OT: Something you miss from summers you had when you were young

[dennismenace]

Depending on how old you are, rivers and some lakes were much more polluted back then than they are now.

Agree. We had so much pollution from industrial waste. Back around 50 years or so the Pequabuck river which runs through Plymouth, Bristol and Plainville would regularly turn green from plating discharge as it ran through the towns. Now it is stocked with trout and salmon. (Yes, salmon!) Trout unlimited started stocking it first trout and then salmon as the river cleaned up. Mallard ducks and other wildlife are frequently seen as well.

 

[Duncan Idaho]

Junior memberships to the neighborhood golf course. Parents gladly paid the inexpensive cost. Allowed to play during the week and after 2pm on weekends. Often played 27-36 holes. Stopped for a dog and fries at their restaurant paid with the money from mowing the neighbos' lawns. Went back out for another 9 or 18.

.

 

[Travelman6]

I grew up in the 1990s. I was 6, until 16 for that decade. It was a simpler time for the most part. Riding bikes to rogers lake, getting junk food at Coffees local store and renting videos at the place next door, swimming, playing snes and psx games during rainy days or at night, back yard baseball, basketball games, going out to lunch or dinner, trips to funcoland, white sands beach and hawks nest, riding the bike to the public library in the mid 90s to check videogames cheats on their internet (lol), rollerblading, random wrestling matches that somewhat resembled sumo but not quite. I loved Uncas pond. There was an ice cream place a few towns over that had amazing ice cream. Also going to another ice cream shop to collect those mini plastic baseball caps, nearly had them all and collecting baseball cards. Illianos Pizza. Park and rec summer camp and boyscouts in the mid 90s.

Mini golfing in old saybrook with my buddy at the time, who was a nutcase, lol during summers from 2001 to 2003 and stopping by the nearby music store in OS to get cds or the book barn in, I think East Lyme. burning and ripping cds on the computer, kayaking in OS and Clinton. Working at beach donuts in soundview for three summers (02, 03, 04) maybe even a 4th, don't recall. Summers at UNI and early 20s in Portland Maine were awesome, 05 to 08, maybe some of my best Years ever.

Edit: I also remember getting into eBay around 1999 or 2000 and remember running home to see the newest package, tons of cds and videogames, some posters for UNI dorm in 2003 and 2004 (pink Floyd posters mostly).

 

[shizzle787]

Tour de Farmington: we had our own 5-mile course and about 6-10 of us would race on bikes. Some of us (me) used BMX bikes.

It ended after some brutal injuries over a few year period. Usually, at least one person didn't finish the race.

Neighborhood ping pong and FIFA league.

Backyard football against teams from other parts of town.

 

[BrysonDeMan]

2 weeks every summer at my uncle’s house in Montauk. He and his sons built it themselves in the early 80’s. We wouldn’t have been able to afford a yearly vacation otherwise.

Sadly, they sold in 2002 while I was in law school. None of their kids were interested in buying it. Had it been 2 years later I would have borrowed the money to keep it, and it would have been the best investment I ever made.

our family did the same
just loved Montauk
John's Drive-In
Gosman's Dock
getting bounced around in big waves
falling asleep to breaking waves with the windows open

 

[Mr. French]

I grew up in the 1990s. I was 6, until 16 for that decade. It was a simpler time for the most part. Riding bikes to rogers lake, getting junk food at Coffees local store and renting videos at the place next door, swimming, playing snes and psx games during rainy days or at night, back yard baseball, basketball games, going out to lunch or dinner, trips to funcoland, white sands beach and hawks nest, riding the bike to the public library in the mid 90s to check videogames cheats on their internet (lol), rollerblading, random wrestling matches that somewhat resembled sumo but not quite. I loved Uncas pond. There was an ice cream place a few towns over that had amazing ice cream. Also going to another ice cream shop to collect those mini plastic baseball caps, nearly had them all and collecting baseball cards. Illianos Pizza. Park and rec summer camp and boyscouts in the mid 90s.

