Travelogue of a Trip Up the West Coast in the 50s; Annotated and with Many Images.

(California): N.p., (1950s). Diary-like, annotated photo and postcard album of road trips taken in 1952, 1955, 1957/58 by Dr. Edwin L. and Zura Dyer of San Diego, California. A mixture of photos, post cards, typewritten daily accounts, ephemera, and clippings housed in a green Scrap Book and Album from the Educational Press, Inc., New York; measures 6 ” x 9 ”. Typed, dated diary entries bring the photos and postcards into context with several automobile trips taken by the Dyer family. The scrapbook was assembled by Dr. Edwin L. Dyer (1890-1971), an optometrist in San Diego, with frequent mention in the dated entries to his wife, Zura (1893-1962). The 1940 census lists three children, Marshall, Marian (or Miriam Lee), and Edwin, Jr. Prior to his optometry practice, Dyer had served as a Lieutenant in the 93rd Spruce Squadron, stationed out of Vancouver Barracks, Vancouver, Washington, during WW I. The first trip documented was to an annual convention of the California Optometric Association held in Sacramento, February, 1952. Zura Dyer is pictured in a newspaper clipping as one of four delegates for the Woman’s Auxiliary’s convention which was held simultaneously with the state optometric association’s in Sacramento. The typed account of the trip includes sights along the way, where they ate and slept, and impressions. “8 p.m. off for Los. Slept in car by road – left at 7 a.m. Wed. Drove thru mts on way to Bakersfield. Tehachapi. 7:45 a.m. breakfast at a lovely road house. A 76 mile drive to Bakersfield thru hills and farm land. Cattle. Snow in mts. At Gorman. Sacramento 320 miles off…” The trip is visually documented with colored postcard views of Sacramento, Fresno, Bakersfield, and Los Angeles, along with cut-out pages from the conferences they attended in Sacramento.The next trip documented was a vacation up the coast to Oregon and on to Seattle and the Vancouver, B.C. area in July, 1955. Sample entry from the return trip, “Stayed in motel on S. side of Olympia, Wash. Cooked dinner and breakfast. Took picture. $5 lunch in Portland then on to Witham’s. Arrived at Witham’s 4 p.m. Perry milking. Helen showed all the beautiful flowers, etc. Ate cherries, red raspberries, cookies & cream. Left at 8: with car full of salmon, chicken, gooseberries, jam and cherries. Stayed at Motel near Eugene, double room, grapes and berries all around. $5.00 Thurs. 14th Grant’s Pass. Warm. Ice-cream. 12:30 warm so decided to turn off into high mts. and visit Oregon Caves. Around side of mts., very tall pine trees. Two-hour trip thru caves conducted by young college boy. Very beautiful but damp trip.” A group of 3 ” x 3 ” photos document that trip Christmas time, 1957, found the Dyers making another trip up the California coast from San Diego to San Francisco. The entries for this trip are more detailed and extensive than the first two. “Saturday, December 21 / Up at 9 a.m. Had break-fast in Motel. Packed and started for San Francisco. Couldn’t find any Motels nearer than Daly City without paying as much as Hotels charge, so went back to Daly City and found just what we wanted – Motel with kitchenette. We took it for 5 days and proceeded to make it look like home? Walked up to a beautiful big market on the corner and bought a boneless butt, eggs, bread, peaches, cheese and apple pie. Boy! Ham and eggs never tasted better. What a life! Sunday, December 22 / Arose at 8:30 a.m. and went to Golden Gate Park. Visited Aquarium, Science Building, planetarium and Botanical Gardens. Had lunch out of a slot machine. Arrived back at Motel at 6:30 p.m. Zura fixed a swell dinner. Wrote postals, read Sunday paper and went to bed 10 p.m.”The scrapbook contains over 80 smapshots and 28 post cards that visually document Dr. Dyer’s daily travel accounts on three different automobile trips. Together, his entries and the images provide an interesting look at road travel in California and elsewhere in the 1950s