With nine siblings vacations were at a premium during my childhood. I can only remember going on vacation one time.
I think Dad knew someone from work who had a cottage down on Cape Cod in Barnstable. I'm sure he couldn't have afforded to rent a cottage so he took advantage of this person's generosity.We were so excited and thankful!
It wasn't the typical beach location with the beautiful sand beach to walk up and down. This was in located the marshes which blocked access to the ocean.
We had a blast regardless of this limitation just because we were ON VACATION. The one thing I remember most was the greenhead horse flies that bit us all over our bodies if we even stepped out for a minute. But that isn't the vacation I wanted to talk about here.
It was about 20 years into our marriage that Christine and I took our first vacation. This would've been my second vacation ever. At the time, we owned a sign company. And, we got a great deal on a flight and rooms in Acapulco, Mexico.
We were enthralled with the beauty, food, people and especially the beach. But, we already lived in a tourist town and didn't want to be tourists. So, we headed off to meet the "real people".
Now, one might think the last thing to think about wh
en on vacation is work. But, not us. Instead we caught a taxi and asked him to take us to a local sign shop.
I doubt this driver had ever been to a sign shop because he drove all through the most distressed parts of the local neighborhoods to find one.
Finally, he dropped us off at a tin shack commercial area. We walked down the dirt path between the small openings where locals made and sold products to locals.
Talk about fish out of water!!
We came upon a shack that was about 20 feet wide and 12 feet deep. In the back was one man sitting at an easel, hand lettering a sign for a customer.
We spoke no Spanish and he no English. But, within a minute we shared a common bond. We were sign makers. This picture shows Christine sitting next to him. His name I now can't remember.
He showed us the paints and crude brushes he used. We found ways to communicate and loved his technique.
Back home in New Hampshire we had a severe shortage of workers with a 1.6% unemployment rate at the time. So, we asked if he would be interested in coming to America to work. He was totally caught off guard by the idea.
We invited him and his family to talk more about it at our hotel later that evening. We could tell they never went to the tourist area but we really enjoyed them so much.
I had no idea how all the immigration laws worked but we fantasized together about what this could mean to his family and to us.
Sadly, it never worked out. But, it occupied a fair amount of our vacation and that is one of several moments that made our first vacation together so memorable. Christine recorded a brief description of this photo and several other amazing things that happened during our trip. To hear them click HERE.