This meme is hosted by Alyce from At Home With Books
You're going to have to stick with me on this one (tons of segues). My dad has been in Venezuela for 2 weeks on a birding trip and comes home later today so I've been thinking about him and birding. That made me remember that when my family spent three months traveling through Kenya, India, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Hong Kong, and Kuala Lumpur (yes, an awesome trip) my parents did a lot of birding. Not to be left out, my brother and I did "fake birding": we made bird books filled with fake birds that we pretended we saw. The book was full of statistics, drawings, and maps just like a real bird book.
So, this is my brother and I in 1978 in the Masai Mara game reserve in Kenya. Notice the binoculars (all the better for seeing fake birds with) and the all-too-groovy Chairman Mao hats.
14 comments
What a fantastic trip ypur family took! It's probably one of those things you appreciate more now than you did then. I remember a family trip to Ireland which I wish I could repeat today!
Love the fake bird and bird books you and your brother created. Great sense of humor.
This is a great photo, you two leaning on the car and all! Thanks for sharing.
Great Pic!
I love the idea of making a book of fake birds. Great imagination.
carol
Do you still have those bird books? Great story & photo.
What an amazing experience! I imagine there were a lot of exotic birds to see in those parts of the world. (even the 'fake' ones - haha)
Wow, what fun! And it must be such a thrill to have the photos to remember the trip.
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That is hilarious - I love it! You guys were so creative, and it sounds like you had a wonderful time. I'm glad you mentioned the hair because I was thinking that you and he looked astonishingly alike, especially in hairdos! :)
Amy--The trip was amazing. My dad is a professor and got a Guggenheim so we traveled for 3 months. This shot was taken on the only day we did an official "safari". The other days we drove ourselves around the game reserves.
Dizzy--Our teddy bears also had passports where we copied our international stamps
Lee--Sadly, we do not have the books anymore. That would be awesome.
Trish--The (real) birds were amazing as was the wildlife!
Laurel-Rain--The photos from the trip are fun and funny given the era
Alyce--I must say that I had a short hair cut that year (7th grade) and was mistaken for a boy on most of our trip
I absolutely love this! And the fake birding too! I do real birding but rarely get beyond my local area. Someday I will go on a real birding trip to an exotic place.
Wow! I could only dream of taking a trip like that! My dad does not like to travel and neither does my husband! Guess I'll never see the world :(
Leslie--My parents are avid birders, doing the Christmas Count, birding in whatever country they are in, etc. I wish I was in to it; it gives them real purpose on their vacations
Angie--It sounds like you need to find a good girl friend and plan a trip!
I love looking back on old photos taken on family trips. Nothing as exotic as Kenya in my past, though.
Fake birds...that's priceless.
Marie--Families photos are great and some are really scary depending on the era!
That's a great story and photo...Now I want to see a picture of one of your "fake" birds! Lol.
I am running late this week, but here is mine if you'd like to take a peek: http://myreadersblock.blogspot.com/2011/03/saturday-snapshot-on-sunday.html
Bev--I so wish I had kept our fake bird books, it would be great to see them, but alas. I did not.
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