Some of my fondest childhood memories center around our family "vacations". I say "vacations" because there were probably fairly different than what a lot of people think of as vacations. I know when Josh was younger, his family went on "real" vacations. You know, the ones to tropical places, a couple cruises in the Caribbean... stuff like that. My family didn't do that so much. (Although we DID make it to Disney World once (in November), and we EVEN went to Fort Lauderdale, FL in late MAY one year! That was a big deal.)
Vacations in my family usually centered around a couple key things: visiting family and driving.
When you have four kids, flying can get pretty expensive (and this was before the days of $4/gallon summer gas prices). Also, when your parents have 9 siblings amongst them and you have 30 first cousins, most of the time the logical thing is to "visit family" whenever possible. So, farewell warm sun and tropical beaches.
That said, I LOVED our family vacations.
Josh and I have done a fair amount of traveling together in the US (our only non-US stop being our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico), and when we do, it seems like I'm always sharing stories of "I remember when..." or "Oh, we used to do this when I was younger..." or "It was a tradition in my family to...." This happens particularly often when we're traveling around our east coast area, such as to/from NYC, upstate New York, Boston, and -- you guessed it -- we're driving. The driving part is very important to recalling these memories, after all.
One thing I talk about just about, oh, EVERY TIME Josh and I take a road trip together (even if it's just a 2-hour drive), is going to Cracker Barrel, and how that was just about THE COOLEST THING EVER when I was a kid. I mean, come on... after you've been in the car for hours and you're about to get out, do you want to just go into any old by-the-side-of-the-road diners, or do you want to step back in time, and go in a restaurant that looks like a general store, has great rocking chairs out front, checker boards by the fireplace, and of course, AN ENORMOUS STORE?!? Yeah, it's not really a hard choice to make for a youngster.
I remember that general store being a serious highlight of the trip. All of us kids would run around, looking through the toys and books and games... but usually ending up in the candy section (seeing as how most of the toys, books, and games were too expensive, and candy's just more exciting anyway). We would all very carefully select our candy choices, using our budgeted amount wisely. The numerous candy sticks were always popular (think candy canes just with flavors like watermelon and root beer and tutti frutti), and you had to be sure you knew what each one looked like so you didn't get the cherry and fruit punch mixed up. (These days they write the flavor on the packaging.) It was truly one of my favorite things about taking road trips, and the thought of Cracker Barrel brings such sweet memories. Ah, nostalgia.
Vacations in my family usually centered around a couple key things: visiting family and driving.
When you have four kids, flying can get pretty expensive (and this was before the days of $4/gallon summer gas prices). Also, when your parents have 9 siblings amongst them and you have 30 first cousins, most of the time the logical thing is to "visit family" whenever possible. So, farewell warm sun and tropical beaches.
That said, I LOVED our family vacations.
Josh and I have done a fair amount of traveling together in the US (our only non-US stop being our honeymoon in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico), and when we do, it seems like I'm always sharing stories of "I remember when..." or "Oh, we used to do this when I was younger..." or "It was a tradition in my family to...." This happens particularly often when we're traveling around our east coast area, such as to/from NYC, upstate New York, Boston, and -- you guessed it -- we're driving. The driving part is very important to recalling these memories, after all.
One thing I talk about just about, oh, EVERY TIME Josh and I take a road trip together (even if it's just a 2-hour drive), is going to Cracker Barrel, and how that was just about THE COOLEST THING EVER when I was a kid. I mean, come on... after you've been in the car for hours and you're about to get out, do you want to just go into any old by-the-side-of-the-road diners, or do you want to step back in time, and go in a restaurant that looks like a general store, has great rocking chairs out front, checker boards by the fireplace, and of course, AN ENORMOUS STORE?!? Yeah, it's not really a hard choice to make for a youngster.
I remember that general store being a serious highlight of the trip. All of us kids would run around, looking through the toys and books and games... but usually ending up in the candy section (seeing as how most of the toys, books, and games were too expensive, and candy's just more exciting anyway). We would all very carefully select our candy choices, using our budgeted amount wisely. The numerous candy sticks were always popular (think candy canes just with flavors like watermelon and root beer and tutti frutti), and you had to be sure you knew what each one looked like so you didn't get the cherry and fruit punch mixed up. (These days they write the flavor on the packaging.) It was truly one of my favorite things about taking road trips, and the thought of Cracker Barrel brings such sweet memories. Ah, nostalgia.
Now that I'm grown, I still always ask Josh if we can stop by Cracker Barrel, but sadly, our road trips our usually too short (2-3 hours) to warrant a stop at a restaurant, much less a sit-down restaurant. HOWEVER, back in May, we went up to Syracuse, NY for my sister-in-law's college graduation, and on our way back from Syracuse, we DID need to stop, and joy of all joys there was a Cracker Barrel!!!!
Josh got to experience the peg game, the legendary biscuits, and of course, the general store (where we took home some Zotz, candy sticks, lemon drops, and other assorted candies). And I, was a very happy girl. Very happy. Very, very happy. I feel that in all honesty, I must admit that truly, the restaurant part of it is no longer something to brag about. Our food was ok. It wasn't awful, it wasn't fantastic. If you stick with the breakfasty items, you'll probably enjoy it, but won't remember it. But in the end, it's not really about the food, is it? It's about the joy of the memories, the excitement of exploring, and of course, the candy. I was still almost as excited as I used to be when we'd stop with my family 15 years ago. It was good to share such an important part of my history with Josh... and he was a good sport about going with me even though I'm sure he would have preferred a number of other places (like the steakhouse across the street...).
We probably won't stop by Cracker Barrel again anytime soon... but I'm sure I'll continue to point them out every time I see them, get excited, share more road trip memories, and in about 2 years, be begging Josh to "Pleeeeaaaaseee can we go to Cracker Barrel?!" once again.
And with that said, the next post in this series will explain how I am eagerly anticipating not eating at a Cracker Barrel on our next road trip... hmm, curious indeed...
2 comments:
Oh Cracker Barrel. How I LOVE Cracker Barrel. I too try to work it into as many road trips as possible. Jason is very patient as I look at every single thing in the store, decide I definitely want at least 2 or 3 kitchen items, carry them around the store, and then decide I just need some peppermint sticks. One bone to pick: Mama's pancake breakfast is nothing if not memorable: 2 eggs, thick bacon, a slice of orange, and pancakes slathered in butter, blackberry topping, and whipped cream... Way too much goodness. But somehow I usually still manage to finish it all.
Haha, ok... perhaps Mama's Pancake Breakfast can convince me to take Josh there again before 2 years have passed. I think he was fairly unimpressed/didn't like whatever it was he got last time, so part of the 2-year break is that I didn't want him to suffer unnecessarily. But pancakes, well, they're a hard thing to argue against...
Post a Comment