Found My Lost Love

Another adventure we had this summer, was taking the kids to Indiana Beach. Honestly, it wasn't something I was looking forward to, but I was looking forward to seeing the smiles on my little ones' faces and spending the day with the family. The heat and rides isn't my idea of fun though. I use to be a wild man when it came to rides. I would ride all of them and never feel queasy. Now that I am older I can't handle them as well. My kids on the other hand. love rides. Even when they have the most serious look on their face as they spin around and they become pale after they hop off it's always followed by "Again!, Again".

I did go on one roller coaster with Zach. It was either going with him or going on a spinning ride with Katy. The roller coaster I knew would be easier for me to handle. So instead of the queasiness,I came off with whip lash. Now, I knew as the day went on I had to reevaluate my discussion's or convince Sally to make better ones for me. We did manage to pick one of the hottest days of the summer to go. We kept filling up on drinks. As I stood around bored waiting for the kids and Sally to get off the ride, and looking at the clock on my phone wondering if we stayed here for a total of 4 hours if the kids would mind. Then I looked up and couldn't believe my eyes. There it was, the sign that I have sought for , for over 25 years The rare and elusive"Dog-n-Suds" sign. I haven't been to a "Dog-n-Suds since the one I worked at closed in the mid 80's I have had many sleepless nights dreaming of the scrupcious Coney Dog. I have been to Indiana Beach before but never saw Dog-n-Suds there. Sally must have seen it and led me a stray. Oh my I was positively hippity, hop pity, skippy by now. I would have clicked me heels but, peoople were staring at me by that point. Dog-n-Suds was my very first job. I loved their food. I was very upset when they closed down and the building was torn down. It has been over 25 years since I had one of the most delicious Conney dogs. Did I mention that already? Then I remembered the kids were having fun on the rides and Sally doesn't eat hot dogs. I would sell this to them. I needed to be clever and charming. When the kids and Sally came walking towards me after the ride, I told Sally we should take the kids to eat. The kids didn't seem that hungry but she did agree(score one for me). She mentioned about getting them some bread sticks and I told her there is a restaurant right here as I pointed. She looked up and saw the sign and I knew she wasn't happy but she agreed(score two). We walked in and I couldn't wait to share this experience with my kids. Corny dogs was my very first love. We went to the counter and I ordered 2 corny dogs. I would have order at least 4 if Sally wasn't with me. Then Sally orders fries and my kids well...... they both ordered dots. Dots the ice cream! Come on! They can go to the mall and eat dots but this was once in a life time chance to have a corny dog, but they were not open to that at all. Everyone did order root beer which made me feel a tad better. When we sat down to eat I couldn't believe my eye. We received two extra corny dogs.( He throws the long one and touchdown) 2 EXTRA!!!!!! It was a sign from heaven. I'm gonna be OK. The kids enjoyed their dots, I was loving my 2 dogs, and Sally's Cheese Fries were terrible.(Fumble) I told her that Dog-n-Suds didn't have Cheese Fries when I worked there, that is why they were terrible. You have to have something there know for. I really didn't feel so bad about the fries( she'll have to learn) because my corny dogs were so dang delicious. So on the tray sat the 2 extra lonely corn dogs. I tried playing cool. Asked Sally if she wanted one which I knew was a no. Then asked Katy and she said no to but Zach did not fail me. He ate one and he loved it to. By the way the I couldn't let the extra one go to waste so I finished that one(Game winner).

After that, I was a happy man. The kids wanted to go on the water log ride so we went as a family. The lady that was working the rides was an older woman. She looked very grumpy and you could tell she hated her job. We went on the log. Zach and I sat on the front half. When the log went down really fast I lifted up my hand and nooooooooooooo I knocked Zachs Cubs cap off. When we got out of log we looked for the cap. A lady told us it's in the water and if we wait it will becoming down the stream shortly and soon there was the Cubs cap floating in front of us. I quickly bent over and snached it right up. While I was saving the Cubs, but not there year, the worker started yelling at me. I walked away and said it's a Cubs cap and it was worth the sacrifice. The kids wanted to go right back on and I was to chicken to face the crab again, besides I had to use the facilities. So Sally took the kids as I stayed behind and guarded the cap. After they were done the kids walked back almost in tears. As they were getting on the log the crab yelled at Sally. She said what I did was very wrong. I am sure Sally didn't keep quiet. In fact after the altercation, Sally found a manager and complained. The lady is lucky I wasn't there. I would have laughed and yelp with delight as this lady was getting tatooed from my wife and as I was getting escorted off the premises.(Goal for the mean lady)

We ended the day by riding the bumper cars like 20 times in a row. That is our mentality level, thinking its fun to ram our cars into other people and laugh when they get stuck and can't go. As we were walking out we just had to stop at the gift shop. Sally told the kids they could get one memento. Katy had no problem deciding. She quickly grabbed a pink Indy Beach cap. Zachary on the other hand took an hour to decide. During the process he accidentally knocked off a ceramic shaped boat soap dish . It landed on the floor in a couple of different pieces. I quickly told Zach that was his memento as stood there in embarrassment and tears. The kids put theirs things on the counter and I added mine. Sally gave me that face. Well.........I like mementos too. She handed everything back to me except for an Indiana Beach pen which I was allowed to buy. She did mention I have enough mementos from everyone else's trips. Since we can't afford to travel I live vicariously through others. I have a drawer full of collectible spoons others have picked up for me from their travels. I should display them and invent stories about all my travels.

On the way home we were trying to find a place to eat. By this time we were hungry. To make this day complete for me was dinner at Shakey's. Why in the world did they ever close Shakey's? I am still crushed 10 years later.Not as crushed as D-N-S. Sally googled and found one that was 200 miles away. I would have tempted if I knew they would be open when we got there. We stopped at a KFC because they had a buffet. When we walked in we heard "Sorry the buffet is closing". So we drove some more heart crushed and hungry. We found a truck stop that had a buffet. We ate and left hungry and heart crushed again because it was terrible. It took almost three weeks for my belly ache to go away(score for Sally,game over).

Thanks for reading my blog and God Bless.