……………………This warmer weather is bringing back memories of my family’s vacations……..Almost every summer my family and I would spend 10 days in the country……Here we are….I think the person taking the picture forgot to say “SMILE”! My brothers, Mauro and John look great, however I look like a refugee. My haircut looks like another one of my Dad’s specials, and don’t ask me what’s going on with my pants, and those shoes! I guess they didn’t have sneakers in the 50s??? The best word to describe me is….GOOFY!…The place we stayed at was somewhere in the Catskills? The name of the place is The Laurel House. I remember I thought it was a beautiful place with very large rooms, and a very nice dining room……like a southern plantation…..There was a large pool that was located by a stream, but I don’t remember ever going into the pool even once…..it was dark and ominous looking to me…..The owners of the hotel always organized special activities and events. I remember a funny hat contest….How 50s is that!……I actually hated going to the country because I had terrible allergies, and I really suffered, especially at night….Usually we went with some cousins so I always had someone to play with. As you can see my brothers were older and BIGGER than me so we didn’t do much together…..I was the pesky little brother….There was a big baseball field, but I was too small to play so I would go exploring down by the brook that ended with a pretty steep waterfall…..There was a three foot stone wall outlining part of the driveway that my cousins and I used to sit on until one day we were hanging out there, and I was sitting of the wall. All of a sudden my cousins ran away!? I felt something tickle my leg? It was a snake that I guess lived in the wall and had come out right between my legs!!!!! I HATE SNAKES!!!! and ran like blazes. I never went near that wall again. After that everywhere I went I was on the lookout for snakes….This was not my first run in with a snake….They always seemed to find me!!!..I hated the country, and as an adult I never went on a summer vacation in the country………..Give me the water and the beach anytime!!!
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I love hearing about your childhood memories. I remember my brothers wearing jeans and looking fairly disheveled…. may be that was the look of the times! Your brothers’ were really dressed up!
As a NY’r, we too had our annual trek to the Catskills. Also a large building, many rooms, a nice dining room, good meals (although I remember items I will never again eat Nesslerode Pie and Waldorf Salad! Our place didn’t have a pool, there was a good size lake and dock. We had a bungalow off the main bldg. in Livingston Manor…don’t remember the name of the lake nor the name of the place.
It was sorta a Dirty Dancing type environment, minus Patrick Swayze! Dances, contests, entertainment. Dressing your best for dinner.
I have no idea why we used to go. My parents didn’t enjoy the mountains and I couldn’t wait to get back to Jones Beach!
Hope you are enjoying the Summer
Louis — loved the vacation pix. I laughed at the critique of your sartorial choices. Your older brothers were definitely rocking it.