I'm so old that I remember....

[JimmyLyding]

Gatorade in glass bottles
Sleeping bags that were as-big-around as a spare tire
Salt tablets instead of Gookinaid/Vitalyte

[joebartels]

Darn, I was hoping you were a rich relative...

rlrjamy told me today that he remembers when the Flinstones was a new series

[azbackpackr]

Well, even if I were related, I am dirt poor! Oh, well!

I actually walked across the London Bridge when I was 13, when it was still in London, crossing the Thames. I think my sister took a photo of me. I have photos of me on it here in AZ--wish sis would cough up that old one... It was probably far less appreciated in London (although it actually went somewhere), and you probably wouldn't have been wearing shorts, tank top and flip-flops while walking across it in London, either! When McCullough brought it over here and set it up he didn't use all the stones. It is one arch shorter. Also, the stones were used as sort of a facade, I don't think they are solid all the way through--the core is concrete or something. Anyway, I have always wondered: WHAT HAPPENED TO THE REST OF THE PIECES OF THE BRIDGE???

[azbackpackr]

Darn, I was hoping you were a rich relative...

rlrjamy told me today that he remembers when the Flinstones was a new series

We posted in unison.

So, if we had had a TV I could probably remember that, too, but we didn't have one. My dad thought we should read books. I am strangely inadequate in my memories of old TV shows--I can only remember the ones that were on after school, or on Saturdays, because that is when I would go to my friends' houses and watch. Flipper, Flintstones, Lassie, etc. My favorite cartoon was Bullwinkle. What incredible writers it had--they believed children had brains! What a concept!

I didn't see the Wizard of Oz until I was in my 30's, but read the entire L. Frank Baum series of Oz books when I was a kid--24 books in all, I think. Great illustrations, etc. That series of original books are worth a fortune now. I have only 2 of them.

Incidentally, I loathe Disney. Walt Disney turned everything he touched into trite, saccharin, shallow pap. And he was a Nazi sympathizer to boot, and mistreated his employees.

[johnlp]

Still love Bullwinkle, definitely a classic. Remember when the only way to open a can of soda was with a can opener!

[te_wa]

Bullwinkle? wasnt he famous for saying "hey, rocky - watch me pull a hammock out of my pack.."

[azbackpackr]

Yes, he probably did say that.

[cathymocha]

Anyone remember the rollerskating rink in Oak Creek?

[azbackpackr]

Is anyone even building roller rinks these days? I loved roller skating! (Now I'd probably fall on my keister...)

[hippiepunkpirate]

Is anyone even building roller rinks these days? I loved roller skating! (Now I'd probably fall on my keister...)

http://www.rollerplex.com/

[azbackpackr]

So, is that a fairly new one?

OK, here we go again: I'M SO OLD I know what a skate key is and how to use it.

I'M SO OLD that I remember when you had to make your own skateboard. You used the strap-on skates, the kind skate keys are made for, and you hammered them flat and then you nailed them to a board, usually a 1x4 about 1 or 2 feet long. You needed one pair of skates to make a skateboard.

I was telling this to a kid on one of my school bus runs one year. I tried to tell him about it. He kept saying, "But, Busdriver, why didn't you just go to the store and BUY a skateboard?" I said, "Because they hadn't been invented yet, you had to make your own!" I could not make him understand.

This was probably the same kid I had fun with later. He wore his hat on backwards every day. One day as he got on the bus I said to him, "Y'know, I really like your hat, so I went to the store and tried to find one like it. But all the ones I could find had the brim in the front. I couldn't find any that had the brim in the back!" He actually took off his hat and held it out in his hands toward me, and as he turned it around he said, "But, Busdriver, all you have to do is TURN IT AROUND!"

[azbackpackr]

Here is the only photo I can find of a skateboard made from metal skates. It is more elaborate than the ones we used to make, but is definitely made from metal skates:

[hippiepunkpirate]

So, is that a fairly new one?

Built within the last ten years

[azbackpackr]

We double-posted. Check out the cool skates and skateboard photos I found!

I can't say I will never skate again, but I definitely will wear wrist guards. My wrists are already messed up from falling on them a lot. I bought a pair of wrist guards back in the 90's when I used to go to Amphi Skate Night in Tucson with my kids, at the skating rink on Stone Avenue. Jeff McE, you around today--did Flowing Wells have Skate Night, too?

[kevinweitzel75]

I remember skate rinks. Now the question is; Why were they called "rinks" and not "rings"? Didn't we used in skate in a circle? I never used the strap on skate. The ones I remember using were tan leather with orange wheels and black laces. I'm not that old, but my body sure feels like it sometimes.

[cathymocha]

I remember that skate key...so special and important. ;)

I guess this means no one else remembers the Oak Creek skating rink...young folks would come from Cottonwood to skate and date. However, i
was in S. Cal. as a girl. But, I do remember the rink...going inside and seeing where all the "action" had taken place.

[Grasshopper]

I remember that skate key...so special and important. ;)

I remember those important keys too!

I also remember Charlie Chan movies which I do miss!

[cathymocha]

My gosh, so do I...what great memories!!!

[azbackpackr]

And then there were the LPs:

[JimmyLyding]

The new skate rinks I've seen are made of that plastic "Ozzy Ice" type material. The Desert Botanical Garden brings one out for their fundraising events. They had one during their "Biergarten" beer-tasting event. I was tempted, but then I remembered that I probably would have needed medical attention if I tried to skate after imbibing a bunch of tasty microbrews.

I'm so old I remember ice chests with steel handles. Just thinking about carrying one of those with one of my brothers makes my hands hurt. That was always the kids' jobs on our family's camping trips.
Steel trenching shovels. It sucked to carry one of those on a backpacking trip.
Hiking to the top of Squaw Peak in a cotton t-shirt that quickly became soaked in sweat, and shivering in the wind @ the summit even though it was 90-degrees.

[joebartels]

Hiking to the top of Squaw Peak in a cotton t-shirt that quickly became soaked in sweat, and shivering in the wind @ the summit even though it was 90-degrees.

Been there, done that