When I was a little girl my granny would take me on trips to visit my Aunt Dollie in Seaford, Delaware. We went every year, mostly in the summer but sometimes in the spring. This is a picture of me and Granny standing on the steps of the ferry we rode across the Chesapeake Bay. It was a wonderful trip each year. First we would board a train in Charleston, at the old Depot, and ride it through the hills and valleys of our beautiful state. The clickety-clack sound of the railroad made me want to curl up against Granny and sleep. The bathrooms were an adventure for me and Granny with their pull down potties and push button sinks. I remember that we always had a stop in White Sulphur and, from the look of their depot, I was sure it was a fairyland little town.
The train would take us to Washington, DC where Granny would "Hail" a taxi to drive us to the Greyhound Bus terminal. Once there we boarded a bus for Seaford. I think the bus trip was about 3 hours so, after the first hour, the bus would make a "rest' stop at a place called "The Windmill" right before the Bay(there were no bathrooms on buses back then so rest stops were necessary). The Windmill was a roadside restaurant that was shaped like a windmill. I thought it was fascinating. Inside the Windmill there were games called Slot machines. You put a nickle in, pulled down the lever and watched as the fruit pictures spun around and finally came to a halt. You hoped that all three of your fruit matched so that you could win some money. Ah, yes, my friends, it was gambling and gambling was illegal in the state of West Virginia, but apparently, not in Virginia. My Granny loved to play those slot machines. She would try 5 times and no more. She almost always won and she would say to me, "Maybe we shouldn't tell anybody that we played these machines" and I never did.
When we got to the Bay, we would unboard the bus and, the bus and us, would board the ferryboat. It took us across the Bay. That was long before the bridge was built. Once across, we reboarded the bus and finally arrived in Seaford. It was a wonderful adventure. Oh, how I loved my Granny.
