Good Old Summertime
Posted: Mon Jan 28, 2013 4:41 pm
By Timothy Rubacky, Senior Vice President
There has always something special about summer, hasn’t there? As an adult, I don’t feel that way about winter, spring or fall. I love that first snowfall of the season that seems as if someone has set a giant quilt down upon the city, absorbing every sound, but the second onset of white fluff is just annoying. The flowers blooming and the electric green of new leaves each spring is energizing but also is a harbinger of lawns to be mowed and flowerbeds to be tended to. The cavalcade of reds, oranges, yellows and golds that spreads across the landscape like a visual wildfire can take my breath away each fall, just as raking those leaves will do as soon as they part company with their host trees and drift to the ground.
But summer is, well special. I was thinking about this the other day. Why does summer have such a special place in my heart as an adult? It’s usually hot. And grass-mowing is in full swing. There’s no extended break from my working life. So why does summer just feel so right each and every year?
Then it finally hit me. It’s because summer, more than any other entire season, is chock full of our best childhood memories. Was there any more glorious feeling then that last day of school each May or June when we knew that an endless ea of possibilities stretched out in front of us? There were kites to fly, forts to build, creeks to ford, trees to climb and model airplanes to build, There were softball games to play, bikes to ride, picnics to attend. Each summer, it seemed as if it could never end. It did, of course, just a few short months later when the Back-to-School specials appeared in store windows and newspaper pages. But for those glorious two or three months, the world was ours. We could be an astronaut. A pirate. Or even the captain of a steamboat.
Our memories vary depending on our age. While my summers seemed magical, my grandfather’s seemed idyllic. He would tell tales of rushing out in the morning to play all day, beckoned home in mid-afternoon for lemonade on the screened-in porch where hot dogs and potato salad awaited. The aroma of fresh-baked bread in the morning wafted out open kitchen windows and the mouth-watering smell of chocolate chip cookies, apple pie or peach cobbler followed in the afternoon. It was a time when townsfolk got together and marched down Main Street on the 4th of July, proud to carry the Stars and Stripes. It was memories of lying on the grass in the town square watching fireworks explode above the band gazebo. It was running so fast with a kite in tow down a grassy hill that he tripped and tumbled to the bottom, laughing all the way. It was chasing tadpoles in the local pond during the day and fireflies in the woods out back during sunset. It was a time of innocence and pure joy, unencumbered by the worries we all accumulate as adults.
We remember our own childhood summers and honor those of our parents and grandparents here at the American Queen Steamboat Company. We can never be eight or nine years old again, but we can recapture a bit of those memories on one of our Good Old Summertime voyages. On these unique trips, we recognize that straw hats, suspenders, cool pitchers of lemonade, brass bands, picnics, ice cream socials and porch swings were part of the fabric of summer in America not all that long ago. Be transported to a simpler time when summer was about fun, freedom, friends and food. Fly kites off the top deck, enjoy apple pies and cherry cobbler and immerse yourself in the music and stories of a time gone by.
It’s a perfect time to experience the American Queen’s Good Old Summertime voyages. If you book your vacation before March 31, 2013, you can take advantage of a Two-Category Stateroom Upgrade plus save up to $750 per stateroom on select voyages. Our single travelers will love that there is no surcharge for single occupancy of an inside cabin and only a 20% surcharge to travel in an outside stateroom.
We have several Good Old Summertime departures, but here are six of our favorites.
Good Old Summertime
8-Night Voyage: July 5-13, 2013
St. Louis, MO to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Voyage Fares from: $2,920
Good Old Summertime
7-Night Voyage: July 13-20, 2013Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN to St. Louis, MO
Voyage Fares from: $2,495
Good Old Summertime
5-Night Voyage: August 10-15, 2013
Pittsburgh, PA to Cincinnati, OH
Voyage Fares from: $1,820
Good Old Summertime
7-Night Voyage: August 15-22, 2013
Cincinnati, OH to St. Louis, MO
Voyage Fares from: $2,495
Good Old Summertime
9-Night Voyage: August 22-31, 2013
St. Louis, MO to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Voyage Fares from: $3,245
Good Old Summertime
7-Night Voyage: Aug 31-Sep 7, 2013
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN to St. Louis, MO
Voyage Fares from: $2,495
There has always something special about summer, hasn’t there? As an adult, I don’t feel that way about winter, spring or fall. I love that first snowfall of the season that seems as if someone has set a giant quilt down upon the city, absorbing every sound, but the second onset of white fluff is just annoying. The flowers blooming and the electric green of new leaves each spring is energizing but also is a harbinger of lawns to be mowed and flowerbeds to be tended to. The cavalcade of reds, oranges, yellows and golds that spreads across the landscape like a visual wildfire can take my breath away each fall, just as raking those leaves will do as soon as they part company with their host trees and drift to the ground.