Mini golfing in old saybrook with my buddy at the time, who was a nutcase, lol during summers from 2001 to 2003 and stopping by the nearby music store in OS to get cds or the book barn in, I think East Lyme. burning and ripping cds on the computer, kayaking in OS and Clinton. Working at beach donuts in soundview for three summers (02, 03, 04) maybe even a 4th, don't recall. Summers at UNI and early 20s in Portland Maine were awesome, 05 to 08, maybe some of my best Years ever.

You hit on a lot of sweet spots for me too - I was 7 in 1990 and graduated HS in 2001 so I'm about the same age as you.

Backyard baseball, football and basketball are the first things that come to mind. Then getting the newest Jordan's by cutting class and having my aunt or a friend's mom drive me to the mall to get first in line; Getting the newest Eastbay in the mail; Getting the newest video games each year (when NBA Jam moved from arcade mythical being to available in retail SEGA game, my life for that week really changed).

Life is funny - you don't think you'll be pining away for those moments while they're happening. But man, those summers esp were the good stuff.

 

[Travelman6]

You hit on a lot of sweet spots for me too - I was 7 in 1990 and graduated HS in 2001 so I'm about the same age as you.

Backyard baseball, football and basketball are the first things that come to mind. Then getting the newest Jordan's by cutting class and having my aunt or a friend's mom drive me to the mall to get first in line; Getting the newest Eastbay in the mail; Getting the newest video games each year (when NBA Jam moved from arcade mythical being to available in retail SEGA game, my life for that week really changed).

Life is funny - you don't think you'll be pining away for those moments while they're happening. But man, those summers esp were the good stuff.

I forgot about backyard football. Used to do that with a group of friends starting around freshmen or sophomore year in HS and we did it for a year or two after everyone went off to UNI during Xmas breaks. We had UConn watch parties for many years, I remember heartbreaking losses to Texas, Maryland, and GTech during break.

This was also when eBay went big, got into it around 1998 and remember running home to see the newest package, tons of cds and videogames, some posters for UNI dorm in 2003 and 2004 (pink Floyd posters mostly). Sold stuff too and had like 137 positive feedback. Internet forums were big back then too, so many different ones I'd waste part of my summers on.

 

[Chasm64]

Good knees.

 

[CL82]

The Good Humor man. Everybody on the street would come out buy ann ice cream and then hang out and eat it. I remember rocket pops and toasted almond as being favorites.

Yeah, they're still ice cream trucks, but they're privately owned and sometimes seem a little sketchy. And it doesn't seem like as big an event where everyone would pour out of the house and then just hang out and eat them.

 

[Lafayette]

Mix tapes
Pranking the operator
Being invited to stay for dinner at any house after playing sports with their kids
That morning when school was cancelled bc of a squirrel biting a lead line to the power generator in East Hartford.
The April blizzard of 77

 

[Waquoit]

I loved summer keg parties in high school. I get nostalgic every now and then about pumping cheap beer into a red solo cup on someone’s deck as the sun went down and the heat was breaking. They were just fun.

You were on a deck? Luxury! We had to go in the woods. One night all of a sudden we hear bull horns from the top of the hill "This is the Manchester Police! We know you have kegs, we're comin' down!" That sucked. I only had a couple and didn't have a back-up plan.

 

[CL82]

You were on a deck? Luxury! We had to go in the woods. One night all of a sudden we hear bull horns from the top of the hill "This is the Manchester Police! We know you have kegs, we're comin' down!" That sucked. I only had a couple and didn't have a back-up plan.

Please tell me that you yelled back "get your own damn beer!" before scattering like roaches.

 

[nelsonmuntz]

You were on a deck? Luxury! We had to go in the woods. One night all of a sudden we hear bull horns from the top of the hill "This is the Manchester Police! We know you have kegs, we're comin' down!" That sucked. I only had a couple and didn't have a back-up plan.

I don’t know about Manchester’s cops, but there aren’t any times I recall my town’s cops catching anyone running from a keg party. If you couldn’t outrun that crew, it was time to get in shape.

