The Blender and other memories

This story is in progress as I try to recall …

The idea of a vacation looks different in every person’s mind. For my family, in 1960’s Alaska, it sometimes meant leaving the comfort of our Cooper Creek cabin to go fishing alongside a remote lake for a couple days. Today we would call that behavior social distancing. Back then, it was called getting away from it all.


Preparing for these adventures was methodical and precise. Everyone had their own jobs. Mom, along with everything else, managed the food. Her dishes were simple and delicious and plentiful. Our camping meals were divided into four categories: Breakfast, snacks, lunch and dinner. Snacks included smoked Russian River red salmon (from the previous year’s catch) and reindeer sausage. My parent’s personal favorite was an early version of a slider. It included a layer of sardines on top of Velveeta cheese with Ritz or Saltine cracker bookends. I was never a fan of canned sardines but I sure could relate to their plight whenever I was packed into our 1962 Ford Country Sedan station wagon with my brother, two sisters and a couple restless, wet dogs.

Dinners and breakfasts were anticipated after a day of successful fishing. Morning or evening meals often included fresh caught, rainbow trout, basted with egg and breaded with seasoned cornmeal. Served on paper plates, servings were laid alongside scrambled eggs or upon a bed of Herter’s Wild Rice. It was the very best rice. So good, that mom and dad hoarded stockpiles of cans of the dried, mail-ordered rice in the cellar just in case Herters ever went out of business (as it did in 1977.)

INSET: Herter’s Catalog was one of many variations of today’s Amazon or Google. Catalog shopping was the internet of my childhood. The company’s catalogs arrived annually in January to the delight of Alaskans everywhere. Mailmen of the day dreaded that time of year thanks to catalogs from JC Penny’s, Sears Roebuck and Company, Burpee Seeds and Montgomery Ward.

We never starved. Other camping meals included mom’s fried chicken, dad’s fried spam and bologna sandwiches, scrambled eggs and bacon. The secret to every successful meal was the 16” cast iron fryer pan that preserved and transferred flavors from meal to meal. Cleaning that skillet with soap was a sacrilege. If I still had that pan on a hot burner today I’m pretty sure I’d hear my mom’s voice echoing “Use a pot holder before touching the handle.”

For sweets, we devoured cookies, Nabisco Va-Nilla Wafers, candy bars and roasted marshmallows. I fondly recall searching for and stripping down perfect willow branches that were thin yet sturdy enough - to hold hotdogs and later, marshmallows.

Occasionally, the folks brought along the wood barreled ice cream maker. This required extra ice, rock salt and a slew of ingredients so it didn’t always make the trip. Among the ingredients was Low Fat Milkman powdered milk. We grew up on that stuff and I’m pretty sure that I would have a tough time with it today. But whoa, it was incredible as a milk base for homespun ice cream in the middle of Alaska. After about three hours of tag-teaming on the hand crank, the brother or sister who cranked the longest won the grand prize - the right to lick the beater bar. Bowls ready, everyone scooped the sticky stuff. It didn’t need chocolate syrup. It just needed to be enjoyed before it melted.

Our beverages were ageless, or rather invincible. Fresh water from a hand pump would turn white dairy powder into milk, orange Tang crystals into a morning breakfast sip, and colorful sugar powder into KoolAid. Nestle’s Chocolate and Strawberry Quik was a favorite, too. Easy to pack and rarely wasted.

Mom and dad’s beverages were much more specialized. Budweiser and Scheweppes Ginger Ale. I learned early that ginger ale is an acquired taste that I can live without. I still remember my first sip when dad wasn’t looking. It puckered my lips and stung the roof of my mouth and then erupted through the inside of my nose. It’s very likely that I might have enjoyed the ginger ale if it wasn’t competing for room in the glass with ice cubes and three parts vodka. However, that’s last time I ever tried to drink a clear, bubbly soft drink, with or without the extra kick.

INSET: Many years later, mom and dad purchased a used 1972 Ford F100 pickup truck from our neighbor, a cowboy named CW Johnson. He was a man’s man and a mechanic who could fix or devise just about anything in his shop. The beauty of this truck was that CW Johnson had wired the cab to include two 120 Volt AC plugs. This meant just about anything requiring power could be powered including a cheap Sears beverage blender. In fact, that’s why they bought the truck - for the sole capability of making margaritas alongside a lake or campfire. They frequently toasted that, for just $2500 they owned the state’s most productive margarita blender.

The 1964 Wagon

Dad gassed and packed the gear into the red 1964 Ford Station Wagon. When I think about it in today’s world it’s hard enough for me to remember everything I might use when going camping much less packing for a family of six. Life in the 1960’s was certainly simpler but it was still an effort to

The wagon was always packed to the gills when we camped out. Duffle bags, a large ice chest and gear rode on top of the roof rack. It was always tied down with precision as if mastered by a Dad had a name for every knot. He also knew exactly how to tie a load.

Provisions included sleeping bags, pup tents, a kerosene stove and lights. Kids were kept entertained by comic books and board games.

Fishing poles.

Gas supply.

An unhealthy supply of Alpine cigarettes were

The red ’64 Ford station wagon was always packed to the gills.

5th wheeler up, hitched the boat and drove to Kelly and Peterson Lakes from Cooper Landing for an overnight fishing trip.

The lakes are just 25 miles south of our family’s beautiful log cabin. Most adventurers would consider this cabin visit to be a lifetime dream vacation. But even cabin-dwellers like to drift away from their campsite for a remote getaway.

Petersen Lake is a small, lazy loaded with lily pads and pan fry-sized rainbows. In the 70’s we rarely worried about finding a place to park by the lake.

This used trailer was a new thing for the family. Mom and dad were tickled to have it – particularly because of one specific feature – AC power.

The power wasn’t needed for much. We didn’t need television, radio or a microwave. Nope, mom and dad had one thing in mind this day: The Blender.

You see, dad knew how to make a mean margarita. I can still hear the sound of that ice grinding by the lake. And yes, proper Grande glasses were on hand.

Fishing did happen that day. And so did some rock skipping, solitude and lots of joking about the $2,500 blender on wheels.

I’ll always have many memories of dad and mom. Tonight, this is my favorite.
Cheers to you both!