down to dowagiac

we went down to dowagiac this weekend. it's the second time we'd been down there. the first was for a few hours -- actually for dinner. we sawn nothing of the town really.

this time we went overnight. unfortunately, it rained all day and then again sunday. we only glimpsed some of the downtown in the afternoon in the rain.

still, we stopped in at a soda fountain kind of place. it's more than 80 years old, called caruso's. they still make sodas the old-fashioned way, with carbonated water and syrup. they sell candies behind a wall of glass and have some stools up by the counter where you can see how they make the drinks.

an interesting bit of info there was that the name fabiano was mentioned. we have the holland peanut store owned by teh fabiano family. there was a mention of a connection.

later that evening we went to teh indoor pool at the hotel. it was good and warm. dawn and i went into the hot tub. the water shooting out onto my back felt good. soon, denise's girls jumped in the pool. then other kids joined them. there were three birthday parties at thehotel that night. so the pool room was insanely loud. still, i managed to snooze ona pool chair for a bit. i think the hot tub relaxed me that much.

later we went to a place called wood fire. it's neat. the bar is nicely finished and the ceilings are high. in the middle of the place is a hole in the ceiling with a dangling elevator car type of thing. supposedly the car would be used to carry things upstirs and down to the cellar. it reminded me of the one at the drug store where tia mine worked. it was the same set up, with ropes used to pull the flat, wooden platform up to the top level or lower it into the basement. after some time it became dangerous and we never went on it again. the old ropes could have snapped.

it was a nice get away, if even for a 24-hour period.