a turn of the calendar page

yay!  March 1.  The Moorhead Dairy Queen is open! Spring is on the way.
If you have ever visited the Moorhead DQ with us (and you have if you've visited us March - October) you know what a place of magical deliciousness it is. 

Phil and I took the kids there from the time they could hold a "kiddie cone."  The older guy who used to own it just topped the edge of a cone with a curly Q and charged a quarter for it.  "I'm no fool," he'd say.  "Today's kiddie cone toddlers are tomorrow's blizzard-buying teens."  And he was right, of course.  

They still make their own BBQ mix - I suspect they buy the buns locally - and they are so yummy - made while you wait, wrapped in foil.  It's fun to eat a piping hot sandwich when it's cold and you eat outside at the picnic table like all real Minnesotans do.   You used to be able to get a BBQ and Coke for $1 - I think it's up to $1.50 now.  


The Moorhead DQ is only place I know of that you can get a Red Raspberry freeze.  With real red raspberries.  Not that awful fake BLUE raspberry syrup.  Phil got me (and the girls) hooked on the Red Raspberry Freeze.  Raspberries, the slushy icy freezy stuff and ice cream - oh, yum.  Their "crunch" for the crunch cone has real nuts along with the sprinkles!  In the summer they buy "Youth for Christ" peaches (shipped fresh from Colorado) and make the most AMAZING cinnamon and peach sundaes and shakes.  


It's on the corner of 8th and Main, two of the busiest streets in town.  You can sit on a bench and watch the cars, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles go by.  When the kids were little, we used to sit on a little sidewalk curb.  There was quite a while when Phil didn't order anything himself.  He kept busy catching drips and slurping up what the kids couldn't finish.  He was also a fan of the Mr Malty - a little chocolate malted - frozen in a little paper cup with a red plastic spoon frozen in the middle for a stick.  I can't remember - I think they were a quarter, maybe 50 cents and he could just about pop the whole thing in his mouth at once.  It was quite the event when they redesigned the little parking lot to include a brick patio with plastic coated metal picnic tables and flower planters!  Super snazzy.


On a mid-April evening we'll all line up for free chocolate Sundays on Tax Day. The DQ can expect rushes after Moorhead school concerts, soccer games, Wednesday evening church.  We love the silliness of shivering in the snow in coats and hats and boots to order ice cream.  We love muddy spring afternoons - the steam rising off the BBQs while you munch under the big red and white striped umbrellas on the patio.  We love hot summer days when you have to be quick to catch the drips that sneak out from under the butterscotch shell on your cone.  But we especially love the crisp fall days of the BBQ and Pumpkin Pie Blizzard.  This special DQ sprinkles a little spice on top of the whipped cream.  ohhhhhh....the Pumpkin Pie Blizzard gets me everytime.


They're building a DQ Chill & Grill near the interstate not far from our house.  This is how I found out that the Moorhead DQ had found a special place in Jeff's heart.  (he had lived in the area 5 years without realizing there was treasure on 8th and main!)  I was wondering aloud if the new-fangled "regular" DQ would take business from our DQ.  He nearly snorted, "not if they know about the Moorhead DQ."  We all concluded the new DQ would be a fine addition to the community as it would keep the "foreigners" (by which I mean anybody not from here) happy and the riff raff away from 8th and Main.


This year Jamie, Nate and Alex took themselves to the DQ after school.  Nate enjoyed his BBQ and root beer (his favorite!) and a strawberry shake.  Alex had a Starkiss and Sprite (he's a strange kid and we sometimes pretend we don't know him) and Jamie had the Red Raspberry Freeze.  


Jeff works till 9:30 tonight, but the DQ doesn't close till after 10 so...