Travel Articles > Steps Through Time
Steps Through Time
Some day, we may look back at the summer of 2003 as the period in which we did a great deal of time traveling.
For one thing, we visited some important historical sites, such as Manzanar and The Alamo. We also visited a place prominent in my personal history---Memphis, Tennessee.
And of course, we made our second appearance at National Tom Sawyer Days in Mark Twain's home town, Hannibal, Missouri. This was an especially historic occasion, because we attended the ceremony dedicating the new waterfront statue of Sam Clemens, portrayed as a young riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. Zephyr again participated in the fence-painting contest, even though he had cut his finger on his scout knife a few days earlier while getting his props together (he almost required stitches). And he won second place! (He collected a 200 dollar savings bond, a plaque and a 50 dollar gift certificate from Wal-Mart, which he promptly used on a video game.)
A few weeks later, while Zephyr was attending Scout Camp in Maryland, Kimberly and I stepped back in time by staying at a campground in nearby Lancaster Co., Pa. surrounded by Amish farmlands. We could see the "Pennsylvania Dutch" out working in their fields on non-Sundays, with horses that pulled some sort of machinery which, though ancient-looking, apparently was motorized, and thus confused us a bit about its suitability for Amish use. (Another sight that seemed a bit of an anomaly was two teenagers, apparently out on a date---or whatever they call it---drinking Cokes as they rode in their buggy. She was dressed in traditional clothing, but he wore a very trendy and colorful baseball cap) On Sunday afternoon, we could see an occasional Amish family out for a stroll in their period finery. And one day, a perky girl of about sixteen, accompanied by a younger boy and girl, drove her wagon through our campground selling produce and baked goods. This apparently was a weekly event, but I unfortunately didn't learn about it until the bread was all gone. I did, however, buy a few ears of corn at an extremely reasonable price, and it was quite delicious roasted on an open fire.
But the most extreme time-stepping occurred at the end of the summer---Labor Day weekend, to be exact---when we holed up in the woods of New Hampshire to participate in a gathering staged by the Society for Creative Anachronism. I first attended an event by this organization many moons ago while living in---of all places---Memphis. All these years, I'd been thinking maybe it would be fun to take part in another of their outings, but never really had a good opportunity. And now, I arrived at the event in New Hampshire to learn that SCA is headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area, where I lived for a number of years. But I had to travel all the way across the continent (several times in fact) in order to get Medieval again.
This event was held at a 4-H camp, and the facilities were, to say the least, rather primitive. We stayed in cabins without electricity that looked as if they had been shipped in from Laura Ingalls Wilder's old homestead. A slam of the door might have brought the roof in on our heads. During the day, we had some rather vicious mosquitoes to contend with, and at night it got rather chilly. But for the most part, the elements cooperated.
As soon as we arrived and carried our things into our cabins (there were six of us per cabin), we donned our "garb" as they call Medieval clothing, and began attending a series of workshops on skills related, even peripherally, to the Middle Ages. These included archery---my own tutor was a girl about 9 years old who REALLY knew her bows and arrows. I also took a class in Gaelic and learned to sing a couple of Gaelic lullabies. Most fascinating to me, however, was that I received an introduction to harping. No, I don't mean complaining---I've been doing that rather effectively for decades. I mean actually strumming on the stringed instrument reputedly favored by cherubim and seraphim. I'd been wanting to give the harp a try for some time, and once I tried it, I was hooked---one of these days I'll have to buy my own, if I ever can figure out where to hang it. Despite its tuning limits, you can play some really nice tunes on the instrument, and (as I learned) you never even have to use your pinkie.
On the way out of New Hampshire we stopped at the Museum of Family Camping, another interesting little excursion into the past. In addition to an outside exhibit of some old RV's in various states of disrepair, the inside has a little display of camping artifacts, photos and literature from the past century or so to reveal just how the activity has evolved.
In the same building is the Civilian Conservation Corps Museum. In fact, the building itself is one of the remaining structures of a CCC camp formerly located on the site. (Another of the buildings houses a snowmobile museum.)
After that, it was back to the Twenty-First Century, and on with our fall itinerary.
