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Forty years ago, my family took a trip across five Western states. We did not have a lot of money, so my dad built some beds for us in the back of our truck, equipped with a Gemtop truck bed top. Every other night, we camped in our truck. It was an adventure. On that trip I started a charm bracelet, and my Mom gave me a charm from the Oregon Centennial to get started.
We crossed Idaho and headed into Montana, where I added a Cowboy Hat, a Tipi, a Turquoise Arrowhead, and a Turquoise Tomahawk to my bracelet. It had enough charms on it now that it started to jingle. I loved it!
In South Dakota I added a Crazy Horse Mountain Charm, a Mount Rushmore Charm, and a South Dakota state charm, because it said Rapid City on it. We arrived there a day after the Rapid City flood in 1971. I’ll never forget it—mud everywhere, houses off their foundations, boats in trees, everyone looking for lost loved ones. It was our night to sleep in the truck, and that night we listened to the local radio station read the names of all the missing people.
At Deadwood, South Dakota, I added a stage coach charm and a horse charm.
Then we turned south and west to Wyoming and Yellowstone National Park. I added a bear charm there, and an “Old Faithful Geyser” circle charm.
At 15 we went to Disneyland and I added a sternwheeler charm there.
When I turned 16, someone gave me a Sweet 16 charm.
I got married at 22 and my husband and I visited Old Tucson, Arizona. I added a cactus charm, and a six-shooter charm that says “6-Gun Territory” on it. A visit to Tombstone, Arizona let me add a Boot Hill headstone charm that says “Here lies Lester Moore, Four Slugs from a .44. No Les, No More”.
In 1992, my husband and I traveled to Alaska and added a dog sled and driver charm and a gold panner charm.
Last year, we visited Crater Lake, Oregon, and I added one more charm to the bracelet.
So what’s the point? I remember these places, and that’s quite extraordinary when you consider how much time has passed and how many places I’ve been in the interim.
Is there something you want someone to remember? Give them a charm bracelet!
Larita Arnold, Owner, www.SilverMessages.com
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