My sister and I were both in elementary school when we took our first Florida vacation. I’m not sure how old we were. Panama City was our destination. We packed the family station wagon with a tent and traveled all day. I’m not sure how early we started our trip and I think we got lost on the way there, but it was very late and we had not arrived. Everyone in the car had fallen asleep except for my dad and he finally got to a point where he could not stay awake any longer. He finally pulled the car over to the side of the road not really knowing where we were.
The next morning, we were awakened by the sound of traffic zooming by our car. We had made it to Panama City and were on the edge of town on the busiest road in town. This road continued next to the public beaches and an amusement park. We continued until we found a campground called Magnolia Beach. Magnolia Beach was fine for a campground but wasn’t much of a beach. The waterfront property at this resort was fine for seeing fish and stingrays in the water and crabs on the beach but there were no waves and the water wasn’t that deep. A fun place to explore but not so fun to play.
After we set up our tent, we went to the public beach area to play in the waves. My dad was tired from the trip and quickly retreated to an umbrella on the beach and fell asleep. We spent a lot of time in the sun without any suntan lotion. This was at a time when skin cancer wasn’t really a major concern. More sun was better. No consideration was given to protecting your skin from dangerous rays from the sun. Most suntan lotions were oils to help keep your skin from drying out as it got darker and cooked in the sun. It’s also worth noting that my sister is a redhead and fair skinned. She blistered relatively quick. I don’t know that she ever put on a shirt to try and prevent any more blistering. My dad is also fair skinned and you would think that he would be ok under the umbrella. Unfortunately, he fell asleep long enough and the sun moved enough that his legs were exposed to the sun from the knees down.
That night, my sister was breathing heavily as she slept. I slept through all the action that took place that evening as my sister was taken to the hospital. They found that she did have second degree burns but nothing had to be wrapped or treated with anything other than lotions. The next morning, we started our trip back home. My sister couldn’t wear anything but her underwear and one of my pajama shirts. My dad wore shorts but couldn’t wear socks or shoes. My mom and I had nice tans. My mom’s nose was a little red but not bad. Our trip back home took us back through Memphis around time to eat an evening meal. We found a McDonalds and my sister insisted on going in with my mom as she got our food. This was before restaurants had “no shirt, no shoes, no service” policies so I guess they were ok with my barefoot sister coming in wearing only a pajama shirt.
That evening went we got home, our dog Cindy was excited to see us. As my dad walked into the kitchen, Cindy jumped up on his blistered legs.
After a few days, my mother’s nose fell off or at least the blistered skin came off in one piece. And later in the week, I was swinging on a swing in our backyard when my shoulder rubbed against the swing chain and my beautiful tanned skin rolled up and peeled off.