March of Dimes Walk-a-Lot

Does anyone else remember when in the ‘70s we had the Walk-A-Lot in Seattle? Was this only in Seattle? Did everyone else do them all over the country?


Sponsored by the March of Dimes – a group that provides support for the families of infants who need to be in an NICU in the hospital – this was an opportunity to put your foot where your mouth was. It was a pretty basic set up. You’d start by getting all of the paperwork from a March of Dimes representative – my Mom was a rep which made it easy for us to get everything we needed. The Sponsor Form was a sign-up sheet for people to sign up and sponsor you a certain amount per mile. So – you’d make the rounds and get all your neighbors and relatives to sponsor you. Your Mom and Dad may even take your form to work where they might try to coerce their office mates to sponsor you, too. It was held in the summer. So you didn’t have the chance to take it to school – which was good if you were too scared to ask your friends or teachers.

The Walk-A-Lot was a 20 mile route that started and ended at the Seattle Center. There were a bunch of tables set up by the flag pavilion and you checked in there and started walking the route. There were check points every few miles where you got your sheet stamped to verify your progress. For you Seattleites, the route went from the Center over to Eastlake, under the freeway and then north on 15th NE as far as 130th. We then headed west across the freeway, over Aurora, down Greenwood and ended up on 15th NW, shot along Elliott Avenue and up Denny Way to the Seattle Center.

It was a lot of fun. It was an opportunity to do something good and participate in something much bigger than ourselves. We always kidded about how hard it was when we started, but by the end, we were pretty wiped out. We did it for quite a few years, and every time we were glad that we had done it, and it was for a worthy cause.

Sunday Drives...

We just bought a new van (new to us, it’s a 2008). We weren’t intending on buying a new van, but after someone decided to not slow down and totaled the backend of our van when my wife stopped at a crosswalk, we had no choice. (she’s ok… bit of whiplash, but feeling pretty good now – thanks for asking!)

Our van was wheelchair accessible which allowed us to transport our disabled son, so we had to order a replacement van from a company in Michigan that performs the conversions. We were without a van (and a 2^nd car) for almost 3 weeks as we shopped around, chose one, arranged for financing, worked out the insurance and waited for delivery.

It arrived Sunday morning and we met up with the guy who delivered it in a parking lot. It came in on one of those cool car carrier trucks. It traveled a few thousand miles and saw some rain and snow, so I got it all cleaned up and we took a drive on Sunday afternoon.

A Sunday drive.

It was a lot of fun as we drove around looking at all the wheat fields of the Palouse where we live (this is the prettiest time of year – all the fields are beautiful shades of green). Of course we were oohing and aahing at the things in our new van, but we spent the afternoon taking a drive and being together in our new van.

It made me wonder what happened to the practice of taking a Sunday drive. We grew up taking Sunday drives as a family. These were perfect outings for the Spring or Fall, when the weather wasn’t quite up to camping weather yet, but you wanted to get out and enjoy it. Mom would make up a picnic lunch and we’d take off right after we got home from church. There were a number of lakes, parks and rivers that we’d go to. There wasn’t a lot of planning ahead or buying stuff. We’d just hop in the car and go.

There are probably a few reasons why these are going by the wayside. When gas prices went up, some families might have cut back. As fewer folks went to church, Sunday afternoons lost their uniqueness – they became like another Saturday. As so many other entertainment options increased, an afternoon drive was less of a special thing.

I’d encourage you to try this as a family. Of course, to get the full effect, you’d have to leave the ipods, ipads, iphones, notebooks, zunes, cell phones, dvd players and gps systems at home. But – it might be fun! Give it a try and get to know your family as you enjoy the scenery!

Pizza Night, '70s Style!

It seems that lately there has been a lot of discussion about food on the blogs I frequent. We all love food, don’t we?

I felt like I should share what was one of my favorite meals growing up. Coming from a low to middle class family, we didn’t go out for dinner a lot, so we found ways to get around that. We made what we couldn’t afford to go out and buy as often as we’d have liked.

One of the best things that my mom made was Pizza. She used Appian Way pizza crust mix, which came with a can of pizza sauce, and we would make 2 or 3 pizzas at a time. These were awesome. They were big rectangular pies because she’d use cookie sheets to make them, and it often turned into a bit of a family effort. I think having these pizzas might have made me like foods that kids don’t necessary like – things like mushrooms, green peppers and olives. We all got involved in the building of the pizzas and so we had a personal interest in them and wanted to see if the ones we helped “design” came out good.

It was a special night when we had pizza for dinner, because we usually got to have pop with it. Pop for dinner – or anytime for that matter – was a special event. And, since it was so different than our normal dinners, we used to be able to eat out on the picnic table in the backyard, or around the counter island in the kitchen. It was very memorable and special because of how seldom we did it.

…funny how things like that help us to really appreciate our families and the simple lives we had growing up.

Cars of the '70s Revisitied

I saw a ’68 Camaro parked today. I had to stop in the parking lot and drool for a spell. Super sweet – totally stock except for some tricked out wheels and tires. Someone said it best when they said that the muscle cars from the late '60s and '70s looked like they were going 100 miles an hour when they were sitting still. The rakish lines, the diving hoods, the wide, flat backends. Two door sports cars with huge doors, and some frameless windows – awesome when open all the way.

My own Camaro that I used to own (all over this page :) ) looked pretty hot, too.

They have done a great job with the Camaro, Charger, Challenger and Mustang with reintroducing the retro versions of these beauties. I think that some people really hate these, and I can understand it for those who are purists. But these are really pretty hot cars.

I probably won’t be getting anytime soon. But – if I ever had enough money to buy my dream car, I but one of these.

Ok – back to reality.