A couple of weeks ago my family took a small vacation to places in Maine that we haven’t been to in a LONG time. Returning to these spots brought back memories from my childhood as we had talked about heading up there for so long. In fact, we don’t think we have been up that way in ten years. This trip brought back memories as we made our way through Maine.
All along the way we stopped at spots from my childhood. One of the places was L.L. Bean in Freeport, Maine where the big hiking boot is. Another place was a book store in Damariscota a couple of hours away. The bookstore was a frequent place where we stopped because there was no wifi, internet and next to no cable, so we were up there with no connection to the outside world. Although, the books were pretty overpriced it seemed right to buy a couple of books there as they are still up and running while competed with Amazon and the Kindles.
However, quite possibly the most anticipated spot was Moody’s Diner in Waldoboro, Maine. This is the same restaurant that we would end up eating at every single night we were there. In fact, we even had the same waitress from the last time we were there. She didn’t recognize us, but the food and service was still the same. The one part of the menu we all had to look forward to was their pie. Eating each slice of pie brought back little pieces of my memory from childhood. If you are ever in the area, I would suggest going to Moody’s as place to stop.
All in all, the point of this blog post is simply about getaways like this being relaxing. Up in Maine, there were no worries we had to concern ourselves with. The only part we had to worry about was having a good time and relaxing. Yes, the times did change with the usage of cell phones and internet. But, the place still remained the same with their stores as it did many years ago.
Authors note: I do plan on posting a photo of the Giant L.L. Bean boot, but am having some problems with downloading.
Coming up with a name for this next blog post was not easy. That much I will say. Have you ever watched a movie that took place in the early 1900’s? Have you ever read a book and imagined what it would be like to live without electricity? Have you ever wanted to go jump into your favorite sitcom you watched with your parents growing up?
As I was scrolling through these photos I began to think of what it was like to live in a time like from before. Growing up we hear our parents and grandparents tell us how easy it was for them before technology took over. They talk about having to go outside to play and not having a television to watch. Heck, I even heard stories of what it was like to grow up in a house with out running water.
When I was growing up I was treated to movies and storybooks where princesses lived in castles with candles aglow. When I grew older I began to read books, like the American Girl doll series and Nancy Drew, across different time periods where my imagination would wander. In the American Girl Doll books, there were stories about girls having to walk to school rather than take the school bus. There were even stories where their education was limited based on their gender and social norms during the time period. But, the part that took me into those books the most were the historical events that were taking place. From the American Revolution to World War II, I would leave reading these books wondering what it was really like to live through those time periods. There are times when I wonder what questions I will be asked from children about my childhood and the events that happened.
In Nancy Drew, there seemed to always be a time when she would get into a pickle and unable to contact anyone quick enough due to their being no cellphone or computer. Today, we depend so much on these things that we forget that there was a time period where they didn’t even exist. When I first started reading Nancy Drew, I would always ask why she didn’t just call someone or search the internet for the answer. I would ask these questions aloud to get the same answer from my parents, which was: they weren’t invented yet.
I would always ask my parents what it was like to grow up without computers. I would have no problem asking my grandparents what it was like not having a television and having to walk to school. They would shrug and tell me that they didn’t think anything different as there was no such thing. I have wondered what it would be like to time travel to a period to see what it was like for myself, specifically the roaring twenties, World War II, and Shakespearean times. I want to go to Woodstock to experience it first hand, go to a soda shop in the 1900’s in New York City, and see the Hindenburg fly over before tragedy struck. These are moments stuck in time that we see, however, we can’t experience them all first hand. But each time I am reminded that there are things we have now that they didn’t have then. I can’t help but wonder what it would be like to wake up in a time period with no electricity, no television, no running water and no computers.
How different would that be? It would be quite the adjustment. Going in the past to hear Paul Revere race through Boston to announce “The British are Coming” and to hear Abraham Lincoln deliver the Gettysburg Address and to meet Harriet Tubman, Edgar Allan Poe and Elizabeth I. These are just a few examples of things I want to experience that are frozen in time. A moment from years ago, a person who left an impact that changed lives for better and a time when things seemed simpler. All that is left from these times are stories that survive today because we don’t want to forget them.
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