On December 23, 1823, a poem titled “Account of a Visit from St. Nicholas” was published anonymously in the Sentinel newspaper in Troy, New York. The poem is better known by its first five words: “‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” … Continue reading →
When I was eight, my grandfather, Oscar E. Hoover, told me that he had been a member of the Ku Klux Klan. My brother (nearly age 7) and I were in my grandparents’ kitchen where Granddad was making us caramel … Continue reading →
Our parents must have been pooped by the last day our trip. The schedule clearly states that we would spend the day at Busch Gardens before flying home to Tampa. But that’s not what we did. Instead, we had a … Continue reading →
On our final full day in Florida, Tuesday, June 12, 1973, we drove to Ocala to see Silver Springs with the “World Famous Glass Bottom Boats!” The Silver Springs are the oldest tourist attraction in Florida with visitors arriving in … Continue reading →
At some point on the previous day, we changed our itinerary. The original plan would have had us at the Space Center and Cypress Gardens on the same day with barely any time to continue enjoying the beach. So, we … Continue reading →
The Delta 1913 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral fifty years ago today on June 10, 1973. Its payload was the Explorer 49 satellite which was sent up to orbit the moon. During its mission, Explorer 49 studied low-frequency radio emissions … Continue reading →
We spent one final partial day at the Magic Kingdom. I assume that we used up all of our coupons because the ticket booklets that Mother saved in her scrapbook are empty. These are the attractions that we visited on … Continue reading →
I only have a handful of memories of this trip, even with all of this terrific documentation from the diary and scrapbook that my mother kept. One of my memories happened first thing on Friday, June 8, 1973. We were … Continue reading →
I thought I’d share the actual sheet that my mother wrote on the day that we traveled from Clearwater Beach to Walt Disney World, with yet another underlined “orange” (see yesterday’s post). According to the logistical notes that Mother kept … Continue reading →
We must have left early in the morning on June 6, 1973, because my mother recorded that we flew on TWA flight #474, leaving St. Louis at 8:15am and arriving in Tampa, Florida at 12:03pm, with a stop in Nashville. … Continue reading →