Write Back Weekend "Oh, Those Summer Nights...Or Days, As the Case May Be"
Hey y'all!
I'm back from vacation full of amusing pictures and possibly equally amusing stories to tell you!!
I know, I know. I promised to take you with me while I was there, in the thick of the "action", but I have a good excuse. See, at first we had no internet. Apparently high speed access was available, but it was for a fee through the internet cafe on the premises. And then, are you sitting down? We finally ended up getting a cheap DIAL-UP connection just to get a quick fix. Do we know how to rough it or what?!
Suffice it to say, lengthy updates were out of the picture.
So even though I'm back, I'm still recovering from getting up at 5:30 this morning to get on a plane back to Philadelphia. Needless to say, there will be no pictures today. But just to show everyone how much I love them, I am including my answer (a day late) to last week's early TITMT question...What are your favorite summertime memories?
Top Five Summertime Memories Off The Top of My Head
1. "Old-Fashioned" Italian Ices- Nowadays, you can get italian ices, slushies and smoothies just about anywhere you go. But back in "the day" the best way to get the best ices were off the italian ice truck. I don't know if it's just a Jersey thing, but Little Jimmy's was my personal favorite. They had a zillion flavors and you could mix and match them too! Today I am hard pressed to find a truck that drives around my neighborhood with such tasty treats inside. Even when I do, they are usually Good Humor or trucks of the ice cream variety and ice cream is just not the same as italian ice.
2. The Boardwalk- Perhaps another Jersey thing, the boardwalk is one of the best places to go in the summer, and the great thing about my state is that there is more than one boardwalk to walk!
If I you want a short term, quick fix boardwalk you can try Point Pleasant. For a slightly larger sized night (or day) of fun, you can venture out to Seaside Heights. And if you are in it for the long haul, might I suggest a full blown vacation at Long Beach Island or Wildwood.
When I was a kid, we used to go to Wildwood or Surf City every summer. In fact, ironically enough we always used to hear the song "Surf City" by Jan and Dean on the way down. It was almost as if they knew.
The Wildwood and LBI boardwalks were fun for the whole family and quite the stereotypical Jersey experience. There you could buy cheesy, air brushed mementos that unapologetically advertished the 100 miles you drove to get there. You also could ride equally cheesy rides that, looking back on it, you were probably lucky to have survived. Finally you can the best worst food for you that is humanly possible. Boardwalk fries, cotton candy, taffy, funnel cakes...you name it.
Whatever you do though. Watch the tram car, please.
3. Water Slides- As a kid I absolutely, positiviely loved spending as much time possible in the water. The way I see it, I was an only child who was wronged not once, not twice, but three times. I had no siblings. I had no pets and I had NO POOL. This was why having good friends with good pools was so crucial. Otherwise it was hours of running through the sprinkler for me and as any other pool deprived child will tell you sprinker = no fun.
On somewhat rare occassions we would go to a theme park like Six Flags or my personal favorite, Sesame Place and ride water rides like there was no tomorrow. I was never a fan of rollercoasters, then or now, but I've always loved water rides. I can still remember how I would go on water slides over and over and relish in still feeling the sensation at night while I was trying to go to sleep.
4. The Library Reading Club- Ok, here's where my dorkiness shines through. Number four might be something like camp to a "normal" child, but I actually didn't really like camp. It was entirely too much time outside with mostly nasty kids.
For a lot of kids, summer meant no school, which, in turn, meant no reading. I on the other hand, was different. I LOVED summer reading. In the summer, I had far more time to read all the books I didn't get to read during the year. During this time I also signed up for the library reading club where they kept track of the books you read and you earned points. Points for what, I don't even remember. I just thought it was so cool to read with a goal in mind and get to talk to someone about what I was reading.
Whatever. I never said I wasn't a dork.
5. Summertime Concerts- Ok, concerts are fun to go to anytime of the year, but summertime concerts still always hold a special place in my heart.
When I was in high school, getting cheap lawn seats to bands you half assedly wanted to see was the thing to do. For twenty five bucks you got to see a decent live show and hang out with friends at the same time. For an extra 15 or 20 dollars you could commerate that experience with a t-shirt, something I often did.
Summertime concets I once saw include: Tom Petty, Dave Matthews, Spin Doctors, Cracker, Lilth Fair, Beach Boys, Duran Duran, Richard Marx (not once, but twice), John Mellencamp, Rick Springfield....the list goes on and on.
And yes, I am only 29. I just happen to have very random, very eighties flavored, tastes.
Of course you can still recreate the summertime concert experience, but today you are going to pay far more for far less. Redesigned stadiums have taken the fun out of lawn seats and tickets, food, parking and merchandise can easily equal the cost of a ticket to a Broadway show. Then again, teenagers of today no nothing of the days when stadiums were not named after banks, and like the saying goes, you can't miss what you never had.
So there you have it. A kickoff to the summer of '06 with a salute to the summers of the past.
Before you know it another Tell It To Me Tuesday will be coming your way very shortly. In the meantime, I've got some blog visiting to do!
