Sunsets and Shooting Stars: 12/19/08

Since the 1970s, the Seidel family has been spending its summer vacation on Cape Cod. What started as a small annual family vacation to a cabin or two has become a huge but beloved undertaking, bringing together family spread out throughout the United States. Sunsets and Shooting Stars by Rick Seidel is the memoir of those summer trips.

Each chapter is themed around a different memory. It could be place, a person or a tradition. The first chapter starts off logically with "Getting There. " Rick Seidel describes the middle of the night car trip with Dad driving and Mom trying to be the co-pilot (but always falling asleep) and the four Seidel children crammed in the back of the camper shell. He compares that trip to present day journeys where different family members fly in and those that do drive, do so after a leisurely breakfast.

There are chapters on fish, the sport of fishing, the local people, other tourists and finally the building of family memories and traditions. The memoir is almost like a scrap book with each new chapter beautifully introduced with an illustration by Lonna Emerson. The book closes with a lengthy photograph album from the summer trips over the last thirty-five years.

The book is quick and enjoyable. It can either be read all at once or savored, one chapter at a time. I would like to visit some day myself. In the meantime it was nice to travel along with the Seidel family.

View Larger Map

Comments (0)