Sunday, February 25, 2018

My Childhood is Now Vintage


I have some very fond memories of family vacations, traveling across the United States pulling a Shasta travel trailer similar to the one pictured above.  The only difference between our Shasta and the one above is that ours had an overhead bunk so there was a small extension over the front of the trailer.


It seems my childhood travel accommodations are now considered "vintage".

In the town of Dayton Oregon in the beautiful Willamette Valley is a trailer resort called The Vintages.  They have a whole row of these old-style travel trailers that can be rented for a stay in the Oregon wine country.

We didn't do that on this trip, but I just had to take a drive through this nostalgic place.


















Driving down the "vintage" street is like a real blast from the past.  All kinds of travel trailers can be found on this one street.


Each one appears to come with a set of bicycles to enjoy and the website boasts other amenities to be had.



The site says that terrycloth robes are provided along with comfortable mattresses.  As I recall, those original travel trailer mattresses were not in the "comfort" category.  (Ah but, we were young, it didn't really matter.)  The site also says that hotel-quality linens are provided.


Each site also has a propane grill and tableware for the visitor to use.  Also included is a wine opener.  This is in the Oregon wine country after all.


It's a very clever idea, but it's not the only way to stay at The Vintages.  The place also has spaces to rent for those who still bring their own trailers, campers and motorhomes with them.  It's only this one street in the park that offers these "vintage" accommodations.



I'm adding a "vintage" photo to this post.  I went searching through some old photos to see if I could find a photo of the old trailer and this is the only one I found.  It is badly faded but I added a little saturation and contrast to brighten it just a bit.  That's me on the right next to my dad and holding the dog's leash.  The dog is Chrissy our beloved English Bulldog.  Mom is standing on the step, my sister Pam is next to her and my sister Judy is on the end.  I bet my dad set up the camera on timer to get this shot.

Ah, sweet memories!  My family had lots of fun roaming the country while pulling our little home-away-from-home behind us.

8 comments:

RedPat said...

I love this post, Sharon! Especially with your family pic!

Judy Ryer said...

Wow! That's an oldie for sure. We had a lot of fun in that camper. We stayed at an RV park in Oregon like the one you found. They had the old campers to rent and also spaces for people, like us, with our own newfangled campers. Fun to see this!

Lowell said...

What a riot! I'll bet that was lots of family fun. You may remember our neighbor at our old house in Ocala bought one of these and he and his wife took off every summer for 6-8 weeks in their wee trailer. They loved it and I'm sure will do it again this year.

William Kendall said...

They're quite old fashioned! We had a tent trailer when I was growing up, so vacations meant setting that up and bringing it down each day.

Silver in AZ said...

Yes, they are quite the rage now! Everything comes back in style eventually. 👍🏻

Bill said...

Those campers are still popular today. The "vintage" family photo is great!

Thérèse said...

Vintage but still very useful.
The family picture is awesome. It is so nice to posess those kind of sweet souvenirs.

PerthDailyPhoto said...

Loooove this post! The Vintages is set up really well for camping holidays, not only the caravans but the grounds too, very nicely presented. J'adore the family photo, very similar to one we all have I bet Sharon ☺