Wequetonsing, Michigan, circa 1906. "The birches and the bay." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Palm Beach, Florida, circa 1904. "Alligator Joe and his pets." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Florida circa 1904. "Afternoon concert hour. The Royal Poinciana, Palm Beach." We return to the RP for a bit of culture. And please, no velocipedes. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Florida circa 1900. "Hotel Royal Poinciana, Palm Beach." Shown here is the merest sliver of Henry Flagler's gigantic hotel, at one time the largest wood-frame structure in the world. Detroit Publishing glass negative. View full size.

Bay St. Louis, Mississippi, circa 1901. "Shoo-fly at Madame Boyle's." Another glimpse of nattily dressed tourists taking the air in this Southern resort. 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

Mississippi circa 1901. "Harry's Villa, Bay St. Louis." 8x10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company. View full size.

My paternal grandparents visiting Washington, D.C. View full size.

My father and his sister in 1956 at "North Pole Colorado -- Home of Santa's Workshop," at the foot of Pikes Peak. Dad was 6 and his sister 8. View full size.

My dad (6 years old) and his older sister in 1956 at "North Pole Colorado -- Home of Santa's Workshop" at the foot of Pike's Peak. Santa sure looks jolly. Full size.

August 1971 On vacation again, this time camping with my brother and sister-in-law at Hoopa, California. I'm not sure if my expression reflects my real mood, or if I'm just being a wise guy. Note how I set up this self-timer Kodachrome so that I was the one in focus. View full size.

Continuing my vacation theme, we return to the same beach ten years earlier. I'm wearing the St. Christopher medal that was then a permanent accouterment, but what really kept me from drowning then and forever afterwards was making sure that my extremities were firmly in contact with the bottom at all times. This was when the Russian River region was the vacation destination for denizens of the San Francisco Bay Area and was jammed with sun and fun frolickers during the summer months. About ten years later, freeways made Lake Tahoe more easily accessible and Guerneville and environs went into a serious and sad decline that lasted until the 1980s. View full size.

Well, it's vacation time, and what better destination than the beach in 1960? My brother snapped me and his Cal Poly college chum Bob (who you may recall from Christmas Special) along the Russian River at Guernewood, California in July of that year, just one month before my 14th birthday. I believe my exceptionally stylish swim trunks are 1940s vintage hand-me-downs from my father. Hair by beach towel. 35mm Kodacolor negative. View full size.

August 1936. "Scenes at the auto trailer camp. Dennis Port, Mass." 35mm nitrate negative by Carl Mydans for the Resettlement Administration. View full size.

"Trailer camp, June 4, 1937." More tourists at the Washington, D.C., trailer camp. Photo-op casserole, anyone? Harris & Ewing glass negative. View full size.

Washington, D.C. June 4, 1937. "Trailer camp." And what looks like the trailer seen earlier here. Harris & Ewing Collection glass negative. View full size.