PANAMA 1970

Ray and I have a destination wedding in Key West that we HAVE to attend next weekend.  We couldn't possibly have turned in a "no" RSVP.  Of course, Virginia might get some accumulating snow on Wednesday, but we will have to just see about that happening (it is only Friday now).  Either way, I cannot wait for some warm temperatures and sunshine (assuming Key West has this when we arrive).  The weather isn't really the point here though.  What I have been thinking about mostly (besides our upcoming Panama trip) is that the couple is getting married at what had been called The Pier House when my family stayed there in 1972 and 1973, but it is now called Pier House Resort and Caribbean Spa.  La de da.  I decided to look up pictures in an old family album my mom put together years ago.  She didn't label anything which is super annoying to me, but I can tell the difference between our trip to Key West, our trip to California and her travels with my dad before I was to become a reality.  I wanted to see if  there were pictures of the pool or grounds of the hotel and to see if anything triggered my memory when there next week.  I vividly remember my parents eating a ton of crab legs perhaps at the pool bar (I remember my mom cracking things a lot) or lobster (doubt this).  I remember wanting no part of eating that gross seafood.  Conch soup had been enough for me!  Disclosure here:  Ray eats very little seafood.  He will try fish every so often.  I am trying different kinds of fish when eating out (most recently during spa weekend, I had them put grilled tuna on my salad instead of chicken--delicious), I like crabmeat and crab legs along with lobster, but for some reason I am allergic to shrimp.  Soy alérgico a camarón.
But back to the picture search--- I didn't find any really big deal pictures.  One was of my sister and I standing on the grounds of the hotel and another in the pool but not really of the pool (and too far away to even notice us).  There is a wonderful picture of the bar, Sloppy Joes.  We ate breakfast there daily.  Yes, first we had eggs or pancakes, and every morning we finished it off with coconut ice cream.  Funny, I don't remember what my parents had for breakfast, but now I think I can come up with a few things in liquid form (it was five o'clock somewhere!).  Okay.  Picture taking in the seventies wasn't the greatest.  People got in the way, they were blurry and far away, and there were too many taken of unknown places without labels and not enough with people in them.  

Infamous bar (and yes I do know about the scandal with original owner  from the 1990's)

Then I turn the page, and there it is.  Always leading back to Panama in this blog, there they are--just a few simple pictures of the Miraflores Locks and the Panama Canal in 1970.   In black and white.  No one got in the way of these pictures. Where were all the people?  I knew that my parents had traveled to Panama.  My dad worked for the Department of Defense, and I am now wondering if this was another business trip my mom accompanied him on.  Two small children and a stay at home mom didn't make for a whole lot of money back in the day.  And Panama doesn't seem like a place a couple would just hop on a plane and travel to in the seventies.  (According to http://www.answers.com/topic/panama-canal-treaty President Johnson, in 1967, promised negotiations to abolish the 1903 treaty, and in 1967 a draft treaty was initialed, so perhaps my dad did have some business to tend to in Panama?).  Another question I can't ask them and will just believe what I think to be true.  The picture is dated January, 1970.  Did it take my parents months to develop the film?  Did they go in the rainy season before the holidays?  Did they really travel in January?  I joked with my sister that they left us over the holidays, and we just don't remember being left with our grandparents when Santa was coming.  One of those childhood memories we just can't seem to dig up.  Nevertheless, my sister has told me over and over again that my dad would be in awe of Ray and I retiring to Panama.  Although he had to travel extensively for work, was gone for weeks on end, and it was exhausting to him as the job grew old, he still wanted to keep seeing the world.  And he would want nothing more than for me and Ray to see it for him.  Only now, we will use Panama as our gateway to the world.  It being the Hub of the Americas, afterall.

Fred.  Dad.  World Traveler.

Miraflores Locks (had to scan pictures keeping them in the album, since they are STUCK permanently)

Eppleton Hall--a paddlewheel tug boat built in England 1914.   It traveled to San Francisco via the Panama Canal. In service 1914-67  ASSUMING this is not the same Eppleton Hall.

Maybe my parents took a boat trip on the Gatun Lake?  Maybe that is my dad up front.