home » stories » by mesearch within stories
Family Stories
A potpourri of stories about various family members or events
Overview of 1969 Trip East
Our traveling Travelall with our camper [larger image]
On August 12, 1969, my mom and dad, myself, and my middle siblings got into our International Travelall with a roof-rack storage compartment and took off pulling an extendable tent-camper. Although we were currently living in Fargo at this time, we drove to St. Cloud to drop off the youngest sibling with our paternal grandfather, Jesse Hibbard. Our oldest sibling may have also been staying there at this time. This overview is based on my memories, about 110 photos that dad took on this trip, plus additional details based on a trip diary that mom wrote.
The primary goal for the trip was for my dad to attend a week-long biology workshop or conference at the University of Vermont in Burlington. The secondary goal was for us to see some sites along the way, connect up with the Carufel family who lived in Massachusetts, and do some sightseeing in the Boston and Washington, D.C. areas.
Ship going through Soo Locks
Our first day took us to the Mackinac Bridge area. The second day was very long: a stop at the (Soo) locks at Sault Ste. Marie, at Sudbury, Ontario nickel mines, a visit to the Parliament area in the capitol Ottawa in the early morning and finally getting close to Montreal. Day 3 was mostly at the Expo 67 in Montreal, the two-year old World’s Fair, but we ended the day about an hour north of Burlington. On Friday (Aug. 15), day 4, we dropped off Dad at his meeting and found a campground in Burlington on the shores of Lake Champlain and got set up for the week. On Sunday, 8/17, there was a field trip to a maple sugar research area, Smuggler’s Notch, and Mount Mansfield. (Regarding Lake Champlain, grandpa talked about how his uncle Herman Hibbard explored this area before going west as he looked for a new place to have his family move to, which turned out to be Sherburne county.)
Big Nickel in Sudbury [larger image--who do you see?]
Part of Expo 67 (background “sphere” being the US exhibit)
On ferry on Lake Champlain [larger image]
Access to Mount Mansfield
Playing cards at the campground in Burlington [larger image]
On Tuesday (8/19), mom took us to the nearby Shelburne museum. On Wednesday, we went to the campus of the university for a tour, and we also shopped downtown. When we got back to the campground, Western Union had a telegram for Mom asking her to call home. Her father (George Smith) had died the day before. With the Carufels' help, plans were made for Mom to fly home from Albany, NY, on Friday and fly back into Boston on Sunday. On Thursday, mom took us kids to Fort Ticonderoga, which I remember being very interesting. On Friday, we packed up and drove to Albany and got her on her flight at 12:30 (with many subsequent stops and long legs). The rest of us went on to Cooperstown, NY and after this, it is a little foggy since our scribe took off on an airplane. I know one thing Mom wrote was that we went to Bob and Joyce Teders' place, which was relatively close. (Bob was a brother to Ray Teders, a neighbor and family friend. Our families got together often in the summer and took some trips together. See The hamster and the bear story.)
Mom got to the funeral OK, but she was quite exhausted. Bruce was glad to see her, but I am guessing he was not as excited about seeing her leave again. She didn’t get much sleep as her flight left Fargo at 11:40 Saturday night and got into Boston Sunday mid-morning. We picked her up and we all went to a beautiful beach north of Boston in Ipswich. We met the Carufels and the Hicklings there and had a good time.
Crane’s beach – Mom and Louis C.
On the following Monday and Tuesday, we spent time in Boston and Concord seeing historic sites. On Wednesday, we headed to mom’s brother, Don Smith, who lived in the Baltimore area. From there, we went to the Capitol area on Thursday and Friday with Dad working in a Smithsonian museum there for parts of both days, and both days coming back to Don’s. We then left Saturday to head home, stopping at the Gettysburg battlefield along the way. We got to Des Moines on Sunday, Aug. 31, and stayed with Viv and Art Ladwig for the night since we had tire issues. Then we drove to St. Cloud and then to Fargo.
Picnic at the Boston Common with the Carufels [larger image]
Old North Bridge in Concord
Mom resting on the capitol mall
At Gettysburg [larger image]
There are other stories written that go into more detail about a specific aspect of this trip overview.
- 1969 Trip to Quebec, VT, MA
- In Travel Diary #1, this describes the trip that 3/4 of our family took in August 1969. We started from Fargo, went to St. Cloud to drop off Bruce with Jesse and then to MI, Ottawa, Montreal, Burlington, Boston area, Gettysburg and home again. [2025-06-30]
- From Burlington to Mahnomen
- From Burlington, VT, Mom was called to return to Mahnomen [2021-02-06]
- I know which way to go
- An experience at Expo 67 (in 1969) [2021-01-29]
- Rolling over (the odometer)
- They all coincide: Travelall, 1969, Boston, 100K. [2021-01-14]
Published 2021-01-27. Revised 2025-06-29.
If you find any error(s) in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail. [Back to the top] [About the author, Al]
How My Paternal Grandparents Metlisting of family stories by me How Marcia and I Met