One of my childhood memories relived.

This is one of my all time favorites. I grew up in a small New England town. My grandparents lived down the dirt road from us. We had a very tall, handsome grandfather.  Our grandfather would take us to different places like the post office, or the hardware store I remember him putting my sisters and I in his van to head out to Carvels. I think he used us as an excuse to eat the ice cream himself.

The Carvels that we visited is out on Rt 7, in an inviting white building. When we were children the

building was a walk up.

This meant that you would go up to the window and order your cone, or hand dipped shake, or ice cream sundae.

Once you placed your order the man in his clean white shirt,pants,hat would put it all together, He would hand the ice cream out the window as he made it with a tiny napkin. I must say that napkin did not take care of the task at hand.

My grandfather would sit us outside his van to eat  the cones and we would  try our best to catch every drip with our little tongues, this was the best part of summer for me. I remember he would take us back to the house and we would be sticky and a mess. Our mother would clean us up and we would just be so happy.

Then when I got older and could drive myself around Carvels would be my treat. Carvels is also one of my favorite date night places. Barry and I would visit the local Carvels and eat our favorites. My favorite is a vanilla chocolate swirl cone covered in colored sprinkles. Barry's favorite is a large vanilla cone. We would walk up get our cones and sit outside the car and eat our treats.

Barry and I made it home this past June. One of our first stops was Carvels. In the picture you can see a vanilla chocolate swirl sundae with hot fudge,colored sprinkles,whipped cream, and two cherries. Barry had his standard a large vanilla cone. We enjoyed our treats just as we did thirty years ago.

For special occasions like a birthday, or graduation, or bridal shower, or baby shower it was protocol to order one of those delicious Carvel frozen ice cream cakes.I remember the cakes were a layer of vanilla soft serve ice cream that was sprinkled with crushed chocolate cookie crumbs then topped with soft serve chocolate ice cream. Then the whole cake would be frosted with a whipped cream frosting and deep frozen until you came to pick it up. The cake would make it to the event and into your freezer. To cut the cake it would have to sit out for a little while and we would use a big knife to cut that cake. I look back now and I believe the cake was the star of every event.

I wish I could have a vanilla chocolate swirl cone right now. I guess I will be booking a flight home, first stop.....Carvels!