My Mom and I have been messaging back and forth about a trip from Seattle to Victoria aboard the Princess Marguerite that she didn't even get to go on but her parents took my sister and me when we were very little.
I don't remember very much about it except for being in a little stateroom and my Grandma making up a fizzy, fruity softdrink for us by dropping a pastel colored tablet in a glass of water.
"The Princess Marguerite" Photo by J. Barnard "Cruising the 115.2 km (72 miles) between Victoria, B. C. and Seattle, Washington, the turbo-electric vessel Princess Marguerite carries 50 cars and 1800 passengers on her 4 1/2 hour journey across the Juan de Fuca Strait and Puget Sound."
I only have three photos of the trip - I don't know if there are any more but my Grandma isn't in any of them. Victoria was Grandpa's stomping grounds. I don't think my Grandpa was shy but he appears camera shy.
Howard Johnson started his lifelong hotel industry career as a page boy at the Empress Hotel when he was a teenager. When he left that job, he got his younger brother, Thomas Johnson a job there who then went on to be their first (only?) 50 year employee.
"EMPRESS HOTEL Victoria, B.C. The stately Empress Hotel, a well known landmark in Victoria, as seen from the lawn of the Parliament Buildings." AVT-1031 Color Photo by W. J. L. Gibbons, AMPA
This is my Great Grandmother Ida Bookhout Johnson (1885-1968). I think this might be the only photo I have of her and me together. The other thing I remember about this trip is the matching pink and white tops my mom had sewn for my sister and me. The inset at the neck could snap in and out.
I wish I remembered more about the trip I took with my Grandparents and being exposed to my family history there. I'm certainly glad I have a few photos.
