A few thoughts from the past:

Can you remember when a convenience store was called a gas station? If you’re ancient like me you can remember when a gas station or a service station, was called a filling station. Service station — now there’s a unique idea.

I worked at my dad’s gas (service) station as a teen. When a customer drove in you would be there to ask how much gas they wanted and if they needed the oil checked. At a service station you could have them check the air in the tires or check the anti-freeze level. Washing the windshield was automatic; you always did that no matter what they wanted. This was all for the price of a few gallons of gas and you even brought them the change while they waited in the car. My Dad would even wash the windows for someone if they just stopped for directions. I asked him one time why he did that when they were from out of town and didn’t buy anything. He said, “It didn’t cost me anything and it’s just a courtesy.” I learned that it paid off in the long run because many of those people would purposely stop for gas on their way home just because they were given that little extra attention by a friendly man at a little gas station in Albert Lea. It’s good to be “Minnesota nice.”

With the fair just around the corner I am reminded of the many times I would ride my bike to the fairgrounds a week early just to look around at the buildings and grounds in anticipation of what was to come. I had a ritual, when I went to the fair, of making sure I had enough money for a foot long hot dog, caramel apple and a snow cone. With money that I earned from my paper route and mowing lawns I was able to go on a few rides and spread these delicacies out over a few days. The only exception was the snow cone, which was a tasty way to cool on a hot day.

The one treat that I savored the most was the strawberry/pineapple whip cone that was brought to the fair each year by the same person. It was pure delight to the taste buds and I have not been able to find anything that could ever duplicate that exact flavor. Last year after I mentioned it in a column, Morris Haskins, a former resident, called and said that I should try pineapple sherbert, which he said was not it but was about as close as he could find. I took his advice and did try it and found that he was right it was pretty close and very tasty but not quite there yet.

As long as I’m looking back, I can remember when I would stay at my grandma’s and my aunt Alice would drive up town on a Saturday night. Not to shop but to “window shop.” In those days the stores were only open late on Friday nights and Friday night and Saturday were the big shopping days. The stores would usually display their sale items in the front window of the store. Walking down the sidewalk looking into the store windows checking out the sale items was thus called “window shopping”.

There were occasions when I’d ride my bike to town and did my window shopping at the Albert Lea Bakery. I can remember when they first came out with the glazed donut. I think they were 5 or 10 cents and all I knew was that my taste buds had never experienced anything that scrumptious before. After I had dined on that delicacy I’d go around the corner to Russell’s Toyland and see if they had any new Army men or hot rods that I didn’t have in my collection.

There was a dark moment that put a damper on my enthusiasm for riding to town for a while. While I was in the store someone absconded with my ride. I had gotten the bike for my birthday, it was a Coast-to-Cost bike and it was probably my proudest possession. Luckily the local lawmen found it and called my dad. Someone had thrown it in the lake! Here it was, the neatest bike ever that I was so proud of and the dastardly thief punctured the tires and just threw it into the lake like a skipping stone. Another of life’s lessons but at least it had a happy ending (after patching up the tires).

One other memorable “Downtown” experience came when the Skinner-Chamberlain department store installed a brand new escalator. My neighbor Kenny and his parents asked me if I wanted to ride to town with them and see this new state-of-the-art addition to our town. Something like this was only seen in the Twin Cities and never did I think we’d have one in our town. We spent a lot of time just riding up and down this new contraption and I guess we must have felt pretty good to have bragging rights of being the first kids in the neighborhood to experience the “ride.”

Take some time to explore the great Minnesota outdoors — while you’re at it — let’s do a little fish’n.

Remember to keep our troops in your thoughts and prayers throughout the year.