The super-talented A Slice of Southern Illinois interns and I spent a nice evening in The Dale (for the non-locals, that’s Carbondale.) Before we could do much else, we had to tend to a turn signal light that just had to quit working… Athough they claim to have never changed one before, the put their heads together and fixed it like pros.
Once we could safely turn left again, we headed to University Mall. My early childhood memories of visiting this mall include trips from Salem in the family Pacer and riding the escalator in Sears to shop for View Master disks. (Our younger readers may have to search some of things–unless maybe they saw the Pacer in “Wayne’s World.”)So, during our mall rat (some folks may have to search that term…) adventures, we walked a bit and perhaps shopped a bit too. Since interning is not a paid gig, some checked on job applications… The bonus: we visited a bit with friends while we were there.
After the mall, we headed to The Strip to get some evening photos. Mijo and I debated dinner options while Mija and Josh walked along the strip for photos. No surprise, they didn’t just take a photo of the same nostalgic Dairy Queen that my parents visited as SIU students before I was ever born. They returned to the vehicle with frozen treats.
Then we headed to New Kahala to eat. If you’ve not eaten there before, just know that they have very generous portions. Oh, and the food is good too, not just plate-filling. We started off with yummy crab rangoon. Two interns had vegetarian lo mein, one had shrimp lo mein, and I was the oddball with the beef with scallions and ginger and rice…
As we left, I asked Mijo to get a quick photo of The Towers. He managed to catch this awesome shot of a car he liked passing the dorms in the background on Grand Avenue.
I lived in Salem for 25 years before retiring back to my hometown of Carbondale….enjoyed reading about and seeing your photographs from both of your articles. You and your Slice of Southern Illinois are a welcomed read, thanks for sharing.