Summer is almost over and sitting at home recovering from surgery has me waxing nostalgic over all of the summer-time activities I did in my youth. When it hit me- I bet summer is a lot different if you grew up somewhere other than Southern Indiana. So here’s my list of things that us Hoosiers do:
- Quarry jumping- Jumping from jagged limestone into not-quite-deep-enough pools of water. Yes, it’s a thing. A DANGEROUS thing. But, guaranteed 85% of Hoosier have done it. It’s not technically a ‘legal’ activity, so participate at your own risk! See also: rope swings.
- County Fairs are a big thing around here. HUGE. And yes, Pig and Cattle Shows, Tractor pulls, Demo Derbys- the whole shebang! Bonus if you’ve eaten something deep-fried on a stick.
- Hours upon hours spent on the lake. Lake Monroe in these here parts. Fishing, boating, and swimming in water that no one should probably step foot in (and definitely not eat something out of).
- Lightening Bug catching. Like, we caught fireflies and stuck them in jars. Most of the time, we accidentally killed them. But it was fun while it lasted. Do they do this in other parts of the world?
- Back yard camp-outs. If we didn’t have a tent, we rolled out our sleeping bags and slept on the trampoline. Or a friend’s tree house. Some summers I think we slept outside as often as we did indoors.
- Bonfires- They go hand and hand with the camp-outs. Hot dogs, s’mores and hair and clothes that smell like wood smoke. A definite summer favorite!
- Church Youth Group car washes (donations accepted): I remember doing this every summer. Setting up in the K-Mart parking lot and washing cars all day. In shorts and a t-shirt, because- being a church sponsored event: no bikinis allowed.
- BB Gun Shooting- we lined up old cans and jars on fences and on tree limbs and shot them with our BB guns. We all had one, yes- even the girls. We got just as dirty and messy as the rest of them.
- Sun Tea- We put our tea in the sun and let it steep on the porch. And for some reason, it tasted better that way! Then you pour it over ice and smother it in sugar- sweet sun tea!
There is so much more I could share, but these are some quintessential summer memories of my childhood in Indiana. What types of things did you do in the summer?
