Rapid City 2nd Ward Camp Out. August 1975. Sheridan Lake

Now this is something you didn't see often. The Williamsons on a family outing. The Rapid City 2nd Ward had a camp out. Don't know why but I remember it was at Sheridan Lake. For some strange reason we decided to go up as a family. Now you wonder why that was odd. Because we normally didn't do things like that. Both mom and dad worked and it was difficult to organize something that involved more than a few hours. If we did go anywhere as a family it was usually church on Sunday and, the occasional trip into the Hills whenever company came to call.

A few things to ponder.

What happened to that deformed cake pan that haunted us our whole lives growing up? Does someone still have it? (By the way, Jilane has the handleless, warped pan we always used to pop dad's popcorn at night).

Look at the pop cans. Yes they have the pull off tabs that eventually were banned because of small animals and littering. Notice the brand? Remember "Cragmont Soda", the generic Safeway brand? I remember my favorite was Grapefruit Soda. Mother was on her Weight Watchers diet. Notice her pop is Weight Watchers.

And now the names. Let's start on the left at top. Dad, then Jon - enjoying his soda, and finally Janice - the one all blurred out. On the right from the top. Kevin, his friend Brad Haugen, Jilane - with her pretty pink hat and watch, and finally mom, eating her half of tomato. Look how skinny she is. Dad is 39 years old. Mom is 36.

We were enjoying some of mom's fantastic fried chicken. I know mom didn't cook much in the 80's and 90's but she really knew how to make a really good fried chicken. I most likely made the cake. The rest of the clan ran through the house raising cane. Missing from this picture is our older sister Kim. She was married to Mike Hendrickson at the time and had one baby, Forrest. Religion wasn't her thing back then. Neither were family get togethers. No Annette either.

Now, Lisa is another story. Where is she? I know we took her on this outing. Ahhh. there is she, we are eating and she is out enjoying the sun on the lake front. Lis is three in this photo. She's the one pulling her little air mattress across the water

Oh, wait, there she is again. Hanging around other people's tables and food. If you look closely you'll see here on the right of the picture eating away. Funny I seem to the be the one looking out for her. Everyone else enjoys their lunch while Victor is watching Lisa and taking the pictures.

And one last thing. Who of us can ever forget our yellow Rambler Station Wagon with wood panelling?

Well, here it is again. Ah yes........... Remember riding in the back of that thing? Come to think of it, it really wasn't that bad, was it? At least it made it up the hills, didn't honk when you turned corners, and didn't give away as it went down the road by leaving thick blue smoke! Oh, and you couldn't see the road through its floorboards either. That car was Williamson luxury at its best. We'd made it to the big times.

Simply,
Victor