Friday Flashback

Every Friday, Erika Jean does a Friday Flashback post where she describes something from her past. This week she challenged her readers to post a flashback of their own. Here's my attempt. The hot summer days we're having brought these memories to mind.

There were several summers when I was young where my mother would drive us down to Southern Minnesota to spend a few days with my aunt Diane and uncle Jerry. My cousin Brenda came along too at least once. I just did a Google map check and the trip is only about 2 1/2 hours, but it seemed to take forever! Are we there yet?!? My mother packed an ice cream pail full of little toys and games to keep me occupied on the trip (way before the era of video games and in car TVs or DVD players). About halfway there we'd always stop at an A&W root beer stand to have lunch. That was so tasty after the long ride!

I have several unrelated memories of my aunt and uncle's place. I do remember it being hot. I recall Brenda and I spending the hot part of the afternoon in the cool basement playing Yahtzee. We'd watch TV -- I remember they had an antenna rotator to get better reception. I also remember listening to music. My aunt is a big Johnny Cash fan and they had lots of his albums.

I remember going to some local hangout where we'd eat and the grown-ups would have a beer. The only good thing about the beer was putting little bits of salt in it to watch the fizz come off the crystals. Actually, that's about all that beer is good for to this day! That spot also had a raised table bowling game I remember playing. It looked something like the game in this picture. The pins would fold up when you hit them with the ball. That was fun to play!

We also went to see stock car racing in the evening in a neighboring town. It was exciting to watch them racing around the dirt track. One summer the track gave away a chopper style mini-bike as a door prize. Surprisingly, I had the winning ticket! What are the chances? I didn't ride it too much -- mostly when visiting aunt Ruby and uncle Roger's farm (Brenda's parents). It was still pretty cool to have won it.

Otherwise it was just fun hanging out and chatting, riding bikes, or going places around their town. It's funny how certain things stick in your mind. I'm sure the Minnesota readers will have other memories of these trips.