I'm back from vacation full of amusing pictures and possibly equally amusing stories to tell you!!
I know, I know. I promised to take you with me while I was there, in the thick of the "action", but I have a good excuse. See, at first we had no internet. Apparently high speed access was available, but it was for a fee through the internet cafe on the premises. And then, are you sitting down? We finally ended up getting a cheap DIAL-UP connection just to get a quick fix. Do we know how to rough it or what?!
Suffice it to say, lengthy updates were out of the picture.
So even though I'm back, I'm still recovering from getting up at 5:30 this morning to get on a plane back to Philadelphia. Needless to say, there will be no pictures today. But just to show everyone how much I love them, I am including my answer (a day late) to last week's early TITMT question...What are your favorite summertime memories?
Top Five Summertime Memories Off The Top of My Head
1. "Old-Fashioned" Italian Ices- Nowadays, you can get italian ices, slushies and smoothies just about anywhere you go. But back in "the day" the best way to get the best ices were off the italian ice truck. I don't know if it's just a Jersey thing, but Little Jimmy's was my personal favorite. They had a zillion flavors and you could mix and match them too! Today I am hard pressed to find a truck that drives around my neighborhood with such tasty treats inside. Even when I do, they are usually Good Humor or trucks of the ice cream variety and ice cream is just not the same as italian ice.
2. The Boardwalk- Perhaps another Jersey thing, the boardwalk is one of the best places to go in the summer, and the great thing about my state is that there is more than one boardwalk to walk!
If I you want a short term, quick fix boardwalk you can try Point Pleasant. For a slightly larger sized night (or day) of fun, you can venture out to Seaside Heights. And if you are in it for the long haul, might I suggest a full blown vacation at Long Beach Island or Wildwood.
When I was a kid, we used to go to Wildwood or Surf City every summer. In fact, ironically enough we always used to hear the song "Surf City" by Jan and Dean on the way down. It was almost as if they knew.
The Wildwood and LBI boardwalks were fun for the whole family and quite the stereotypical Jersey experience. There you could buy cheesy, air brushed mementos that unapologetically advertished the 100 miles you drove to get there. You also could ride equally cheesy rides that, looking back on it, you were probably lucky to have survived. Finally you can the best worst food for you that is humanly possible. Boardwalk fries, cotton candy, taffy, funnel cakes...you name it.
Whatever you do though. Watch the tram car, please.
3. Water Slides- As a kid I absolutely, positiviely loved spending as much time possible in the water. The way I see it, I was an only child who was wronged not once, not twice, but three times. I had no siblings. I had no pets and I had NO POOL. This was why having good friends with good pools was so crucial. Otherwise it was hours of running through the sprinkler for me and as any other pool deprived child will tell you sprinker = no fun.
On somewhat rare occassions we would go to a theme park like Six Flags or my personal favorite, Sesame Place and ride water rides like there was no tomorrow. I was never a fan of rollercoasters, then or now, but I've always loved water rides. I can still remember how I would go on water slides over and over and relish in still feeling the sensation at night while I was trying to go to sleep.
4. The Library Reading Club- Ok, here's where my dorkiness shines through. Number four might be something like camp to a "normal" child, but I actually didn't really like camp. It was entirely too much time outside with mostly nasty kids.
For a lot of kids, summer meant no school, which, in turn, meant no reading. I on the other hand, was different. I LOVED summer reading. In the summer, I had far more time to read all the books I didn't get to read during the year. During this time I also signed up for the library reading club where they kept track of the books you read and you earned points. Points for what, I don't even remember. I just thought it was so cool to read with a goal in mind and get to talk to someone about what I was reading.
Whatever. I never said I wasn't a dork.
5. Summertime Concerts- Ok, concerts are fun to go to anytime of the year, but summertime concerts still always hold a special place in my heart.
When I was in high school, getting cheap lawn seats to bands you half assedly wanted to see was the thing to do. For twenty five bucks you got to see a decent live show and hang out with friends at the same time. For an extra 15 or 20 dollars you could commerate that experience with a t-shirt, something I often did.
Summertime concets I once saw include: Tom Petty, Dave Matthews, Spin Doctors, Cracker, Lilth Fair, Beach Boys, Duran Duran, Richard Marx (not once, but twice), John Mellencamp, Rick Springfield....the list goes on and on.
And yes, I am only 29. I just happen to have very random, very eighties flavored, tastes.
Of course you can still recreate the summertime concert experience, but today you are going to pay far more for far less. Redesigned stadiums have taken the fun out of lawn seats and tickets, food, parking and merchandise can easily equal the cost of a ticket to a Broadway show. Then again, teenagers of today no nothing of the days when stadiums were not named after banks, and like the saying goes, you can't miss what you never had.
So there you have it. A kickoff to the summer of '06 with a salute to the summers of the past.
Before you know it another Tell It To Me Tuesday will be coming your way very shortly. In the meantime, I've got some blog visiting to do!
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