My walk down memory lane....

You'd think I'd have something better to do than blog on vacation, right? Mostly, I'd agree. Except all the kids (minus Kaia) are fishing with their Dad, and the aforementioned Kaia and I are just chillin'. So, I thought I'd check out the Wi-Fi here at Deer Valley Lodge and, guess what? It works!! And it's not even all that slow! Yahoo!

We've had a good time--- fishing every day, swimming every day, sitting by a campfire every night. But yesterday, my older brother and I took a little walk down memory lane in Mason City.

See this little house? It's where we were wee little ones. We moved from here before *I* started school, so--- pretty little. But I remember it! I've always thought I was a little strange with my detailed memory... but I am who I am, I can't help it! Besides, it helps to fill in the blank spots that appear to be in Matt's memory, so sometimes it's actually helpful. This house is where we used to eat dog food in the garage (which has been finished into a room on the right side of the house) jump off the bar in the basement while wearing my mom's aprons pretending we were superheros who could fly.

There's a house on the right--- the man who lived there used to trap snapping turtles... and never got tired of showing us how they could snap off a twig with their, um, snappers? Then he'd eat 'em. I recall tasting them too. I know what you're thinking. Yes, I was an adventurous child.

Oh, look! Here's another... little house!! This is where most of my Mason City memories happened (I spent a long time trying to figure out an "m" word that meant happened, to keep the alliteration going there, but came up short. I feel slightly disappointed.) Wait a minute. Would materialized work? My Mason City memories materialized? Maybe. Might be. Magnificent!

I won't bore you with all the details, just a few highlights: The sidewalk there? A little bit down the street is where I literally ran into the mailman while learning how to ride my bike. Mail went flying everywhere... my slightly embarrassed mom came running down the street to help pick up the mess. Me? More than slightly embarrassed, I ran to the refuge of this little house. The neighbor to the left of this house (when we lived there!), Mr. Garrett, used to go fossil hunting. I would spend hours kneeling by him in his driveway with a little hammer, trying to uncover fossils in the rocks he would bring home. He used to rotary mow his lawn, too. I can still hear the whir of the blades as they sliced through the grass. I'm thinking we had very interesting neighbors!

My brother and I had the run of the neighborhood. Looking back on it I used to marvel at how different things were then. My mom just let us go... we'd come back for meals. The block seemed huge. HUGE! But, after seeing it yesterday, I realize that maybe my mom wasn't all that brave. The block is tiny. Small. Like what seemed like the entire universe when I was 7.... was actually about 7 of these sized houses backed up to each other. Not so big. Not so intimidating to a parent. But loads of fun for a 7 year old!

Ahhh. Herbert Hoover Elementary. Where I spent First - Third grade. Where mean Mrs. Whitis ridiculed me in front of my entire first grade class for writing an "I Love You, I Miss You" letter to my mom. Where I learned that boys can be mean, snowball throwing jerks. Where I skinned my knee while skipping in from recess in second grade and got a very impressive gauze pad taped onto said knee. The school I had to leave when my Dad got transferred to Des Moines. Who knows what would have happened had we stayed in Mason City? River City. The city where I partially grew up.

(Props must go to my big bro, Matt, whose sweet little Garmin found all of these places. Because even though I remember them, I sure as heck couldn't FIND them!)