How This Kentucky Kid Used to Spend His 1970s Summer Days

However I might feel about summer weather as an adult (not a fan), those feelings were nonexistent in my childhood. I'm not sure that kids EVER care how hot it is outside when they're playing. I know I didn't.

So, right off the bat, there's one way this '70s kid spent his summer days. On Saturdays, I'd wait until the cartoons and American Bandstand were over, and then I was outdoors until nightfall or whenever Dad would whistle for us to come to dinner. And then it was back out the front door for a rousing game of late-night hide-and-go-seek tag.

Miller Lake/Windy Hollow Lake/Fish & Game

When Mom would announce that we were all going to any of the above lakes, excitement reigned. Of the three, Miller Lake was our favorite. The slides, the docks. the FUDGESICLES. I believe that Fudgesicles never tasted better than the ones we got at the Miller Lake concession stand. Oh, and there was a cool picnic up on Skyline Drive behind the lake. Sadly, Miller Lake closed in 1987 and never reopened. Fortunately, that does not affect my memories.

Also, fortunately, Windy Hollow Lake is STILL open for business and makes quite a bit of hay on summer weekends. We still go out there on any given Sunday, and it's like being a kid all over again.

Daviess County Fish & Game is now a members-only organization but not in my youth. However, the bottom of the lake was always mud. While my visiting cousins never cared, I did. But hey, Fish & Game is a hero in my book, having rescued the legendary Ben Hawes rocket slide.

Oh, and that reminds me of another one...picnics at Ben Hawes State Park. We'd play on the rocket-themed playground and walk the trail while Dad and his buddies would go play golf.

The Ice Cream Man

All the kids in my neighborhood had bionic hearing when it came to the ice cream truck. I'm fairly certain I could hear it from three or four blocks away. Then the scramble to gather up enough money for what everybody wanted was on.

Opryland

I've saved the most nostalgic entry for last. If I mention Opryland to anyone who visited, their eyes light up like mine do. I still miss it, so I guess I always will. The Log Flume, the Grizzly River Rampage, those incredible shows. Opryland was SUCH an integral part of our summers. We went every single year and sometimes more than once. (No, I realize it's not in Kentucky, but I was there so much as a kid, it felt like an EXTENSION of Kentucky.)

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I've always said that it's difficult to experience things as a grown-up like we did when we were kids. So our best option in the summertime is to try to have as much fun as possible. And, by all means, save room for Fudgesicles.