Dutchess County Millennials, Remember Club Soda?

If you were a pre-teen or middle schooler in the early 2000s in the Hudson Valley, I'm about to unlock a (most likely embarrassing) memory for you.

As I was driving up Route 9 north in Fishkill earlier this week, I was stopped at the light that's right in front of Splashdown Beach. I started daydreaming a little bit and my eyes found the old Estelle & Alfonso Performing Arts Complex sign.

I started reminiscing about my first gymnastic classes as a child and how nervous I would be for the recitals in front of my friends and family.

And then, my heart sank and a wave of embarrassment rushed over me. My cheeks got hot and I looked around to make sure no one was looking at me. All because I remembered...Club Soda.

Hudson Valley Teen Club, Club Soda

If you were in 6th,7th, or 8th grade in the early 2000s and living in Dutchess County, you most likely spent a Friday night dancing to Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me" at "Club Soda." It was an exclusive club for teens to dance and have fun with their friends, safely, but without Mom and Dad watching like a hawk.

It's just as cheesy as it sounds. Girls would put on their best outfits from dELIA*s and the boys would bathe in Abercrombie & Fitch's "Fierce" cologne before they showed up with their spikey, bleached tips.

As I'm writing this I CLEARLY remember wearing pleather pants and a yellow dElia*s shirt with the monkey on the front. OOF.

These 40 Flashback Images of the Galleria Will Make You Totally Nostalgic

The Poughkeepsie Galleria has gone through some major changes in the past 34 years. Scroll down for a trip down memory lane. How many of these stores do you remember shopping at?

What New York State Thruway Rest Stops Looked Like in the 1950s

According to the Thruway Authority, the very first rest stops were erected in the mid-1950s offering travelers cafeteria-style food, coffee, and snacks. Today, these rest stops are going through their second major remodel which will bring new restaurants and amenities for Thruway travelers. According to these old images from the Thruway Authority, our local rest stops have come a long way in seventy years.