Thursday, February 18, 2010

Writer's Workshop: Childhood Memory

The Prompts:

4.) Childhood memory time: Write about something you loved to do as a child.

As a kid, we lived in a nice neighborhood in a suburb near Sacramento, CA. Two of my best friends (they are sisters) lived in the culdesac (sp?) around the corner and then we were friends with some other kids in our neighborhood. We would often all play together in one of the culdesacs. This is also where on fourth of July's our neighbors would all gather and set off little fireworks. So much fun! But that's not the memory I wanted to talk about.

Those two friends of mine (Whitney and Kaitlin) and I would ride our bikes around the neighborhood. I don't know how old we were when we started venturing outside of our neighborhood. I must have been about 11 or 12. There's a bike trail/creek that was only about a half mile from my house. We would ride our bikes down there and then we discovered that the trail could take us pretty far. There was one hill that was always such a pain to ride on because it was so steep. Sometimes I got lazy and walked up the hill. Right after that, the trail went underneath an old wooden railroad track. Anytime we went under it we went a little faster because it was really freaky when the train is going over you. That old railroad track just didn't seem very sturdy. But it's still there so I guess we were okay! Farther along the trail you come out to a street (that, looking back on it now, was probably only about 2-3 miles from our houses). We would ride a little bit and then go to the AM/PM station to buy candy or something to drink (I usually got kiwi/strawberry gatorade and some mambas or shock tarts) and then make the trek back to one of our houses to enjoy our loot. We would be so proud of ourselves for working out and then we were able to rationalize eating all that junk food. Whitney started getting really lazy though and would actually pay us to go by ourselves and get her candy for her. Haha! Well, we figured it was a little more fair to buy ourselves a little something with her money too whenever she did that. She never caught on. Eventually we stopped doing that though.

As we got a little older (middle school to beginning of high school), we went farther away to a coffee shop called Plantation downtown. We didn't ever get coffee because of our religious beliefs but it was fun on a cold day to go there together and get hot chocolates. But we still rode our bikes on that bike trail and then through some neighborhoods to get there. For some reason I never fully got to enjoy my hot chocolate though because there was one place on the road that had a bump and every time I went over it I would accidentally drop my drink. They thought that was soooo funny! They still make fun of me for that.

But those were some good times as a kid, riding our bikes together to AM/PM and then to Plantation when we were a little older. Whenever I go back to visit I think about going back on that trail but I don't have a bike and neither do they anymore. Sad! Maybe we will walk instead.

I will try to find some kind of picture from back then and post it.

”Mama’s

7 comments :

Moments and Impressions said...

What great childhood memories! Me and my best friend did a similar thing as kids - road our bikes to the local drug store for candy!

Visiting from Mama Kats.

Deni said...

Yah, ice skates are heavy - I can't imagine actually being able to do triples and quads in them!

Love your story. Reminds me off when I'd go over to my friends and we'd walk through the woods behind her house.

Oh and thanks for visiting my site.

Cathy said...

I used to have fun bike adventures, too, in Roy, Utah. It felt like we were riding for miles... I'd like to go back sometime and see from an adult's eyes just how far we did ride.

Meagan said...

I grew up in a Sac burb too! Email me and tell me which one you grew up in!

Amber Page Writes said...

we rode our bikes all over the place when we were kids...I miss that.

Erin said...

Ohhh I so remember riding our bikes to a local candy store and getting root beer gummy bear thingies!

What great memories and a lot of fun...despite the fact that you never got to drink your hot chocolate!

Meagan said...

So, I got beyond bored at work today and stole your profile pic and gave you celeb hair make overs and posted them! http://megs7827.blogspot.com/2010/02/celeb-hair-for-shelley.html

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