A world with a view
I think I caught the culture bug from my grandpa’s View-Master.
You know, the plastic stereoscope with the little round cardboard disks of 3D photos. My grandfather had a whole stash of reels – all about natural history and geography and architecture – with titles like “Tulip Time in Holland” or “Africa – Cairo to Capetown”.
On summer days when it was too hot and humid to be outside, my granddad would crank up the a/c and we’d spend hours looking at the View-Master.
The forests of giant sequoias in California.
The Seven Wonders of the World.
The Hanging Gardens of Babylon.
Kathmandu.
Samarkand.
Barcelona.
Everything was so big and magical and different. I was only 3 or 4 but I was hooked on travel.
Nowadays, you can get customized viewers and reels to suit just about every fancy – a talking Dora the Explorer, Disney classics, Nascar racing and countless others.
But, none of that stuff was around when I was first introduced to the View-Master.
That’s a good thing. Because my life might’ve turned out a lot differently if my grandfather had been into Huckleberry Hound.
What about you? What (or who?!) got you curious about the wide world and other cultures? I’d love to hear.
