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Don’t argue. It’s required…

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My parents were not vacation people and we never once loaded up the ‘62 Ford Falcon station wagon to hit the open road when I was a child.

Oh, there were wonderful day trips to the Jersey shore to swim and stroll the boardwalks… and overnighters in NYC so I could get my fill of dinosaurs at the Museum of Natural History or stuff my face full of cotton candy at Madison Square Garden when Ringling Brothers was in town…. but a true road or airline trip vacation?

Nope. Never.

I can’t honestly say I felt deprived, when you grow up in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area there’s always plenty to see and do. And while we might have spent a few days in Connecticut or upstate NY with my parent’s friends on occasion, I wouldn’t really call that a ‘vacation’.

So as weird as it sounds, my first “real” vacation happened right after I got married at the ripe old age of 20. The husband and I were living in North Carolina where he was stationed when we jumped in his shiny black 280ZX with T Top removable roof panels … the ultimate in cool in 1984… and headed for Washington DC. I’d never been so we did all the typical tourist stuff – the Lincoln Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, The National Zoo, the Jefferson Memorial and of course there was the prerequisite sexy photo in front of the reflecting pool at the Washington Monument.

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Complete with stone washed denim and chunky silver link dangling belt. Oh to be that thin again. Sigh…

Done with the nations capitol, we headed to Newport Rhode Island where the husband had been stationed at the Naval War College years before.

Here’s a pic of his handsome self receiving a commendation for saving a young man’s life.

❤️

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I honestly don’t remember much about what we did in Newport other than visit the Breakers… that oh so cute and cozy cottage where the Vanderbilts used to summer.

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Those were the pre cell phone and selfie days where you had to rely on your husband to take a good picture and then wait a week to see if it turned out.

So that was my first real vacay.

How about you?

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