But summer is, well special. I was thinking about this the other day. Why does summer have such a special place in my heart as an adult? It’s usually hot. And grass-mowing is in full swing. There’s no extended break from my working life. So why does summer just feel so right each and every year?
Then it finally hit me. It’s because summer, more than any other entire season, is chock full of our best childhood memories. Was there any more glorious feeling then that last day of school each May or June when we knew that an endless ea of possibilities stretched out in front of us? There were kites to fly, forts to build, creeks to ford, trees to climb and model airplanes to build, There were softball games to play, bikes to ride, picnics to attend. Each summer, it seemed as if it could never end. It did, of course, just a few short months later when the Back-to-School specials appeared in store windows and newspaper pages. But for those glorious two or three months, the world was ours. We could be an astronaut. A pirate. Or even the captain of a steamboat.
Our memories vary depending on our age. While my summers seemed magical, my grandfather’s seemed idyllic. He would tell tales of rushing out in the morning to play all day, beckoned home in mid-afternoon for lemonade on the screened-in porch where hot dogs and potato salad awaited. The aroma of fresh-baked bread in the morning wafted out open kitchen windows and the mouth-watering smell of chocolate chip cookies, apple pie or peach cobbler followed in the afternoon. It was a time when townsfolk got together and marched down Main Street on the 4th of July, proud to carry the Stars and Stripes. It was memories of lying on the grass in the town square watching fireworks explode above the band gazebo. It was running so fast with a kite in tow down a grassy hill that he tripped and tumbled to the bottom, laughing all the way. It was chasing tadpoles in the local pond during the day and fireflies in the woods out back during sunset. It was a time of innocence and pure joy, unencumbered by the worries we all accumulate as adults.
We remember our own childhood summers and honor those of our parents and grandparents here at the American Queen Steamboat Company. We can never be eight or nine years old again, but we can recapture a bit of those memories on one of our Good Old Summertime voyages. On these unique trips, we recognize that straw hats, suspenders, cool pitchers of lemonade, brass bands, picnics, ice cream socials and porch swings were part of the fabric of summer in America not all that long ago. Be transported to a simpler time when summer was about fun, freedom, friends and food. Fly kites off the top deck, enjoy apple pies and cherry cobbler and immerse yourself in the music and stories of a time gone by.
It’s a perfect time to experience the American Queen’s Good Old Summertime voyages. If you book your vacation before March 31, 2013, you can take advantage of a Two-Category Stateroom Upgrade plus save up to $750 per stateroom on select voyages. Our single travelers will love that there is no surcharge for single occupancy of an inside cabin and only a 20% surcharge to travel in an outside stateroom.
We have several Good Old Summertime departures, but here are six of our favorites.
Good Old Summertime
8-Night Voyage: July 5-13, 2013
St. Louis, MO to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Voyage Fares from: $2,920
Good Old Summertime
7-Night Voyage: July 13-20, 2013Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN to St. Louis, MO
Voyage Fares from: $2,495
Good Old Summertime
5-Night Voyage: August 10-15, 2013
Pittsburgh, PA to Cincinnati, OH
Voyage Fares from: $1,820
Good Old Summertime
7-Night Voyage: August 15-22, 2013
Cincinnati, OH to St. Louis, MO
Voyage Fares from: $2,495
Good Old Summertime
9-Night Voyage: August 22-31, 2013
St. Louis, MO to Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
Voyage Fares from: $3,245
Good Old Summertime
7-Night Voyage: Aug 31-Sep 7, 2013
Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN to St. Louis, MO
Voyage Fares from: $2,495