Jack Safari

Jack Safari

Parents, what person, place or thing from your childhood would you revive for a day..?

Just so your kids could see for themselves, instead of just hearing your stories about them?
Growing up in Southern California, we had so many magical places that are no longer around~ Lion Country Safari, Busch Gardens, Farrell's Restaurant and Ice Cream Parlor.
And does anyone remember the glass balls on a string that went click-clack constantly? And chinese jacks?
And the chop-chop man at the Orange County swap meet.

All of these are just stories that I pass down to my children, but I'd love to bring 'em back just for a day... what would you like to bring back to show your kids??
Nina Lee, I would bring back my Mama, as you would your Gramma, but I couldn't let her go back after that one day!
Drive-ins, A and W's, and Woolworth's,
all previously stored in my subconscious, waiting to be unleashed in novel-fashion today on my kids !

I could wax nostalgia about how I'd love to bring back the innocents of the times and all the people I miss, but I'll stick to more tangible objects.

1. Show her what real snow was and how to really enjoy it. When I was little we lived in northern Michigan. In the winters my friends and I would strap on our cross country skis and hit the trail/pathway that was about a 1/4 from our house, taking backpacks with food & drinks so we could spend the whole day skiing. Or we'd go down to the sledding hill (about 1/3 of a mile from the house) and sled for hour on end. And here's the thing, there were like 12 of us kids and NO ADULTS....totally unheard of these days.

2. I'd take her to the old roller skating rink where I started skating....it was so circa-1980's, but it was only the 90's so we didn't care! They've turned it into a dance club now...so sad.

3. I'd let her enjoy the Cherry Festival when it was 2 weeks long instead of just 8 days.

4. Take her into downtown TC and go shopping at Penney's, Woolrich, and eat in Elias Bros. (aka Big Boy). Alas, those stores & restaurants are long gone. Replaced by brew pubs & touristy shops.

Luckily most of the summer-y type places of my childhood are still around and I've been able to take her to them. We've done favorite childhood activities like picking wild strawberries on the grassy airstrip near the baseball fields, taking in a summer concert at Kresge Auditorium, picking wild blueberries in the bogs near Lake Dubonnet, swimming in crystal clear inland lakes (getting 'swimmers itch'....a childhood rite of passage), running up the Dune Climb at the Sleeping Bear National Lakeshore, canoeing all day long down the Lower Platte River and then going to Peterson Beach to have a bonfire cookout right on the sand (totally legal as long as you bury it afterwards), and taking in a double feature at The Cherry Bowl drive-in w/ its 60's style snack stand. I've been lucky enough to share a lot of these experiences with her and we plan have doing more this summer.

Jack's Camp - Uncharted Africa Safari co.