Opening Day!

A sunnier day last year

A repost about the Corral. Today, small flakes of snow flit around and I'll be eating in the van again. Spring is here. I feel it in my step. Opening Day!
My love affair with The Corral started again when we were looking for homes to buy. The realtor took us to the  white cement drive-in ice cream stand along 18 after walking through a house we really liked, ready to make an offer. The hot summer day cooling into a warm summer evening, with local ice cream. I got a sundae that overflowed the cup. Sitting there, conversing about hopefully our new home and savoring the summer feel of June, slurping the soft ice cream seemed almost Heaven to me.We tended more when I was a kid of stopping at a Twin Kiss farther north on 18 after a day at Pymatuning. That Twin Kiss went out of business, eventually leaving only the sign to finally no traces of those quiet summer evenings after a full day at the beach and driving. They, too, served soft serve twist cones of chocolate and vanilla.
We moved closer to The Corral, but not to the house we had hoped to call home. I think the owners decided they had a special home, because they never did sell it. We took those late evening summer drives to get the soft serve twists. I have to order a baby twist, because even the small towers over me.
Then we decided to sample the food on our way to the Shenango Dam. I fell in love with their chili dogs on homemade buns, a definite step above the national brand ice cream place. The French Fries, tasted like I fried them on my stove, crispy golden with a tender white inside. Milkshakes are delicious, but I crave something different, unable to buy just any where- coffee stirs- I wrote about them before: http://missmolliesmusings.blogspot.com/2012/03/local-stuff.html.
Today is opening day. I have started to see this as a rite of spring, as much as the buzzards coming back to Hinkley or robins or opening day for baseball. The Corral opening up is a long awaited event that even with the gray cool weather of today will have a crowded little lobby of people wanting their twists or french fries and lo-boys(their hamburgers) I'm calling ahead and will devour my chili dog in the mini van. I don't think I'll venture taking Harrison yet. He loves the ice cream, but allows the french fries to lay on the ground. That's OK, the birds like them.
When the girls were young, they climbed the cherry tree while we waited for our food. I gaze out at the farm land all around and relish western Pennsylvania summers. Hurray for Spring!