A Quantum Leap to the Groovy 1970s

We have not taken a Quantum Leap in quite sometime.

Hop on board and let's see where we land.

Come on. It is fun.

Here we are traveling through time and space--

courtesy of my blog's time/space traveler widget.

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First stop: Somewhere in Colorado 1974.

 If you have ever met my dad, you know that the first word that comes to mind when describing him is "fun" or maybe "crazy."  He takes having fun very seriously. Do you remember that part in the movie Vacation where a frustrated Clark Griswold tells his family that they are going to finish their vacation and have so much god-damned fun that they are going to need plastic surgery to remove the smile off their faces? I was convinced that someone from Hollywood had been secretly recording my family.

My dad currently lives in Cozumel, Mexico and owns a sports bar named "Kelley's." Stop by if you are ever there. Be prepared to hear off-colored/inappropriate jokes.  You have been warned.

Here is a picture of his menu. WTF?? He sent me a poster of this for my house.

Back to 1974. Here we are having some fun in Colorado on a summer vacation. Doesn't David look like he is having fun with that fish?  I was wearing my favorite Cracker Jack jeans. I loved those jeans and those tennis shoes. I remember thinking it was so cool to wear long sleeves and pants in the middle of summer!

We spent a lot of time in Colorado as my family has always had a love affair with the Rocky Mountains. My mom grew up in Colorado but moved to San Fransisco when she was 19 (transferring from her Denver job). While in San Fran, my mom met and eventually married my dad (San Fran is where he landed after he was discharged from the navy). They moved to Colorado and both my older sister and brother were born in Denver. Later my parents moved to my dad's native Oklahoma where I (and David)  was born. I am still mad about being an Okie.Totally unfair.

On we go on our travels, flash forward to 1977. Ouray, Colorado.

Where to begin?  My jeans? My cast? Sherry's legs?  Mike's lack of enthusiasm? You can tell that we were all pretty much sick of each other by this point. No love going on.  Earlier, my crazy dad took us on the craziest jeep trail ever and we all thought we were going to die. From the trail, you could spot at the bottom of the mountain, cars and campers and vans that had fallen off to a permanent mountain grave.  I am not making this up. My mom could not speak, my dad could not turn the jeep around and the four of us kept singing "Just what makes that little old ant, think he can move that rubber tree plant . . ." over and over and over and over. We were optimistic in our terror.  Every time I hear that song I think of being in that little jeep on that little road and my poor mom's face.

That's all the traveling I have in me. I hope that you are having an awesome and un-terrifying summer.


PS: HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY TO MY DAD who turned 70 last week. He is tech savvy enough to  send me 10+ anti-Obama emails a day, but he can't figure out how to get on my blog : )

UPDATE: Lorraine sent me this parody video of Katy Perry's California Girls. It is pretty funny (if you live in Colorado).