Sunday, May 22, 2011

Walk down memory lane

The kids and I went to Ocean Shores yesterday for the day and I haven't been there in so long. When I was younger we used to go all the time. It felt like every weekend we would head down and my Dad would help work on my Grandma Dee's house that she was building and Stefanie and I would run to the park across the empty lot next door. Stefanie and I would take turns sleeping in the bathtub while they were working on the house and we would get to do so many fun things. I remember complaining all the time about having to go and now when I think back on it we really had so much fun. We would rent mopeds and sometimes get to ride horses on the beach. We got to go bowling alot because there wasn't much else to do and we always went to the kite shop. We went clam digging at the crack of dawn and my Grandma would make clam chowder and fried clams while Grandma Dee would make pork chops and chilli. We would laugh at how someone had to hold the rabbit ears covered in foil to get the tv to work and how if the wind shifted the wrong way the fireplace would fill the entire house with smoke in record time. We loved to stay at the Gittchee Goomie because the rooms were two stories and we liked the Polynesian because it was a really nice place. We would go for breakfast at a funny restaurant and gift shop on the corner and we would eat dinner at the Homeport because it had a good salad bar for my Dad. Needless to say it doesn't look the same at all but I still had a great time telling the kids about everything as we drove around all day. Welcome to Aberdeen!!!!!!

This was a pizza place at one point that I remember stopping at on the way home sometimes. It is a Mexican place now.

We would stop at McDonald's alot on our way to the Ocean to use the restroom and get a snack. It was the only thing that was there back then. Now it's just stuck in the middle of a busy shopping center.

This is the bar that we used to have to stop at on our way into town to pick up my Grandma Dee. It is a run down condemned building now. We thought that was pretty funny. It doesn't look the same at all!!!!!! :)

Welcome to Ocean Shores. About the only thing that still looked the same.

The restaurant with the salad bar that my Dad loved. We ate here pretty often.

The only grocery store still. It looks exactly the same except that there is a strip mall right next to it now and a McDonald's across the street.

Here is where we used to rent mopeds. Megan really wanted to do this but you have to have a driver's license. I think that maybe my Dad and Curt used to rent these and then drive them down to the beach for all of the girls to ride because I know we were riding them well before we had driver's licenses.

The Shilo Inns is in the place that our breakfast stop used to be and a cute little gift shop. It is a really nice hotel but just not the same.

We spent a lot of time at this bowling alley. I think back then it was only .99 cents to play a game so it was cheap entertainment. I don't think the whole strip mall was attached to it then. I guess it is growing up.

The family fun center. They had bumper cars and an ice cream shop.

The Sands hotel. We stayed here alot because it had a good sized pool. It looked a lot nicer when we would stay there. It is just kind of scary looking now. :)

The local pizza joint. They had tasty pizza.

The Polynesian Resort. How funny to call it a Resort. It was a nice place though and it still looks pretty good. I think they kept it up better than the Sands.

This used to be the Gitchee Gommie. It was a fun place to stay. I always remember getting crab and my Grandma standing in the kitchen all day cracking it while we all ate it as fast as she got it done. I am not sure that she ever got to eat any of it. This was a great doughnut shop at one point. We would get up early and go down for hot doughnuts with lots of sprinkles. It doesn't look so good now.



My Grandma Dee's house. We had a lot of fun in there. Who ever bought it has sure done a nice job keeping it looking nice.

The Jetty. We spent a lot of time climbing those rocks and playing in the freezing cold water.

We dug up alot of these clams at 4:00 am. That was never the highlight of my weekend but I sure did love the clam chowder that my Grandma made with them. It was soooooo good.

This was not there when we used to go. We just found this on accident. It's a movie theatre with new movies. How fun would that be on a freezing cold winter day?

We had so much fun and the kids were laughing at me all day as I told them about all of things we used to do. They both want to go back and spend a weekend and do all of the activites so we are planning a trip this summer to re-live my funnest childhood memories. They might be sorry by the time the weekend is over!!!!!!

2 comments:

Stefanie said...

OH my gosh.....that was fun! What a great way to start my day. I remember all of those places....remember the time I tried to ride a horse and it wouldn't move and I cried until dad took my horse and I got on his moped?? Hahahaha..... And The Polynesian was the fancy resort back then. FUN memories with everyone. And to think we made the two hour drive without movies or video games. We also didn't have to wear seatbelts back then either tho.....remember the beds we would make on the backseat and floor? Good times!

Stacy said...

I told the kids about the horses before we ever got there. They were cracking up picturing you stuck on a horse in the grass. It was so funny. As soon as we drove on the beach and saw the horses Megan wanted to ride them. I told them about our funny beds in the Oldsmobile to. They pretty much think we were nerds. Megan really liked the bar where we would pick up Grandma Dee. She just sat and laughed at it. It was a pretty funny day.