Flea Markets

I'll blame it on the way I was raised.  My parents are total freaks when it comes to garage and rummage sales or flea markets.  Every weekend when I was little, I would be held "hostage" in the back seat while we drove to Monticello or Taylors Falls.

It was always such a long, boring car ride.  But once we got there, it was time to shop for a good deal.  Monticello was my favorite.  It was held in what seemed like a refurbished horse stable.  The smell outside was that of farmland.  Stinky, stinky manure.  But once you stepped inside the flea market, the aroma of buttery popcorn.  Never had any, but always hoped "one day" mom and dad would buy some at the concession stand.  Why that stands out in my memory I have no idea.

This is also the place where I purchased my first CD.  It was "The Nutcracker Suite".  I bought a CD before I had a CD player.  I had to save up my allowance for weeks in order to even listen to it.  Geez, this must have been around 7th grade.  How things have changed....kids have ipods now.  I also purchased my first "slap" bracelet.  Remember those?  A piece of plastic that would be stiff as a stick and you would slap it against your wrist and it would curl around.

Now that I can control how I spend the weekends, I wouldn't mind a Saturday drive to do a little country shopping.  I don't even know if either of those flea markets are still open.  If they were, it wouldn't be the same.  Times change, people change.  But reliving those lost childhood memories are an adventure too.