It’s odd really how somethings from our past are as clear as day and others fade over time sometimes to be forgotten. The brain is an amazing thing and selective in its storage of our past. Just this weekend, for whatever reason, I was mentally taking a walk down memory lane. Remembering specific places, food, and trips taken with my dad and grandparents in the summer months we spent in Michigan.
Many of you know I’m from South Florida and am all about the sand and sun. My family moved to Florida when I was about seven, until that time I lived in Michigan. Many of my family members still reside in MI. Each summer my sister and I would fly to Michigan for the summer to spend with my father. It seems like those many of the memories of these summers are forever etched in my brain if only bits and pieces.
London’s Dairy Bar
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My father use to take my sister and I once in while to the London’s Dairy Bar. I remember as a kid I always wanted to order the “Pig’s Trough”. I can’t remember how many scoops it was but it was A LOT. If you were able to eat the whole thing in one sitting you got a t-shirt. For some reason as a kid that sounded totally cool! The ice creams were huge and I loved sitting in the tiny ice cream parlor with the family and eating one of my favorite treats.
The St. Clair Boardwalk and Storh’s Ice Cream
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Ummm…another ice cream memory. I wonder if these have anything to do with ice cream being my favorite dessert! I remember in the evening as the sun was setting sometimes we would drive down to the St. Clair boardwalk and visit Stroh’s Ice Cream Parlor, grab an ice cream cone, and walk the boardwalk. You could always see the large ships coming up the St. Clair river. As for the ice cream it was during these trips that I ordered the same thing my dad always did, butter pecan on a sugar cone. To this day Butter Pecan ice cream is still my favorite flavor! My research seems to be pointing to Storh’s Ice Cream at this location now being closed.
Mother’s Pizza
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Until our recent cruise going to Mother’s Pizza with my dad and grandparents was the only time I had ever been out of the country. Our favorite pizza place at the time we would drive over the Ambassador bridge into Canada for some delicious dinner. From what I’ve been able to gather on the internet Mother’s has just recently been resurrected this year in Canada, however our old haunt is no longer there.
Bayview Mackinac Boat Race
My father always loved sailboats it was one of his passions. Each year we would attend Boat Night and enjoy the sites of so many boats before the race began. I just remember how lively it was! More information the race here.
The Friday night before the start of the race is called Boat Night. Thousands of people: sailors and cheerful spectators, alike, line the banks of the Black River, Port Huron to view the yachts. The parties will last until well after dawn on Saturday
Cheap Charlie’s Pizza
When we weren’t going out of the country to eat we would just go down the street for another pizza favorite. Funny I’m not much of a pizza girl these days. We often visited Cheap Charlie’s and would see one of the many people my father knew. Since Port Huron is a smaller town and my father lived there for so many years we never went anywhere without running into someone he knew. Cheap Charlie’s is when I started ordering banana peppers on my pizza!
Writing this post has brought make so many memories and really made me smile. My father always enjoyed a good picnic and a day at the beach. He was an avid book reader and we would often pack up the car with our library books and a cooler of fresh fruit and drinks (he always had to have a cold beer) and we would travel to a beach down the street that bordered Lake Huron. Each and every time we visited the beach we would walk the beach looking for beach glass. This is still my favorite thing to do when visiting the beaches up north. Unfortunately beach glass is not abundant in Florida. I believe because of all the rocks and stones in the lakes it is just a better environment to create the unique glass.
What childhood memories do you have that are burned into your memory bank?