 

[Horatio]

I miss going to Winnsboro, South Carolina, every summer, from June to August, and ruining my white canvas high tops in the red clay dirt. We would run around on the family farm and chase the hogs back into the pen. 70’s and early 80’s. Priceless

 

[JakeTheDog]

Agree. We had so much pollution from industrial waste. Back around 50 years or so the Pequabuck river which runs through Plymouth, Bristol and Plainville would regularly turn green from plating discharge as it ran through the towns. Now it is stocked with trout and salmon. (Yes, salmon!) Trout unlimited started stocking it first trout and then salmon as the river cleaned up. Mallard ducks and other wildlife are frequently seen as well.

The Pequabuck is an amazing example of river cleanup and transformation. There’s a wild trout population pretty well established which absolutely blows my mind.

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The Good Humor man. Everybody on the street would come out buy ann ice cream and then hang out and eat it. I remember rocket pops and toasted almond as being favorites.

Yeah, they're still ice cream trucks, but they're privately owned and sometimes seem a little sketchy. And it doesn't seem like as big an event where everyone would pour out of the house and then just hang out and eat them.

I've been trying to find those toasted almond things for years. Can't find them. I found the similar strawberry shortcake ones with the crunchy thing on the outside and either my palate has changed significantly since I was a kid or they changed the way they're made because they were terrible.

 

[CL82]

I've been trying to find those toasted almond things for years. Can't find them. I found the similar strawberry shortcake ones with the crunchy thing on the outside and either my palate has changed significantly since I was a kid or they changed the way they're made because they were terrible.

I noticed that as well. It's probably a little of both. The toasted almond bars are discontinued by good humor.

 

[Hoophound]

I've been trying to find those toasted almond things for years. Can't find them. I found the similar strawberry shortcake ones with the crunchy thing on the outside and either my palate has changed significantly since I was a kid or they changed the way they're made because they were terrible.

They were made by Good Humor but were discontinued in 2023. In my experience, kids these days avoid nuts in desserts. None of my kids like nuts in brownies, ice cream, cake etc. The toasted almond bar was definitely more like candy, but they wouldn’t try it based on the name. Probably killed the product. I feel like all of their friends avoided nuts too.

 

[temery]

Sleep

 

[storrsroars]

I've been trying to find those toasted almond things for years. Can't find them. I found the similar strawberry shortcake ones with the crunchy thing on the outside and either my palate has changed significantly since I was a kid or they changed the way they're made because they were terrible.

Good Humor lost me forever when they discontinued that hard chocolate candy center in the Chocolate Eclair bar and just made the whole thing ice cream. The original was like having two desserts, an ice cream bar and then a cold chocolate lollipop.

 

[Flipside]

The Italian Festival on Franklin Ave

 

[Fan1978]

The Italian Festival on Franklin Ave

Going to the first several big east tournaments at the garden wirh my dad and the meadowlands double headers. Saw 1-2 twice. Nc- Kentucky wirh jordan as freshman wirh perkins and worthy versatility sam bowe and mel turpin and. Uva and sampson very stpanovich and sunvold at Missouri. St petes or seton hall usually provided the second game and many drunken brawls in the stands

 

[BigErnMcCracken]

The toasted almond bars are discontinued by good humor.

Devastating.

 

[Mr. French]

I've been trying to find those toasted almond things for years. Can't find them. I found the similar strawberry shortcake ones with the crunchy thing on the outside and either my palate has changed significantly since I was a kid or they changed the way they're made because they were terrible.

If it's been awhile since you had a strawberry colonel crunch, and you didn't like it, that's a YOU problem in both ways.

Some of them were discontinued, so I'm partially busting chops, but I've had versions of them in the last few years (Wegmans has them in the Northeast) and they still smack like when I was 8.

 

[Excalibur]

our family did the same
just loved Montauk
John's Drive-In
Gosman's Dock
getting bounced around in big waves
falling asleep to breaking waves with the windows open

The nightly walk to Gosman’s is probably my favorite childhood memories. Sadly, the old man just passed away, and the kids will probably sell it. They have wanted to for years.