Disappearing Roadside Stands

We've been going to the same location in the mountains for vacations ever since I was a child.  We went to my parent's best friends house for many years and had the best of times.  About the time the children grew up and moved out on our own, my parents bought a house in this same town and have enjoyed it both part-time and then full-time when they retired years later.

My parents have owned their house for twenty years, something that's hard to believe in the way that time goes by faster than it seems possible kind of way.  We've seen many changes through the little town they reside in now for eight months of the year after all this time.

Remember when you could rent video tapes?  That was the height of luxury at the time, being able to watch a movie of your choice whenever you wanted to.  At that point, there wasn't even a movie rental store in town so we came in via the next town over, a longer drive, and an intolerable addition of minutes to me as a young child.  But we got that movie.  It was beside the point that they never picked out children's movies, it was only important that we had a movie.

We rode up the mountain hills, or rather mountains, in different cars over the years.  I remember more than one car we were concerned wasn't going to make it up some of the longer, steeper parts, but we always made it eventually.

And along those windy, twisty roads there were many roadside stands.  We liked to stop and get honey or fresh fruit and vegetables, and hopefully, if you were in the back seat and you were me, boiled peanuts.  Tasted like salty peas, but such a wonderful, juicy delight.

Those roadside stands started to disappear at the same pace that the widened, straightened roads were built along the way to our destination.  There were so many once; now we take a specific trip to the one we know is left, and we have to get to it via an access road off the newly widened highway, because their stand is no longer near the road once the curve they were on was straightened.

We get to the mountains so much faster these days, but we've lost a lot of the charm and nostalgia of the drive from when I was a child.

The Big Boy Update:  I am frequently reminded of the Blues Traveller song, "The Hook" because of my son's obsession with anything he deems hook-worthy.  He even makes a hook out of his hand and will hook anything, including impossible things.  He's two-and-a-half, impossible isn't a problem for him.

The Tiny Girl Chronicles:  "You sit here"  This is brand new.  She has started to understand the line between her identity and that of those around her.  And she is beginning to try and control other people.  Today, she told me, "you sit here" and tonight she told Uncle Jonathan, "Jon, you come" (to the car.)  She's just the right age for this to be happening developmentally, but it's still exciting to see.

Fitness Update:  Eight miles and I lost another crazy amount of water weight, even pre-hydrating and drinking on the trail. Ninety degrees and "humid as hell" is no fun to run in.

Someone Once Said:  Learning isn't a means to an end; it is an end in itself.