A Lazy Summer's Day

With the wedding over, Sunday of my vacation was our "day to relax." As I mentioned in previous vacation posts, my traveling companion E has an aunt and uncle about 30 minutes south of Lansing, and they agreed to take us in for the night.

Very nice, friendly people, these two. They've been married upwards of 40 years. They've been living in the same house the entire time, which they've slowing expanded and remodeled bit by bit. A second house was built on their land, which one of their children now lives in. While we were visiting, their grandson -- just out of high school -- stopped in to chat with the grandparents "on the way home up the driveway." In short, it was a neat, but totally alien family situation to me. I get along well with my family, but seeing things like this makes me wish I were even closer to my own.

Of course, E's joke was that seeing her aunt and uncle was really only #3 on the list of reasons to stop in town. #1 was to get "coney dogs" at a specific local restaurant. #2 was to visit The Parlour, an ice cream place. And E was obliged on all counts.

I'm not for hot dogs loaded down with stuff, so I haven't much to say on that stop. But let me tell you about The Parlour. Many of you probably remember or live near a place just like it. It's a sit-down place with old-fashioned counters and stools. It was completely hopping on that Sunday afternoon. The menu is loaded with a variety of ice cream concoctions. Each is so large, you might as well stick a spoon into a half gallon tub of ice cream, run hot water around the sides, then pull the whole thing out like a popsicle. Here's what I got:



This is called "The Peanut Butter Cup." Three huge scoops of ice cream, layered with hot fudge and peanut butter flavored syrup. It was running out of the dish from the moment they sat it down, and I came nowhere close to finishing it.

Of course, The Parlour wouldn't be everything you'd expect it to be without an "eating challenge" menu item. This was the "Dare to be Great." 21, yes 21, scoops of ice cream of all different flavors, layered with five kinds of syrups, four kinds of fruit toppings, and whipped cream. $20. Eat the whole thing by yourself in one hour, and you get it free, plus your name engraved on a plaque on the wall. There was the "attempts" plaque, and the "successes" plaque -- the latter having only four names on it. Yikes!

After being stuffed with food, we relaxed around the house in the evening, watching the sunset from a hammock, porch swing, and "sky chair" in the yard.



Wonderful. I'm not the sort of person that could stand to "slow it down" too much like that regularly, but it was a real treat on this occasion. Thanks to E and her family.