“The ice cream stand...You know it’s Spring when they open up!”
Spring has arrived here when the A & W Root Beer drive-in open up!
I think we have one of the last remaining true ‘drive-ins’ in the state. No indoor dining, but they do have picnic tables if you don’t want to get ketchup and spilled root beer all over your car interior. ;)
When I was a kid 6-8, maybe a year or two older, there was a root beer place AND it was right next to a pony ride place! The ponies were small and walked around a small ring. A man would lift kids on and off the ponies while they pretty much kept walking. It was a very rare treat to get a pony ride.
The root beer & maybe a root beer float from the place next door - another rare treat. No root beer has ever tasted as good as what we got at this place - again, a rare treat, but not as rare as a pony ride!
A pony ride story involving my first pony:
My first pony was medium sized, very sweet & her name was Twinkle. At some point in her life, she had been harness trained & would pull a cart & had also been used for barrel racing. The smaller the person on her back, the slower & more careful she was (perfect for little kids) while the larger the person, she was ready to “go”!
Since Twink was so good with little kids, I took her to the church picnic one year & gave pony rides. The little kids loved it & we probably gave rides for 2 hours. I needed a rest from leading Twinkle & lifting little kids off & on so we were standing around, not too far from the food tables. Twink’s former owner fed her stuff like toast & peppermint candy so she had an orientation to food other than grass.
A church member came over & was telling me he had a pony growing up named “Billy”. This guy is the loud, thinks-he’s-funny, braggy type & to hear him talk about his adventures with Billy, you would have thought this guy had the skills of a rodeo cowboy! Before I knew what was happening, this guy grabbed the lead rope out of my hand & threw himself up on the saddle! Twinkle thought: hmmmm, big guy, leaping into the saddle & kicking me in the ribs .... barrel racing time!!! She was OFF at a dead gallop with Mr. ‘Cowboy’ hanging on for dear life. Twinkle only had a halter & lead rope so there was no control & being a medium sized pony, the guy’s legs were too long to get into the stirrups & were just dangling maybe a foot or so off the ground so not only did he have no control, he had to hang on for dear life.
The picnic was at an old plantation house ... Twink disappeared around the house, then reappeared on the other side, where everyone was set up with lawn chairs & blankets. Still at a full gallop, she was weaving through the obstacles & screaming people like the old barrel racer she had been & once clear, she came to a screeching halt in front of the food tables & proceeded to munch whatever caught her fancy while the ‘food ladies’ screamed and tried to shoo her away by flapping towels in her face. Mr. Cowboy had bailed at the food table & made himself scarce. Twink’s munching slowed about halfway down the first long food table when she hit a bowl of potato chips (she loved potato chips) & I was able to recapture her lead rope & drag her away. She had potato salad & potato chip crumbs on her lips & hanging on her whiskers LOL
Whew, quite the exciting day - you had to be there to fully appreciate the scene! Mr.’Cowboy’ never talked ponies with me again & I never took Twinkle to another picnic for pony rides. She passed away from natural causes in her twenties and was the.best.pony.ever!