I’m heading to my childhood home of Michigan next week.

I’ll be doing a crazy-quilt route around the lower half of the state to visit as many relatives as possible in three-and-a-half days.

Anticipating many conversations about the “good old days”, I dug out some old photo albums.

A vintage wooden scrapbook – a souvenir of Yellowstone National Park – is particularly treasured. My mother traveled out west with four girlfriends in the summer of 1941, and her photos are priceless. And, she recorded every day of her two-week, 4,317-mile journey in a carefully-typed, “Diary of My Trip Out West.”  

Souvenir scrapbook from Yellowstone, and Mom’s typewritten diary

Perhaps one of the most exhaustive travel journals ever! Five young women traveled, on average, more than 300 miles per day!

Mom was meticulous with her typewritten journal and carefully-printed photo captions. The black & white images are still sharp, 78 years later!

Some of the more interesting entries:

– Tuesday –

       Got a fairly good start this morning.  Did not last very long though because Agnes killed a dog just before we got to Waterloo.  We spent some time there getting the headlight fixed, which was broken during the accident.

– Wednesday –

     Saw our first real cactus when we reached Chamberlain.  Drove in the desert for many miles.  No sign of trees or houses for a good many miles.  The land here is worthless, nothing but cactus and sage grows on it.

– Thursday –

     Spent the day in the Black Hills. Also visited Mt. Rushmore and climbed 900 steps to the top and stood on Washington’s and Lincoln’s head.  A tiresome trip up to the top, but well worth the effort.

– Friday –

     Took the Needles Drive out of the Black Hills and really enjoyed the drive. The scenery along this part was really beautiful. This was by far the prettiest part of the Black Hills. Entered the state of Wyoming. I did part of the driving today. Although the mountains were the highest we’ve seen so far and the scenery breathtaking, we were tense throughout most of the drive as the roads weren’t very good and had no barriers on any of the curves. A good many times we held our breath and prayed for the best. But Agnes managed to drive out safely and we were very much relieved.

– Wednesday –

Visited the capital building in Cheyenne. Also saw the governor of the State. He is very good looking – the State seems to advertise that fact, too.

Images of (good looking!) Wyoming Gov. Nels H. Smith

And, her final entry:

“All in all, I had a very nice trip. The girls were swell and game to do most anything anyone suggested.  I’m afraid Congressional action on the draft bill, and my longing to see Leon* again, somewhat made me feel blue at times, but outside of that, I had a grand time.  I must admit, I was glad to get back home.”

p.s. “Leon” is the man she would marry; the man who would one day be my father.

So ….

Wherever your summertime travels may take you – enjoy every moment. And, please consider documenting your experiences somewhere more permanent than on Instagram!

Comments? Do you have any old albums lying around that could use some captions or journal entries? (Your children and grandchildren will thank you!)