Vacations, part 4

There was one vacation I remember fondly. The year I graduated from High School, 1969, my Dad actually asked me what I wanted to do for vacation that year. I was stunned! I could choose where we went and what we did! I chose San Francisco and I wanted to stay in a hotel, not a motel and certainly not in the camper! I asked if my nephew Dale could come along as a companion and he did. Let’s see, if I was 17 then he must have been 11. He was more like a little brother as they lived next door and was just a great friend. So off to San Francisco we went. I really don’t remember much about San Francisco for some reason, but I do remember stopping in Sunnyvale to see my favorite teacher, Mrs. Varnum who had recently moved to the area. She was my homemaking teacher and was proud to see that I was wearing a dress that I had made! It was a lavender gingham sundress. All I remember about that dress was that I couldn’t get my bra not to show! It was good to see her and I knew I would probably never see her again and that made me sad.
Our next stop was the Winchester Mystery Mansion in San Jose. It was absolutely fascinating! I’ll never forget that tour and the odd things Mrs. Winchester did to keep the ‘spirits’ happy. If you ever get the chance to see it, it is well worth the detour from where ever you are headed. We took the tour again just last year, and I could have given the schpeel right along with our tour guide, as I remembered it as if we were just there the week before! Those two things are the only memories I have of that vacation to San Francisco. OH! One more thing.... We did, in fact, stay in hotels, but we had to make the bed and clean the bathroom! Mamma told him that the maid would have to change the sheets and clean the toilet herself, but he would have none of it! I remember him saying to Mamma, ‘Why, Dolly, we’ve only slept on them once, there’s no reason to put clean sheets on our beds!’. She would just bite her bottom lip in disgust and shake her head and give that bed hospital corners! It was my job to fold the wet towels and Dale folded the washcloths. OH!OH! OH! You’ll love this! My ex-mother in law was even worse with this one! After I was married, we would rent a beach house at Seal Beach for a week in the summer. She was a neat freak! The day we were to pack up and leave, we had to clean the apartment. Now, I know everyone does this as you pay a cleaning fee that is refundable if the place is left as you found it. That makes perfect sense! But...she made us wash the walls in the kitchen and bathrooms! WASH THE WALLS!!!! Man, Daddy never even thought of that!
I think that trip to San Francisco was the last vacation I went on with Daddy and Mamma. After that is when they started going around their anniversary time and I was relieved of the duty! I wouldn’t go on another vacation until my honeymoon to, oddly, San Francisco. It was so unmemorable I’m not even going to bore you with the details! Ta for now!