1936 Trip- Wisconsin & Michigan

After a successful venture out in 1935, Darlene planned a trip for 1936 that would be a little more venturesome. Darlene decided to venture a little further than The Wisconsin Dells. They would take in some of Michigan, and do something “different”; take a car ferry across Lake Michigan. Based on the sequence of pictures from a Ruth Gustafson scrap book, it is believed that the girls drove first to Michigan and eventually caught the car ferry from Muskegon back to Wisconsin and ended their trip at the area they had become familiar with around Devils Lake Wisconsin.

In addition to Darlene and her sister Verna, the 1936 trip would include Olive Bell. Eleanor Butte would be invited to go on this trip. Eleanor lived on a farm east and north of Bradford, and was a 1933 graduate of Bradford High School. Harriet Fisher also would be invited and go. Harriet graduated from Bradford High School in 1935. The final traveler would be Ruth Gustafson. Ruth was the Home Economics teacher at Bradford High School for the 1935-1936 School Year, and the 1936-37 school year. She would later take a teaching position Litchfield Illinois High School. More than likely Ruth had been a customer of Darlene’s in her beauty parlor. Ruth had graduated from Carnegie Institute, where her father was on staff. In her younger childhood she had lived with her parents in China, where her father had been a Baptist Missionary.

So, a total of 6 girls headed out on the 1936 trip in a car designed for 5. Based on the pictures, they had a grand time! We see from the pictures that they had their eyes on some young boys their age who were also camping at the Wisconsin Dells. More than likely, the boys also had their eyes on these pretty young girls!