As a child, where did you go on vacations?

Lois responded to a series of writing prompts to get her to write about her life.  Unless otherwise noted, she wrote all of what follows.

 When I first saw the question: where did you go on vacations as a child, my reaction was But I never went anywhere! My father was overseas in London all through the WW II and we were always at home. We had no car. My mother did not drive anyway.  No one I knew went "on vacation". Friends went off sometimes to visit their grandparents but I didn't do that either as my grandparents were all deceased.

Then I thought about when I was 10 and went for ten days to Camp Medley, a Girl Guide Camp. I no longer remember where it was located. I just remember I absolutely loved the experience. I loved being with so many other girls my age. I loved the novelty of filling a mattress with fresh straw and sleeping in a big dorm on a bottom bunk bed. Every day we would have the usual camp activities of swimming and both indoor and outdoor games, but we also had the challenges of winning badges. I remember the activity I enjoyed the most and worked hardest at to get my badge was tracking--following animal tracks and identifying small animals by their spoor. What fun!

That was my only time at Guide camp. My father's brother was a minister and he told my mother that there was no religion at guide camp, I should go to Camp Wegesegum, a church camp. So the next year I went there. I liked some parts of it. It was a beautiful location on the Salmon River and we slept in leaky canvass tents. But the fun of the woods was substituted for sitting around in the shade in Bible Study. Not nearly as much fun for me!

The August I was 12, my Uncle Arthur, Auntie Grace and their 26 year-old daughter Evelyn came to our home en route to PEI.  Evelyn was a nurse in Toronto and Grace and Arthur were home on furlough from India, going to visit his childhood home and family. I was asked to go with them! Now this was a real vacation! I drove off in their car, we stayed in b and b's, we visited the farm where I rode a white horse, Maud, and learned to drive the Massey Ferguson tractor for haying. All very exciting. Then they took me to Cavendish where I had a whole day to visit Green Gables, the Lake of Shining Waters, the White Way-- all those places that had so enthralled me as I'd read Anne of Green Gables. They were so kind to me, a child who had never been anywhere outside of New Brunswick before. I just loved them for it. Those three were my favourite relatives from then on!