Today it rained. We spent the day inside. I took trips down memory lanes.

My paternal grandparents were first generation Americans. They were born in England and immigrated to America in the early 1900's. One of my most vivid memories of visiting Gramma & Grampa G. was having tea and crumpets. To this day I do not like tea. On the other hand crumpets with butter and Lyle's Golden Syrup were a treat then and remain so now. 

Over the years I have searched for a source for crumpets without any success... until Google. In early September I (thanks Amy) found a source for crumpets. A little additional research led me to this vendor British American Imports.  A recommend great source for any crumpet lover amongst my readers.

Once my mail order crumpets arrived I shared them with family and friends.  They were good, real good but they were missing the Lyle's Golden Syrup. One of the friends that I had shared the crumpets with arrange to have his mother bring a can from the UK on her recent visit.  He gave it to me yesterday. It's a small world moment. What a surprise. Thanks Gary and Gary's mom.

After nearly 55 years of carrying this great memory I finally had all of the pieces. Breakfast this morning was crumpets with butter and Lyle's Golden Syrup. And of course NO tea.

UPDATE: Yesterday at lunch I introduced my nephew Ryan and tonight after a quick supper I introduced our son Scott to part of their Great Grandparent's diet. Crumpets and Lyle's Golden Syrup. Both thought the crumpets were good and they thought they might enjoy one occasionally. The Lyle's Golden Syrup was seen as a sweet treat that they would maybe use less frequently. It was great fun sharing the experience with this young generation. In a very small way it connected them to Great Grandparents they never met.  

Up next ..... Lamb's kidneys with bacon and eggs for breakfast.  Seriously it is quite good in moderation. Well .....  maybe it is an acquired taste. We'll see.

After breakfast, as the title of this post suggests I took a second trip down yet another memory lane today. This trip was made possible by a generous loan of historical newspaper articles, informational literature and personal recollections of a former camper, staff member, board member and great historian of the former Y.M.C.A. Camp Clark.  Thanks Pete M.

For those visitors to this website who might not already know one of my other ongoing projects is to document the history and the personal memories of former campers who spent time at Camp Clark between the early 1940's and 1972.  For a more detailed account of this history please visit the Camp Clark website.

I have been told by visitors to the site that even though they never went to Camp Clark the stories and memories found on the website brought back personal memories of the camps that they had attended.  Hopefully you will experience similar recollections of your childhood camps.  Enjoy!

Little Bohemia. Johnny Depp as John Dillinger. Local history and lunch.

The Main Entrance on Highway 51 in Manitowish Waters WI.

My wife and I went to Little Bohemia for lunch and a little sightseeing. We spent a great afternoon wandering the building and grounds. We were lucky to have the place pretty much to ourselves. We would like to thank Pam for being our waitress, bartender, tour guide and general all around host. Hint: Off season seems to be a great time to visit. Call ahead for their summer and winter schedule.

Front Entrance.

Look for this view in the movie Public Enemies staring Johnny Depp.

And this view in the movie Public Enemies staring Johnny Depp.

These windows are filled with bullet holes from the shootout. See the pictures below for the view from inside.

And this view in the movie Public Enemy staring Johnny Depp.

It's one of these windows on the upper floor that John Dillinger escaped from.

 And this view in the movie Public Enemies staring Johnny Depp.

Aside from the fact that this is the bar that was in the movie this is a great bar and very typical of resorts built in this era (1929) in Northern Wisconsin.

And this similar view in the movie Public Enemy staring Johnny Depp.

This photo (view) is pretty close to the movie scene.
And no that is not Johnny and his girlfriend sitting at the bar.

And this view in the movie Public Enemies staring Johnny Depp.

These are preserved bullet holes from the actual shootout.

 This is a preserved bullet hole from the actual shootout.

 Eating lunch while reading a little local history. For additional history see here, here and here. And from travelwisconsin.com see here, here and here.

Thanks Pam for your great hospitality, lunch and hooch, booze ... cocktails.

Johnny Depp as John Dillinger in Public Enemies.