I've been a little quiet on here with regards to my photo posts.
There has been a reason for this and with great sadness, my Grandmother passed say on Sunday evening. 6 weeks prior she had suffered a stroke that lead to left side weakness, loss of vision and frailty. it really took its toll this time around.
(Gran at 19, in 1946)
Although what can be said was, she was not in pain and was comfortable. All she really wanted was to rest in bed. And whenever we visited she would be resting, not sure if she knew we were there, but we were able to hold her hand for a little while.
During this time she had many a visitor, including nieces from the other side of the country who wanted to see her one last time. She meant a lot to many from family and to foster children.
What I wished to do here, is to show some of the memories I have with her, that focused on travel. As she really wanted me to see many a place as possible while growing up.
Now I don't have the original photos of the times sadly, but what I do have is images of the places on revisits by myself or with a friend.
When I was 8 years old,one of the first places we visited ended up being DisneyWorld in Florida. A place I've now been back to twice, once solo and once with a friend. But for me that first revisit was all about finding the memories of what I recall when I went with my gran. And I remember the walk to the castle, going through it and finding the sword in the stone.
But also, one place that always stuck with me, was the Mexican pavilion at Epcot. I remember walking inside when I was 8 and I was transferred to this Mexican town location and genuinely looked like there were Mayan castles in the background. The Imagineers had done such a good job that I was convinced that it went on for a distance inside.
Clearly, on the revisit, I knew how it all worked, but wow, it was a trip to be there again, revisiting something I still remembered nearly 30 years later.
Visiting the cape even for an 8 year old was an amazingly exciting experience. The hype of seeing everything related to space was something to behold. From the Saturn IV which at this time, was parked outside on its side and in stages. To the Rocket garden and more.
This was just us visiting Florida but 4 years later I was lucky enough to visit the west coast with her, taking in LA, Vegas and San Fransico.
While in LA, we made a trip to Long Beach, at a time when the Spruce Goose was still in the dome (sadly no pictures of this) next to the Queen Mary.
Now the QM is an important ship to our family, for my mums dad, my grandad was something who I never got to meet but he was a crew member and engineer onboard the QM and holds some amazingly special memories for my mum (thankfully I got to take her there in 2008) and my Gran (my fathers mum) wanted me to see the ship for this reason.
When on the visit with my mother Engineering was the area we had to visit, and honestly, while it was emotional for her, it was something she was so glad to have done. As being onboard the ship and being in the area her dad worked were things she never thought she would ever do.
And I have to admit, if it wasn't for my Gran taking me, I might never have considered revisiting on the trip and making sure another memory and experience was fulfilled.
I don't overly remember much of the Vegas segment of the trip, but I do recall we were staying at the Sahara and Wet & Wild was still a thing nearby. But one thing I do recall was an evening at a variety show at Caesars Palace.
San Franciso was another that I don't remember too well, although the visit to Alcatraz is the one part that does stick in my mind as at the time, they still ran tours with a guide and that really stuck in my mind to this day. On my further visits, it was on audio playback devices. Just not the same really.
Outside of the USA, as I touched on in my Remembrance in Normandy post I was able to take my Gran to Normandy in 2005.
This trip in itself was one for me something I wanted to do and see based on the then popularity of WW2 focused gaming, and while artistic licence was taken with them, they opened my mind up to the history that happened within the area. And for Gran, I remember from a young age her talking about her lost cousins that had died in France. It had always stuck with me and I just felt I had to make the trip happen.
We were staying in the city of Bayeux, which I believe was the first liberated city by US forces after D-Day, so there was a lot of history to the town related to that, without even touching on the subjects of the cathederal and the tapistry.
Part of the tour involved stops at Arromanches, the location of the mulberry harbour and the gun batteries near the coastal village.
But for Gran, what was important was the reconnection to that of her cousin, who was killed in Normandy on the 25th of June, 1944. This was a really emotional moment for her, and must confess I had never seen her like this before. As she always came across as strong of mind and unwavering in her thoughts and beliefs. But I know in myself, she was glad to have done this. It was a long time coming and I can remember her talking about her cousins for years as a child, even when visiting Edinburgh castle and viewing the registry of soldiers lost in World War Two, she would talk about it then.
So in the end, this post really was one for me to tell a little bit of our experiences together, where she made sure I had some out of this world moments, and for me, to give back in given her the memories and reconnections to those that were dear to her.
