I have had some family time lately and it has set me about reminiscing a little.  I generally don’t have the memory ability to get too sentimental but I discovered a few pics that brought back funny memories…

When I was in 11th grade (I think), My Spanish club took a trip to Cancun, Mexico …my first time on a commercial jet.  We had a wonderful and quirky Spanish teach named Marion Hull.  I suspect she was in her mid to late 60s when she came to our school.  She was probably one of the funnest teachers I ever had and we learned a lot to boot!  The year prior to the trip, we planned our adventure and started fund-raising like I had never done before.  She was such a determined leader and desperately wanted our group from small-town-Pennsylvania to get out and see even a bit of the world.  After much work, a group of 15 or so students headed to Mexico.  Below is one of the pictures that highlights the fashion that was apparently in style in the late 1980s…although it is possible that I was never in style…anyhow…

I found a huge stash of pics but most of them were junk…you know, before digital pics and all.  We had a lot of fun and somehow, Mrs. Hull returned us all home to the United States in one piece.  There are many stories to tell, but I am not sure I am ready for the world to know most of those.  A few that stand out though…we stayed in a hotel in the city rather than on the beach.  It wasn’t much but I think Mrs Hull knew it would be hard to justify an education trip to Cancun with beach-front accommodations.  Anyhow, near our hotel was a market where they sold Coke (no Pepsi) and various junk food.  I think I lived on dry Frosted Flakes.  In my memory, those were the best snack ever!  I know I bought several boxes just for myself.  It just hit the spot!

The other fun story that comes to mind is the music…my friend and roommate for the trip brought a tape player and one cassette.  It wasn’t a full cassette, but rather a single of the Guns-N-Roses’ song Patience.  It’s a great song once or twice…maybe even a hundred times.  Since music was so important to us as high schoolers, we had it on all of the time…after 10 billion plays, we all sort of got sick of that song!

I also found this picture of our senior class trip to Washington D.C.  You probably remember when panoramic photographs were a big deal and required a special camera.  The story goes that the photographer needed a runner – a guy to be in the photo when the camera started moving and at the end so he knew when to stop.  The runner literally ran from one side to the other while the camera panned.  I figure it was really just a gimmick but I am glad I have this picture anyhow.  I can’t believe how different I looked back in high school…can you find me?

Second from right in the back row…that’s me

From the waist up I look somewhat normal but then I look down at the short-shorts and black shoes…gee whiz what was I thinking?!

Anyhow, I am so glad I found these old pics and have had a lot of fun remembering the nonsense that went on during both of those trips.  I don’t keep in touch with most of my old friends, but I suppose a few may see this and get a few laughs!