Growing up in any era, the summer days gave any child the illusion that they dragged on, especially the sweltering days. How you dealt with that heat could be an impossible mission in some instances. What did you do?
Air conditioning was a rarity for me growing up, even in the cars. I remember that my parents had a window A/C unit in the master bedroom and when it was too hot in the evenings, my sister and I were invited in and slept on the floor to get some relief. Typically, we had box fans in our bedrooms and maybe one downstairs pointing into the living room for some relief. Curtains were mostly closed to reduce the hot rays into the house. Basement doors were left open to draw a small amount of the coolness towards the main floor as well.
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Water Treats
Hanging out at the community pool was another place for us to cool off. I can recall my mother scrambling to put together towels, wrangling us to get our swim suits on, flip flops, and then journeying to the opposite side of town. We'd be in a hurry, racing through the changing rooms and into the pool side of the property. My mother would go find a small piece of real estate while my sister and I would go jump in.
We rarely swam laps, in fact it looked more like a moth's pattern; merely entertaining ourselves for the next couple of hours. Going down the lone slide or braving the diving boards all while despising the lifeguard and their whistles for even looking at them wrong.
With my parents split towards my teenage year, my parent's each moved out to the country and we rarely drove all the way into Clearfield to just go to the community pool. Around my mother's country setting, we would be dropped off at the local creek and swim in the murky water way. There was a rope that some of my rural friends and cousins would swing and jump from while I was not so trusting since I had no idea what was underneath.
At my father's area, we had a shallow creek about a mile down the hill and we would wade, splash, and merely sit on a rock with the water slowly flowing around you. Though far less entertaining, still being able to sit in cool water for a while staved off the summer heat.
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Cold Treats
During my childhood while we were still in the small neighborhood, I can recall the ice cream truck creeping through our neighborhood with their corny loud speaker beckoning. Children begged and pleaded for the ice cream bars and treats. We would race out and request our treat and be refreshed by the cool treat.
We would occasionally drive out to ice cream places for a cool ice cream. When we visited my grandparents, my uncle would drive us out to the ice cream stand where I remember getting ice cream twists of vanilla and chocolate while my sister would request chocolate ice cream.
In my youth, I remember there being several small venues that were primarily ice cream and fast food places throughout Clearfield County, Pennsylvania. While the trips were rather infrequent, I recall visiting a variety of them to get ice cream at least a few times every summer.
Returning as an adult
When I make my way home, I see that many places are long gone, but it's great to see a few remain and when I think about it, I still stop and grab an ice cream or a variant to enjoy and reminisce.
What were your summer treats like?
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