ALL TRAILS LEAD TO ICE CREAM

Babicka means grandmother in Slovak...which is why (I assume) my brother and I referred to our Grandma Raymond as Baba.  Just five short miles from the Morosky household in Richeyville, PA, my grandmother, Mary Raymond, lived in a small house on Lowhill Road near the Monongahela River.  Just as the water tank overlooking Richeyville heralded  that our arrival at our Grandma and Grandpap Morosky's house was imminent...descending down Baba's Hill was indication that we were close to Grandma Raymond's.  Baba's Hill (officially known as Gillis Road) is a sketchy stretch of Pennsylvania, tar and chip, back country road that, as I remember it, is BARELY able to accommodate any sort of passing traffic. Wooden posts, linked together with rusty steel cables, were the only barrier between the road and steep, wooded, ravine that was just a few short feet away.  Baba's Road ended at an obnoxiously steep angle when it intersected with Lowhill Road....indication that grandmo...

On the hill, stoically overlooking my Aunt Deb's house in Richeyville, Pennsylvania, is the town's water tank.  From the back seat of our parent's car, my brother and I would compete with each other to see which of us would be the first to see it.  The tank...which Jake and I referred to as "Grandpap's Tank"...was indication that the two hour drive to Grandpap and Grandma Morosky's house was near the end.  Every kid loves their grandparent's house...and I'm no exception.  Even now, as an adult, far removed from the back seat of my parent's car, I can still conjure so many memories of our countless trips to the place my mom and dad referred to as "home."   On a number of occasions, my brother and I would walk up to the water tank in Richeyville.  For the 11 year old me, it was quite an adventure.  -- 1984 We all have memories of visiting our Grandparents....and I'd bet that yours, like mine, are pleasant.  Visiting ...