Unforgettable Vacations

July/August 2008 • Category: Features Print This Page Print This Page

As a child, the last month of school was spent itching with anticipation of summer vacation. The thoughts of a summer spent at the beach, or the mountains or on a road-trip with the family made those last few days of school seem endless. Looking back, fond memories of times spent together with family and friends, visiting new places and enjoying new adventures resurface.

Some vacations are planned years in advance and planned down to the minute, and some are spontaneous and almost accidental, but both can produce equally vivid memories of happy times.
North Carolina offers a variety of vacation destinations and activities for any type of vacation the heart desires. From deep-sea fishing off the coast, to hot-air balloon tours over the mountains, to cruising Lake Norman on a pontoon boat or the Blue Ridge Parkway in the family wagon, there’s a little something for everyone. And with the rising cost of gasoline, more and more North Carolinians are forced to vacation closer to home.

Farm Bureau members Brenda Brisson, Pearl Freedman and Marie Ferguson recall some of their most unforgettable vacation moments:

Brenda Brisson
Vacations weren’t common in the Brisson household, so when Bladen County Farm Bureau member Brenda Brisson and her family decided to take a trip to Grandfather Mountain, it was sure to be a vacation to remember.

Brenda, along with her husband and son and her sister’s family, took a two-week extended vacation to Western North Carolina to experience an unfamiliar part of the state. Grandfather Mountain was one of the most memorable stops on that trip.

“Seeing Grandfather Mountain, we were really inspired by what God had created,” Brisson says. “We were all like kids in a candy store—we wanted to see anything and everything.”

When Brisson was growing up, the family took a day to go to the beach every year. “I never really knew what a vacation was,” Brisson says. “I wanted my son to see places that I was never able to see growing up.”

A trip that Pearl Freedman took with Farm Bureau to Mississippi after Hurricane Katrina stands out in her memory. “We took on the project of helping a farm lady who had lost everything,” she recalls. “We live miles apart, but our worlds were so similar.”

Freedman says she even enjoys traveling on her own. “I like to go on tours where I meet people I don’t know,” she says. “I like to see the differences in where they live and develop friendships. When I was a child, times were different and I didn’t have the opportunity to meet people from other parts of the world.”

Marie Ferguson
The best vacations were always adventures for Farm Bureau member Marie Ferguson, of Haywood County. “We like unplanned, accidental vacations,” Ferguson says.

Following a Farm Bureau meeting in Louisville, Ky., Ferguson and her family decided to take back roads on their return trip to Waynesville. They happened to drive through Bardstown, Ky., and realized as they were passing through, it was the site of My Old Kentucky Home State Park. The park, home to Federal Hill plantation, was said to have been the inspiration for songwriter Stephen Foster’s famous song “My Old Kentucky Home.” Foster was also well-known for the songs “Oh! Susanna,” “Camptown Races” and “Old Folks at Home.”

When the family stopped to visit My Old Kentucky Home, Col. Sanders (founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken) was there, and Ferguson’s children were able to have their picture taken with him.
“We really enjoyed finding a new place,” she remembers. “We still talk about that vacation. We love to get off the main drag and see what’s out there.”

Ferguson says she had a similar experience when she attended a Farm Bureau meeting in Kitty Hawk. “We realized there was so much in our own state we still haven’t seen. We enjoy getting on the back-roads and seeing what we can find.”

Share and Enjoy:

  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Google Bookmarks
  • Live
  • Reddit
  • Digg
  • email

Leave a Reply

I agree with the Terms of Use Policy.