The good old days...

For years we would travel to my grandma's house on the weekends.

We would spend the whole weekend there and spend hours playing with our friends in the little town of Murray City.  It was a great little place, formerly a booming mining town, and full of the fun.  I remember walking down to the local drugstore where we could shop for lots of penny candy and catch a Root beer float at the soda fountain bar.

We would always have to walk up to the gas station and get the newspaper that was left on hold for Dad.  While we were there, we would spend the quarter that we were given to get a bottled coke out of the coca cola ice chest.  It even had the built in cap bottle opener where the caps would fall down inside.  It was right across from the local funeral home which was right next to the local 'all grades' school.  We would head over to the playground and play, drink our soda and then drop the bottle back off so we could get our 5 cent refund for returning the glass coke bottle.  I preferred Orange Crush .

The school would host fun events where you could go and do fun things from room to room.  You would pay an entrance fee and then it was craziness as we went from room to room.  One year, it was a halloween night and they did it up as a haunted house.  Then is was a carnival night and the favorite room was the gym where we were allowed to pay to go in and dance.  They had the lights down low and dance lights flashing.  The music was so loud you couldn't even hear yourself talking.  It wasn't long after I got married they closed the school down.  Such great memories.

I remember a homemade basketball court that we played at just across the street from our house.  Many times the neighborhood kids would meet up to throw some hoops down and playing H O R S E was the game of the summertime. Those were the middle school years, when we couldn't go to movies and do all the fancy activities that our children  enjoy.

It was a true Andy Griffith type of town.  Everyone knew each other and the neighborhood was one big happily family.

http://www.ohgen.net/ohathens/murraycity.htm