Another Day in Paradise: Memory Lane - Go East Young Man (May and June 1983)

May of '83 was typical of the "new groove" that our family had settled into. The groove that eventually spawned our long-time vanity plate of "TRPSRUS", short for "TRIPS ARE US" or "TRIPASAURUS" depending on your generation. Influenced no doubt by the fact that during those years we spent a lot of time cruising the aisles of Toys Are Us, the pre-eminent toy store of the '80s. Before the month was over we had been to Buffalo New York, New York City and Trenton New Jersey. In addition I spent a couple of weeks in Hartford Connecticut at a management seminar. As my granddaughter Leili used to say, we were "bissy".

The Buffalo leg was for a family wedding on Nancy's side. The bride was the daughter of Nancy's dad's cousin. The event was fun for me as I met several of her cousins (and further-removed relations) for the first time. It was a rare opportunity to get to know Nancy's extended family better. Here's just a few pics that may interest my kids.

The first is of Bob Floyd and Rae Pattinson. Bob was the husband of Nancy's cousin Ruthie Floyd and an all around great guy. We saw Bob and Ruthie frequently through the Ipperwash years as they had their own cottage just up the road in Grand Bend, Ontario. Rae is Ruthie's sister, both daughters of Nancy's Great Aunt Ella on her dad's side. Rae and her husband Bill lived in Wisconsin at the time, and as such we saw them infrequently (yes, there will be a test).

In this picture we have the aforementioned Ruthie sitting with Olive Wilson, another cousin, and on the right Ruthie and Rae's mother Ella Johnson.

Ruthie is a delightful person, always interested in how everyone is doing and more than willing to host a crowd for lunch at their cottage which sat on a high bluff overlooking Lake Huron.

This picture is of Nancy's first cousin Johnny LeRoy and his wife Debbie. Johnny is the son of Nancy's Uncle Bill, and one of Nancy's brother David's closest friends when they were kids. Although Johnny and Debbie lived in Detroit only a few miles from us at the time, in the hubbub of daily life our paths seldom crossed. So it was fun to get to know them a little better in Buffalo.

This last pic from the wedding is one of our favorites of Nancy's parents. Nancy's dad Rae loved to dance and spoke often of his younger days dancing at the Ipperwash casino. In this shot he and Marge were caught in a private and memorable terpsichorean moment.

Back in Dearborn, it was time for Mother's Day and Christy's baptism. My parents were in town for the celebration. Here's a pic of the key players enjoying the presents portion of the festivities.

In between activities Christy continued to grow and learn and do her best to stretch her limits. Here she's engaging in an unorthodox and I'm sure unapproved use of a folding deck chair. This most likely happened when dad was left in charge (a phenomenon that eventually became known as DLS - dad-level supervision).

In mid-May I headed off to Hartford Connecticut for a two-week management course. During the weekend break I rented a car and drove down to Trenton New Jersey to visit our friends Bob Douglas and Patty Cooper who had moved there for work a couple of years earlier. Nancy flew in to join us for the weekend, leaving little Christy with her parents.

At the time Bob was an analyst in Manhattan, and Patty was a manager in the Philadelphia service center just across the Delaware River. Here's a shot of the couple as we prepared for an afternoon in the Big Apple.

Those of you who worked for the IRS in Detroit in the '80s would certainly remember them. They were active in Collection Division social circles and big party throwers. Not that they threw a lot of parties, but the ones they did throw were big. Large crowds, large music, large bottles of liquid attitude and often lasting long into the night. This picture of me attempting a Bob Seger impression was taken at one of those parties.

You get the idea. Anything went. Of course, this interesting couple wasn't just about wild parties. They each had their peccadillos, especially around work issues. But they were always good friends to Nancy and me, and it was lots a fun to see them again.

On the Saturday of our visit we took the train into Manhattan to see the sights. That included a trip to the top of this impressive edifice.

The view was pretty impressive, too. Or should I say scary. Especially looking down.

Here's a shot Nancy and me "enjoying" our tourist experience at 1377 feet in the air. The open air. Outdoors. Yikes.

What this picture doesn't show is the death grip my right hand has on the railing. And actually, I was smiling. Inside.

We followed up our high-wire act with some more down-to-Earth attractions. Like the lobby clock at the Waldorf-Astoria.

The lobby of Trump Tower (who knew).

And mingling with some locals. I think this was some sort of service organization. Or something. They seemed nice.

We recovered from our travels with lunch at a popular spot. I was searching for an ATM while this picture was taken. I gather from the name that it was open year-round.

Here's a final shot of Patty, Bob and Nancy after lunch, looking for a ride back to the train station. Too tired and full of high-toned cuisine to walk anymore. And just enough money left for cab fare.

We made it back to Bob and Patty's house in Trenton just fine. And speaking of the house, let's take a look. It wasn't just a house but a 19-room mansion in an old restored section of Trenton. Some pics.

Just a cozy bungalow for two. That's Bob in the lower right, taking a breather after the lengthy hike around the grounds.

Actually, as I recall Bob and Patty were able to get by using only 15 of the rooms. They rented out four rooms on the third level to some college students. That made things a little cramped, but tolerable.

Back to our adventure. Having survived the city that never sleeps, we donned our civies and relaxed. The girls found some comfy chairs.

While Bob fired up his elaborate entertainment center for some mood music.

In his Detroit days, Bob was known for his audiophile tendencies. The usual playback devices were present, of course (phonograph, cassette deck, reel-to-reel tape recorder). But supplementing these were multiple tube power amps, two equalizers, a DBX decoder and an array of high-end speakers distributed around his 20' by 40' living room. He even had a little device that would ionize the air just above the tonearm of the turntable. For this, and a few other eccentricities, there's a picture of Bob in the dictionary next to the expression "over the top". But - the man could party.

The weekend spent, I packed my gear into my rental car and headed back to Hartford for week two of my training class. Bob took Nancy to the airport.

While navigating my way through New York City, I took this shot. Not sure which bridge it is. They're all big. And scary.

It's my proof that I once did drive in the Big Apple. An event that will likely not be repeated.

After all the travel in the previous months, we were ready to settle in for some home time. I should more appropriately say "homes" time, as we routinely floated between the Dearborn house, my parents' home in Linwood and the cottage on Ipperwash beach.

We caught some good weather during a visit to Linwood in June and took some pics. This first one is of my parents' dog at the time, normally referred to as Reka.

Reka's actual name was Eureka, because she was found as a stray. She was a playful little fluff ball around whom my parents structured much their lives. Or so it seemed. She fit into their lifestyle well as they traveled up north and to Florida pretty regularly. She was a good rider.

We had a couple of other good riders with us on the visit. Ted and Christy had a good time frolicking in the budding summer sun in my parents' generous back yard.