s, owned by Burt Hixson, used to serve. By the way, Cheesecake Factory sits on the site of the former Hawaiian tiki-ish restaurant. Sherrlyn told me her family would go camping, “My dad had taken out the backseat of our car to make room for all the camping equipment,” she said. “We only had a tent--no fancy RV in those days. My sister and I sat on top of it all with no seat belts, of course. I don’t know exactly where we went, but I knew it was the last of the trips taken with my whole family before my parents divorced. I must have been eight years old. Then we just took trips separately.” As an adult, Sherrlyn told me, “I recall feeling so happy when we took an Alaskan cruise after our son Thomas came home safe from the Army. That was before the boys were married. Life is so different now. Meals are such a good time to visit all around the table. It has dawned on me how similar the boys are as brothers, but different as they grow into men. I feel like my work as teacher is done.” Marla Hastings grew up in Torrance and told me, “Grandma Bradley’s cabin was our vacation destination throughout my childhood. Grandma Bradley, Aunt Bobbie, my mom, Mindy, Barb and I would drive up to the old Bradley cabin in the San Bernardino mountains and spend a precious week together. We would go to Crestline Lake during the day and return for reading comic books, coloring and cards at night. The adults would have their drink on the porch before dinner was cooked. We all ate at the old picnic table inside together. We fed squirrels on the porch in the morning- -peanuts thrown by hand. Grandma cooked breakfast on the old stove. We bathed in an old tin shower. Mindy, Barb and I climbed the ladder stairs to beds upstairs at night. We could look downstairs to the old bear rug over the fireplace.” As an adult, Marla told me of the time she and her late husband Will celebrated his 60th birthday in Italy. “We went hut to hut hiking in the Dolomites, saw Venice, stayed in an Agro-tourist B & B where we got to pick food from their garden and cook in our little kitchen. We wine tasted and learned how to make pasta from scratch. It was a wonderful time together and truly magical to see the delight in Will’s eyes in seeing and experiencing all this for the first time.” Vickie Vega told me she loved camping and fishing with her family in the western United States as a child--but as an adult, her favorite summer was when she went with her parents as on a three-week tour through Europe. “It was a fabulous trip together. Lots of laughs, and a trip we have talked about for years. We had one evening at the Moulin Rouge where the dancers pulled me on stage to dance, gambling at the Monte Carlo Casino, and walking the streets of Sorrento and Capri,” said Vickie. Wow, I see why that is her favorite trip! Torrance resident Debbie Hays ranks Palm Springs as a vacation to remember and high on her list. When Debbie was 15, she traveled to Palm Springs with her best friend Dawn. They stayed at Dawn’s grandparents’ house, which was located on Avenida Caballeros near a popular mall on Palm Canyon Drive. Dawn’s grandparents readied their home for the “girls” by making sure the pool was ready, complete with music piped outside, along with inflated swim rafts. Grandma also made the girls homemade beans (their favorite meal). “Since Dawn and I are both left-handed, her grandma felt we were klutzy, so we were not allowed to help with the housework whatsoever. And since we were not of driving age, they chauffeured us all over town,” said Debbie. They traveled to numerous shopping centers and stores and even rang Elvis’ doorbell, but his bodyguards told them he was “sleeping.” Debbie remembers raiding Dawn’s grandmother’s closet that was filled with ‘40s era dresses, and were gifted with the ones they wanted. “The only caveat was we had to play gin rummy for dimes with her grandma,” added Debbie. Not a bad payout for all those memories! What was your most enjoyable summer vacation? You might be like me --having favorites when you were younger, and additional ones as you matured. Whatever comes to mind, I find the warmth of the sun along Torrance Beach helps me conjure up memories of vacations past and future summer adventures to come. What about you? • Free Digital Delivery Herald Publications is now offering to send you a link to your favorite community newspaper every Thursday morning! The emails will also include a list of upcoming local events. Just email us at: dd@heraldpublications.com and tell us which local community newspaper you’d like. Simple as that and free!!! alone aloI linve e FREE Saving a life from a potential catastrophe EVERY 10 MINUTES! but I’’I’m m never alone. I have Life Alert.® One touch of a button sends help fast, 24/7, can’t • medical • fall • fi re • invasion • CO gas emergencies. For a FREE brochure call: Medical Alert Medical Alert Industry Leader Industry Leader Since 1987 Since 1987 No landline? No problem! SHIPPING! I live even when you can’’t reach a phone for: AS SEEN ON TV 1-855-980-5453 Biking in the woods.
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