Trip to the Bahamas ~~ June 1996

For vacation this summer with the Mars Family, we flew down to West Palm instead of driving. Bill planned a trip to the Bahamas on one of his Grady White boats as it was too far to take the Trawler.

The Whole Family

Bill & Barb Mars Birthday Party, Port Charlotte, Florida

On July 20 we headed down to Port Charlotte to the River House for Bill and Barb’s 40^th birthday party. When we arrived Thursday we discovered Bill, Julie, Bob, Barb and Louise had just left on the Grady White to go have dinner. So I sat on the phone for an hour trying to locate them because the kids did not remember what restaurant they went to. Finally found them and we drove up to meet them. 

Friday we went out on the Trawler and they took the Grady White so they all could go water skiing. Josh finally got up on the skis and went around the water a little. Jacklyn and Marjorie jumped off the end of the Trawler and swam to shore and played there.

Jim at the trawler

Trawler trip with the Mars Family

Vacation time – July 9. Got a late start Saturday morning and had to take a detour due to excessive flooding in South Georgia. Part of I-75 near Macon was closed due to flooding, so we took a round about way out I-20 then south to I-16 to I-95. On I-95 we got stopped by a bad wreck and sat dead stopped for about 45 minutes while the wreck was cleared.

Got to North Palm Beach around 11pm Saturday night – woke up the Mars’ who said Let’s Go. But everyone was tired and burned out so we just went to bed. Josh, Lisa and Garrett stayed on the trawler for a while, snuck out and went to the park about 1am then went swimming about 4am. They got some sleep, but not much.

Bill & Julie

The Mars Family visits Stone Mountain, Georgia

Throughout the years we met up with the Mars Family, either in Florida or at our home in Stone Mountain. This year they came up to visit during spring break, and Bill's sister Barb and her husband came down from Weaverville, North Carolina to visit.

Bill & Jim

Colorado Family Vacation ~~ July 1993

Yes, one of our favorite states to visit is Colorado. It is very beautiful and there is lots to do and see. We left on July 11, 1993; one stop was in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a couple of days, just to see what the city is like. It was nice and the people are friendly, but the vegetation is quite sparse. I did not like it at all. There was virtually no grass, just dirt and scrub. The "subdivisions" were houses in the hillside but no yards to speak of -- the yard was still just dirt and scrub. While we were touring our camera died -- now we are without a camera, unless we buy another one.

Trip to St. Augustine, Florida ~~ August 1992

Traveled to St. Augustine from August 7 to 10, 1992, to meet up with the Mars family. Since we did not get together for a vacation, we decided on a mini long weekend at the beach. It was so good to see them again. When we do get together it is almost like we saw each other more often than we actually do. It is always real good to be with them. Julie wrote me a short note as soon as they got home expressing the same feelings. As little as Jacklyn sees them, she seems to know that they are special people and always remembers the times we get together and how much fun we always have.

Colorado Family Vacation ~~ July 1992

We took annual vacations to somewhere, but a few times they were out west to Colorado. Jim saved up his vacation time and I took my two weeks. During this trip to Colorado we took our nephew, Jonathan. We had a big brown van which we called the Brown Beast, which was a great vacation vehicle with bucket seats in front, a bench seat in back and a huge area in the back to lay down. Jim built a deck so we could cram all of our camping supplies under the deck and had sleeping bags on top of the deck to lay down on.
 

The Brown Beast