What's On This Film?
These eleven reels document the 1964 vacation trip of a middle-American family from the Detroit, Michigan area. Towing a 13-foot travel trailer, this family traveled Route 66 through the southwest United States to Los Angeles, California. After a week’s stay in Long Beach, they headed north through California, then east with stops at Yosemite, Yellowstone, Mt. Rushmore, Minneapolis, and Mackinac. Identifiable persons and locations are listed here in order to assist those interested.
00:23 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Start”
June, 1964. Opening on the driveway at the family home at 4851 Irwindale Drive, Pontiac (now Waterford), Michigan, we see car and trailer packed and ready to go. Oops, they forgot somebody. We see houses belonging to Pace, Ecklund, and Wright families. Taking on water in Illinois. Mother, Beth Anne.
01:27
Frontier City, Oklahoma. The first tourist attraction of the trip, an old-west town theme park. Mom, Rick, Dave, Beth Anne. And pretending to weave drunkenly down the main street in broad daylight, Dad. This may seem like a mild bit of humor to the casual observer, but to him as a church minister it was risky hilarity of a high order and could only dare be attempted when at least 1000 miles away from his congregation. A lake near Route 66 somewhere, possibly Shamrock, Texas. On the road.
04:50 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Bluewater & Grand Canyon”
Bluewater, New Mexico. Camping on a hill. Back on the road. “Chief Yellowhorse’s Navajo Teepee” roadside attraction. The Painted Desert in Arizona.
07:33 “Vacation 1964 CA trip”
The Grand Canyon.
09:19
Mother, Beth Anne, Dave, Rick in front of the trailer. More scenery from the road. Rugged, rocky southwest terrain. Coming into California above San Bernardino. Mojave Desert, Barstow, Victorville.
12:53 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Marineland”
The “trailer park” on Long Beach Boulevard in Long Beach, California--home for a week while mom and dad commuted to a convention nearby. Marineland of the Pacific on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The home of “Flipper” and the most amazing theme park our travelers had ever seen before so lots of film was shot here. But two more even more amazing theme parks are coming up. The main show at Marineland. Dolphins playing baseball, jumping through hoops of fire, and singing! Whales and lots of dolphins jumping. And the seal show.
17:25 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Disneyland”
Disneyland’s Matterhorn Mountain, 1964. Santa Fe & Disneyland R.R. train. Adventureland. The Sailing Ship Columbia, Indian village, the burning settler's cabin, Cascade Peak falls, the swinging bridge, the Carnation milk truck, assorted rides, the Mark Twain Riverboat.
22:10
Knott’s Berry Farm, two tough hombres walking down the street, the toy shop, the trail to ghost town, the family in the Michigan covered wagon. An apparently random monkey makes an appearance. The Seal Pool. Calico Square.
23:33
The 110 Harbor Freeway in Los Angeles, palm trees and the Statler Hilton Hotel. Freeway signs to Pasadena, Hollywood, Santa Ana, and San Bernardino.
24:04 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Yosemite”
Camping with the trailer in Yosemite. The amazing scenery, rivers, trees, mountains and peaks, Bridalveil Falls. The family on the trail. Beth Anne in her Mickey Mouse ears souvenir cap from Disneyland.
26:43
Swimming in the “hooted peal” in Sacramento, California. Dave, Rick, and Beth Anne.
27:20 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Salt Lake • Yellowstone”
Lake Tahoe, California. Welcome to Nevada “where every visitor is a guest.” Snow on the mountains in June. A desert vista and Stuckey’s. Utah and the Great Salt Lake.
29:34 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Yellowstone”
Camping at Yellowstone in the trailer, which has acquired a fair number of souvenir window decals documenting the places it’s been. Rick, mom, Beth Anne. Old Faithful Geyser and Old Faithful Inn. Chinaman Springs, Anemone Geyser, Pump Geyser. A bear in the road! More bears strutting around like they own the place. The Continental Divide. Mama bear and cubs. Bears begging from cars.
33:18 “Vacation 1964 CA trip • Yellowstone”
Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, with Dave and Dad. More bears, more geysers and steaming hot pools, the Paint Pots, rock formations and still more bears.
37:10 “Vacation July 1964 CA trip • Mt. Rushmore • Yellowstone Lake”
An amazing but unidentified waterfall. The family throwing snowballs on the 4th of July, 1964. On the brink of the Upper Falls Trail on the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone River. A pair of deer. More steamy hot pools of water.
40:37 “Vacation 1964 CA trip, Bad Lands • Upper Mich • Finish”
Scenic Yellowstone Lake (?). On the road in the mountains. Rick, Beth Anne, and Dave pose by the "Buffalo Bill Dam and Reservoir."
42:52
Mount Rushmore in the Black Hills of South Dakota. Featuring the likenesses of U. S. presidents Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln. The Badlands.
44:28
In Minnesota with Aunt Doris and Uncle (Daniel) Keith Sewell and cousins Debbie and Denise. On to Wisconsin and to Michigan's Upper Peninsula. The Mackinac Bridge. Exhibits at Fort Michilimackinac in Mackinaw City include the Whirligig, Rick and Dave in stocks, and a colonial-era house.
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