L.A., Hollywood, Disneyland, Forest Lawn. Dad pointed them all out as we went driving by on a freeway. WHAT?
"Aren't we stopping anywhere?" I asked dumbfounded and suffering from whiplash as I tried to take in a sight of anything. "No, we really don't time." We need to get to Las Vegas and then up to Utah tomorrow". This was news to me. No one had actually said we were stopping in L.A. but what on earth is the point of driving through and seeing NOTHING? None. No point at all.
That was the L.A. part of my trip. Then to Vegas where people under 21 couldn't even walk on the casino floor. The trip sucked. The whole stupid trip, except for the very, very cool ranch in Tucson. The rest of it was an exercise in misery. MISERY. I was quiet. No point in being angry with dad in the car. I would just get the angry eyes in the mirror lecture. Stupid parents, stupid bridge, stupid dad's family. I didn't care if we ever got to Utah. Grrrrr.
The drive from L.A. to Vegas is some form of punishment no matter what. It is some ugly territory. Purgatory before Sin City. There might be naked people in Vegas. I had no idea what to expect but I assumed I was going to be blindfolded at some point. This was going to be so grown up. We finally hit the strip. WELCOME TO LAS VEGAS.
Everything was so over the top I was in mouth open heaven. This was still afternoon, it wasn't even dark and I couldn't believe what I saw. I started watching all the people. There were gamblers and drunks and whores there. I knew that. I had never seen any of those things that I knew of. I learned later that I had indeed seen drunks, not gamblers or whores. Not cheap ones anyway.
We stayed somewhere on the strip but I don't remember where. I know we went to Caesar's Palace. We might have stayed there but I cannot see my dad spending that kind of money on anything. When we walked into Caesar's I was stunned and amazed. And followed by security. They were very serious about 21. I was barely 14. You were not allowed inside the casino areas. Period. Couldn't even walk through or look very long.
Brother and I were going to be taken to a dinner show then we were to stay in the hotel room where one or both of us could be killed by strangers or die at the hands of one another. Mom and dad were going to gamble. Dinner and a show. The Supremes were there. Diana Ross and The Supremes. I could do that and everything was even. No Disneyland, no Hollywood, no fun. Diana Ross could change all that.
We went to see Danny Kaye. That was fun but no Diana Ross. Brother refused to go. He was always the smart one. Although I did eat my first twice baked potato the rest of the food was ho hum. After dinner and Danny Kaye, who was really entertaining, I was taken to the room. Mom and dad went gambling. Dad lost. Mom won eighty dollars. That was a small fortune.
The next morning we headed to Utah. I wasn't feeling very well. Kind of tired and feverish but nothing specific. I was cranky I remember that. I also learned how to mix a martini for my dad in the backseat while he was driving. Different times, perfectly legal. We were not stopping until we reached Brigham City.
I felt crummy by the time we got there. "Stretchy", my mom called it. That low grade fever, blah discomfort. I didn't say anything. I liked going to a doctor not quite as much as having wild animals tear my flesh. I didn't want to go to a strange doctor in a strange city. Nope. I would suffer. Unfortunately for everyone, I did not suffer in silence. I whined loudly and constantly. Mother finally told me I looked feverish. I begged her to wait until we got home to take me a doctor IF I still needed to go see him. She agreed.
I thought the agreement was that she would be quiet about my being ill until we got home and I would be bitchy. That wasn't her plan. Her plan was to tell dad and worry that I had some horrible deadly desert born illness. Then follow me around asking me how I felt constantly.
I don't remember too much else about the Murphy's that visit. We went to the family bar, Murph's Inn, now owned by my dad's sister Doris and her husband Bert. Aunt Doris made the world's best cheeseburgers on the grill in that little hole in the wall. She was also a pool hustler of sorts. The back of the bar where the pool tables were located displayed every naked centerfold in the world best I could tell. This was this first time I had been allowed back there. This was so different from Calhoun. Beer and boobs. And neatly covered nether worldly parts of women. Mom, dad brother, me Uncle Bert, Aunt Doris and 500 naked women. This was was nastier than Vegas.
This one day made my entire vacation, along with the Ranch in Tucson. Aunt Doris gave me an old Olympia Beer sign. Electric with a waterfall and a beer mug that bubbled when the light was on. I was the coolest kid in Fort Worth. Still have the beer sign, still works, still love it.
This was 1967. The Summer of Love. I had my beer sign. We were heading home to Fort Worth after two grueling weeks. I still felt crummy. I mixed martinis for my dad through the days home. I complained and whined about being hot and cold. Hungry and not. Sleepy and not. I got the rear view mirror lectures about not being the only person in the car and the please keep my misery to myself.
There is no place like home. I was so glad to see my room. Sleep in my bed. Go to my doctor. Faint dead away in his office while my fever climbed to 103. I had mono. It took a few days to find out. Mother acted like I should be somehow embarrassed. She was mortified.
Two more vacations with my parents that I remember until I was 40 years old. One to Utah, One to Calhoun.
In 1993 I went to Connecticut to visit my brother's family with my mom and dad. I was newly retired, anxious to see my niece and nephew and did not want my dad driving all that way by himself. Mother driving was out of the question.
Time to see if traveling with your parents as an adult was different. Time to see if the family dynamics were still the same as when were kids.
It is wonderful in some ways, being with your family on vacation. It also leads one to want to kill people.
Your family.
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