Traditions Take Two-Food Glorious Food

Well, we've posted about some of our "destination" spots that we take pictures at, when we go back and visit Utah. Today's post is all about our favorite food destinations. Just up the road from my Grandmother's house is Iceberg. Oh, Iceberg, how I do love you!

Something about how the shake stands up a good 2 inches above the rim of the cup...is wonderful! For those who don't know, Iceberg is a fantastic Ice Cream shop that's been there since 1960. It is a totally unique building, and is said to have the first Drive Through in Salt Lake. It has just now turned into a franchise and are set for 15 more stores to open up. They are best known (at least in my family) for their shakes. They have fantastic flavors and LOTS of them. Root Beer, Lime, Marshmallow, Pineapple, Cheesecake, Grasshopper, German Chocolate, and Pistachio just to name a few. Yum-MEEE!

Iceberg is literally just down the street from my Grandmother's home. So I have lots of memories of going down there and getting their shakes. We always brought them back to Grandma's house to eat there. Many times we'd sit outside on her grass to eat them (now living in Phoenix, we realize what a treat that is!). Now when we visit Utah, I love that my children request that we get shakes from Iceberg. Because we have made it a tradition to eat there when we vacation in Utah, it is now a part of my children's memories, as well as my own. It's something we can do together and I can tell them stories of when I was younger and used to eat the same thing!

The grin on my face in the above picture is not just a cheesy grin for the camera. It's because of that glorious meal in front of me! Spinach Tortellini from The Old Spaghetti Factory! Sigh. Heaven! My family's favorite Spaghetti Factory is the one in Trolley Square. Such a great place! This is another place that has been open since the 60's. They used to have the neatest kids menus that you could fold into a 3D trolley! There was also another one in the city that we lived in. We went to that one most of the time. Any time there was a family event to celebrate, we went to The Old Spaghetti Factory. So this place holds a lot of memories and traditions for our family. Just like Iceberg, it is a place that we have to eat at, whenever we go to Utah. Thankfully we still have so much family around (including our Grandmothers) that we are not just passing this tradition on to the next generation, but we're still experiencing it with our parents and grandparents.
If you go, you have to get an Italian Creme Soda. You get to keep the cup. The first sips of it are delish! I'll be totally frank here, though...after that I don't really care for them. I get them just to take the cup home! ;)

A fun tidbit that reminds me how important these kinds of traditions are is through my little sister's perspective. She was only 2 when we moved from Utah to Arizona (she's a lot younger than the rest of us, I hate to admit). So she should not have the same memories that we all have. On this vacation that we just took I had a conversation with her, about just this. She said she loves how we made sure to take pictures at the same locations, and to eat at the same places. Because we did this and recreated those memories, she has her own bona-fide memories of the same things. It's just that her memories of them are during vacations. The older kids were lucky enough to have Grandma and Grandpa close enough and got to go to Hogle Zoo with them our whole childhood. However, because we went to those places on vacation and made sure Grandma and Grandpa came along with us, now even our children have the same memories. Doing things this way also gives so many opportunities to let our kids know how our childhood was. Our kids totally understand it and will remember it because now they have lived it too! It is things like this that totally tie us all together.

Rebecca