Cocoa Swap Question #4

This weeks topic:
What is your most memorable vacation? Where did you go? What made it memorable? My MOST memorable vacation was a family vacation we took in 1973 when I was 15. My parents, the adventurers they are, piled 5 kids and themselves into a gold white-topped Chevrolet Suburban, hooked up a travel trailer, and went south from Michigan. My father, being the German that he is, had planned this, of course, months in advance. My mother's parents are from Mexico, (she was born and raised in Iowa) and my dad was (and still is) deep into genealogy. He is from Koln Germany, and arrived on US soil in 1953. The trip had more than one purpose:
1) to introduce us to our Mexican heritage, and 2) to get original birth records from as many of my mother's family members as possible. We traveled all the way south almost to Guatemala. My father would stop the car before we reached each village or town, and would tell us all the things we were going to see and why they were important. It really was awesomely educational. (Even though I was very unhappy that I had to leave my first boyfriend behind in Michigan for 3 months..) I remember seeing cows on the beach in Salinas Cruz, and my mom jumping up and down in terror when I went out there because the waves were monstrous!! Well, there wasn't just me. I was the oldest of 5, yes, that is f-i-v-e children....15, 13, 11, 9, and 7. The trip took three months, and I would have to write a short novel describing the adventures we had! hahahaha maybe that's why I love Frieda Kahlo... My dad is not a "turista" type. He is "get there, jump in and get your hands dirty type".... which explains why we drove EVERYWHERE, or walked, saw EVERYTHING in Fodor's book and more, who knows, and we usually entered small towns and mountain villages the back way or hiking up a mountain so my dad could talk to the local police guy or whoever. Yes, he speaks Spanish and my mother, by the way, speaks German.......by the way , some small town near Tampico Mexico is where I first encountered a fish head swimming around in a bowl of soup...in a restaurant with blue adobe walls and hardly any light ,and long wooden benches to sit on, and probably the best tasting soup and corn tortillas I can remember. I didn't eat the fish head, no, my culinary tastes are wide, but fish heads, no thanks.
Anyway, thanks for jolting that memory out of the library of memories I have of life with the Kriechel's!!!!!!