Family Road Trips to Maine

Growing up, economical family vacations were often defined as a trip to Maine. The 6-8 hour drive in the old Plymouth seemed endless, and Gid was not one to speed. I remember his explanation that other cars just appeared to be whizzing quickly by because they were traveling in the opposite direction. I later figured out that it was also because they were going at least 10 – 15 mph faster than we were. To his credit, Gid always felt the need to provide something educational, so he included activities like a tour of the paper mill in Rumford, Maine. The ultimate destination, though, was a visit to see Grandpa Records sister, Aunt Ida, in Livermore Falls. A visit to see Aunt Ida, who modestly considered herself a “handsome woman” (see photo), was no frills* but always included homemade molasses cookies waiting for us upon our arrival. (* There was no indoor plumbing, but the outhouse was just a few steps up from the kitchen in the attached garage.) The stay at Aunt Ida’s farmhouse was broken up with side trips: visits to the lake and to see Aunt Amy, Ida’s sister, another widow, a retired school teacher who lived in a fancier house (indoor plumbing) in North Leeds. The highlight of the trip was often a visit from Ruth and Jake who had always just returned from one of their many trips to Moosehead Lake. Ruth and Jake were considered a bit odd and talked about with pity because they were unable to reproduce. This was also offered as the explanation for why cousin Ruth had the energy to play with us kids, crawling around in the fort we built under a card table. Most of the time, though, the subject of the conversation (as in all of Aunt Ida’s letters) came around to which relative was feeling “poorly”. I will try to remember this and censor myself as I get older and feeling more poorly….