Childhood Summers
A bit of a trip down memory lane.

When I was a little kid growing up in Dubuque summers were awesome. We lived in a house (at least most of our time there) that had a huge back yard (Width of a duplex x 25 yards so huge) and what were effectively our back yard neighbors had a similarly sized yard. On top of that all of their neighbors (on their street) and the neighbors on our street had similarly sized yards. We’re talking fitting a football field in this place. Now I should add that it was hilly and the very end of our yard was about a 20 foot drop in elevation so that is why there was never any houses built there and we didn’t own the place either, we were tenants. Anyways, recapping, huge yard. Now there was a ton of kids in the neighbor hood that lived around this yard and we would stay out and play for the whole day. I remember more than one time that I didn’t come back in for lunch and just stayed out till the sun was setting. There were kids ranging in age from me (Kindergarten and 1st grade when living there) up to 8th graders. Oh man were those 8th graders kings of the yard.

Not only would I spend more time outside than is wise for a nerd of my reputation ;) (btw soon I’ll be using graphical emotions) but we would spend lots of time at “Grama’s Park.” Which was a park about 3 blocks from my Grandmother’s house. It had one of those curly slides that seemed enormous then and probably was for that matter, Dubuque has always had good parks and equipment.

Now I’m finally getting to the point of the post. If we walked a certain way home we would pass and ice cream place. This was one of those only open in the summer jobs that had a little area with picnic tables and two windows. My all time favorite thing to get at “Nanny Goat’s” was a Cherry Dip Cone. If you have never had a dip cone (then you are deprived of a great thing first off) it is a Vanilla Ice Cream cone dipped in a kind of Syrup (in this case Cherry) That hardens around the Ice cream like candy. The things are probably horrible for you but I love them. If you have had a Dilly Bar from DQ then this is the same thing just on a cone.

Today we went to DQ and got one such dip cone. Oh was it great. I don’t think I’ve had one for years and this was a good one. Unfortunately my Grandmother has since moved to an apartment across town from Nanny Goat’s. Even if she did live in her old house Nanny Goat’s has since closed. Reopened under new owners under the name “Ducky’s Treats,” closed again and then reopened as a nail salon. I may now be a legal adult and Nanny Goat’s has closed but if I closed my eyes sitting eating my dip cone I could almost imagine that I was living in that simpler time.