Family Trip
When I was almost eleven my mom and I made our
first really big driving trip. She drove out from
Southern California where we lived to my
Grandparent's home in Independence, Missouri to
pick me up from a visit. From there we headed
north and then east to see such places as
Yellowstone and the Black Hills of South Dakota.
The whole trip was fabulous and I was the perfect
age to really enjoy this adventure. What was
really memorable, however, was that the year was
1969 and my eleventh birthday was July 20--the day
they landed on the moon!!! At that point on our
trip we were in the Black Hills of South Dakota.
On my birthday during the landing we were riding
on an 1890's train through the hills and my mom
had a little transistor radio to listen to the
landing. My mom was especially interested
because she worked for McDonnell-Douglas in the
aerospace industry so she had a part in the space
mission. When the Eagle touched down my mom let
out a whoop and all the passengers on the train
cheered. I always thought that the contrast of
riding on an 1890's train at the very moment they
landed on the moon was very cool.
We also saw Mount Rushmore and viewed it with a lot of pride
in thinking about the recent accomplishments. I
especially remember going to our motel room that
night that we chose for a good television and
watching the moonwalk. I couldn't have asked for
a better eleventh birthday than to have the Apollo
11 land on the moon on that very day!!
--Paula
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