Some Family Members You Get to Choose . . .

I have said many times over the years that one of the best perks of my travels is the friendships I have made.  But some of them go way beyond friendships – they become family.  And there is something special about family that you get to choose . . .

 

And something special when you get to spend quality time with them.  Cal and Dee Ruger and Melinda Doster and I spent a special evening after the first day of the West Springfield, Massachusetts show a couple of weekends ago.  Sam Solis from Stamp on It told us about a restaurant he found at the edge of town – and with Cal’s love of all things automotive, we had to check it out.  How cool – along with lots of pictures and logos and such, some of the seats were carved out of the front or back or old cars.

  

I knew when we walked into Classic Burgers that I was going to enjoy it – the old-style gas pump measured gallons rather than dollars, and was the type my dad used when he worked at a gas station years ago.  He said when a customer drove up and simply said “five,” he would have to ask them if they meant five gallons or five dollars.

 

After that, we all drove (three vehicles) 15 miles or so for dessert – no trip to this area is complete without some peppermint stick ice cream from Dairy Creme near the Hartford Airport.  Dee started out with a single dip – and then sent Cal back for seconds.

I got both of my dips at once.

I just noticed that I typed “dips” – it’s a midwestern thing, like saying “pop” instead of “soda.”  I remember years ago I went to the window at Dairy Creme and asked for “two dips of peppermint in a cup” – and the girl taking my order looked at me like I was speaking a foreign language.  She asked me to repeat it – I did – she gave me the same look – and her manager leaned in behind her and said “he wants two scoops” – then looked at me and said “I’m from Chicago – we say dips there, too.”

 

The other neat thing about Dairy Creme is the train car on its side behind it.  No idea why – it was there the first time I came here 15 or so years ago.

 

This is another thing I tell friends at home about my yearly trip here – the cottonwood seeds pile up like snow next to the curbs and sidewalks.  I drove into “cottonwood flurries” a few times along the New York Thruway.

Those flurries made it inside the fairgrounds building during setup, too.

Something else I saw along the New York Thruway while I was putting diesel fuel in the truck – Chucky and Jonathan from Gary Burlin were in the truck in front of that black trailer . . .

I saw a few things at the show, too . . .

 

More young’uns in the booth – I’m seeing them at every show.  And they are creative . . .

  

Still on “T-Shirt Watch” . . . and Nancy Knies paid her usual homage to Darlene, Picasso, and Fred.

The “Lunch Bunch” had to set up near the concession stand because the booths were closer to the front door than usual (because Chucky unloaded the Gary Burlin booth the day before so he could fly home for his son’s high school graduation, and put everything inside the booth map).

This was really fun – all four of these nice folks have been coming to the show as long as we have been coming to the Big E (that would be 19 years) – and they all won prizes in the giveaway on Saturday.