Week 20: #52 Ancestors – Travel
By Eilene Lyon
My grandparents, Laurence and Clare Smith, traveled to visit my family wherever my dad happened to be stationed. And when Laurence retired from his job with the Army Corps of Engineers in Little Rock, Arkansas, they bought an Avion trailer, moved “home” to Portland, Oregon, and became snowbirds. They always pulled the trailer with a car, generally a Buick.
Usually they took the trailer to California and Arizona, but they also explored the northwest, on up into Canada. They traveled more widely, too, leaving the trailer at home. Wherever they roamed, they sent postcards. I thought I’d share some of them.
In 1974 they took a couple trips to British Columbia and Alberta, Canada.
These are from various trips to California and Arizona. The first one cracks me up. I remember when they were die-hard Lawrence Welk watchers.
In 1980, just a few months after they watched Mount St. Helens erupt, they went on a cruise/bus tour of Alaska.
They made a visit to Orlando, Florida, in 1986 and sent this card from Epcot.
Feature image: “Springtime in the Valley of the Sun” a postcard sent by my grandparents from Arizona in 1976.
Myricopia 
Oh, these are wonderful!! I’d forgotten what an important part of traveling those postcards back home used to be. Many fond memories prompted by this post!
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I used to have a rather impressive collection from friends and family. It was neat to “see the world” through postcards.
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It was always such fun to see a postcard in the family mailbox.
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I do miss getting personal mail. I used to write lots of letters.
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I was an avid letter writer as well. I remember when I was growing up, my mother and her mother exchanged letters with each other once a week.
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Wonderful, Wonderful…I had to laugh, I watched The Lawrence Welk show every Sunday with my mother, one of her favourites! This is such a treasure to have. It must have been fun putting this post together! People rarely send post cards anymore. I’m being nostalgic, but I used to love getting them, even when they arrived after the person was home!
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It was tough to leave out so many of them. Wasn’t sure people would enjoy this or not. Glad it provoked good memories for you.
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It did, my Mum and I also did the cruise to Alaska.
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I’ve been to Alaska, but I’d really like to do the cruise and see the southern areas.
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The scenery is amazing!
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No doubt!
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When I was a kid I would mail postcards to myself when we traveled. No idea what happened to them, but I really liked them.
I like the oxymoron in the LW post card, “luxury mobile home village”
Adios, Au Revoir, Auf Wiedersehen —good night!
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Glad you caught that – I thought it especially hilarious. I bought a lot of postcards, but kept them, not mailing them. I think most have been ditched. My aunt puts them in albums along with the pictures she took.
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Before Instagram, there were postcards.
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I like the tangibility of postcards. Who’s going to have an instagram post 30 years from now?
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Amen
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They certainly got around, good for them! Beats sitting at home and growing old. I used to collect postcards, both ones I was sent and much greater numbers of ones I bought myself. They all went in a clear out some years ago.
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I think I disposed of nearly all mine that weren’t actual correspondence. Might be a few here and there.
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I love old postcards and have many in my collection. One hundred years ago it was popular to take a photo and have it made into a post card to send to friends. My favorite is inscribed simply, “Hey you kind!”
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I have scans of many of those old family photos made into post cards. Most of them were never actually mailed.
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I send postcards to my grandchildren when we travel. They love to check the letterbox each day. I haven’t sent any this year for obvious reasons. Maybe I should send some from home.
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From anywhere – They are always appreciated!
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How wonderful! I’m glad some people still do that. I’ll bet they’d like getting them no matter if you are at home.
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You’re so fortunate to have these—more for the personal messages than the postcards themselves, of course. I was most struck by how different the Vancouver skyline looks from what we saw when we were there just a few years ago.
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What a fun trip down memory lane. Laurence Welk! I hadn’t thought of that guy in years. Epcot certainly has changed from the photo in the postcard.
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I wonder if LW’s luxury mobile homes are still there…🤔😆
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I miss postcards! These are lovely and your feature photo reminded me of home (AZ will always be home for me).
Champagne bubble chandeliers? That must have been something!
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I’ll bet there are times of the year you really miss Arizona! Maybe not July, if you lived in the southern part.😉
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I don’t miss May – September. I lived in Phoenix and pretty much that whole period would be <100 temps. 🔥
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This post was so fun to read! (You can tell I’m catching up!) I’ve stayed at the Lawrence Welk resort in Escondido (the in-laws had a timeshare there). I loved reading through all the post cards. What a fun treasure.
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Sorry not to reply sooner – found this in spam for some reason. I liked doing this post and could have added so many more, but had to draw the line somewhere!
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