Last night Greta and I joined our friends Chase and Shalaun for an evening of old school, throwback entertainment. We didn’t play truth or dare and it wasn’t even a random outbreak of hide and go seek. We did, however, go to a drive-in movie.Here’s how it went down.
We met Chase and Shalaun around 6ish and headed to Ennis. Ennis, for those of you who don’t frequent one stoplight towns, is a one stoplight town well south of civilization. We had been told by our source that this theatre was only an hour away. Funny thing is, when you already live a good 45 minutes north of Dallas and Ennis is another 33 miles south of Big D, the math is difficult to work out. Turns out our source probably never learned how to tell time. We might as well have been driving to Houston.
We arrived in Ennis about 15 minutes before the scheduled showtime. We exited the freeway right by the marquee with the various burned-out lightbulbs and pulled into the drive-in. Apparently there isn’t much to do in Ennis because all 97 people who live there were at the movies with us.
After paying, we pulled into what is, in essence, an open field, and parked the car. We purchased copious amounts of “health food” at the snack bar, which, incidentally is immediately adjacent to the restrooms. Hmm, that might give someone pause. We returned to the car and got our lawn chairs and blankets out and set up behind the GMC Jimmy (which Chase will not allow you to confuse with a Blazer) and got ready for the other real throwback part of the night: a double-feature. Yeah, you read that right. We paid $6 per person and they were going to show us two movies! You can’t beat that deal with a stick!
It’s worth mentioning at this point that the temperature last night was hovering around a muggy 48 degrees. In other words, not exactly ideal weather for two California kids to be sitting outside. The sitting outside lasted for all of one movie. For the second, Greta and I stationed ourselves in the back of the Jimmy, still wrapped in blankets. The sound came from the speaker thingy, but also on a designated radio station, so even sitting in the car, we got the full auditory experience.
We watched Man of the Year (pretty good flick, and not the comedy farce it seems from the previews) and The Guardian (kinda like the Coast Guard version of Top Gun and which I read a pretty funny “review” of here). Good times, really. The first movie didn’t start right on time, which means that, by the time we watched two movies with a 15 minute intermission and then made the trek home, Greta and I climbed into bed at 2:30 this morning.
All in all, a great night. Greta had never been to a drive-in and I hadn’t been to one for I don’t know how long. The last movie I remember seeing from the car was Clash of the Titans (one of my older sister’s favorite memories), and possibly E.T. The whole thing felt very nostalgic, even down to the cheesy cartoon “commercials” between the two shows that basically begged you to buy more candy and soda so that the theatre in the field with the snack bar/restroom combo could continue to operate. Personally, I’d love to go again, although, preferably when the weather is north of freezing.
How about you? What’s one thing you did as a kid that you’d love to be able to do again?
4 comments:
My friends and I used to jump on my family's trampoline and play all kinds of make-believe games. What amazed me about our games as I grew up was that my memories of them weren't of us on a trampoline, jumping bare-foot in the warm sunlight, but rather I see us on hover boards, or climbing up walls, flying at the speed of light in individual rocketships, and turning into monsters. No matter how hard I try, I can't imagine anything that perfectly now.
In short (too late) I wish I could use my imagination now like I could back then.
Hey, how about TRON for the other movie back when before Golfland and Costco. Dad remembered, I didn't. ;)
i would love to jump out of bed saturday morning shove some raisin bran down my throat and go out front with two of my friends and play wiffle ball. I used to play wiffle ball all day long only stopping to eat lunch (usually it was tuna sandwiches i remember oddly enough) and pee. Thats the one thing i would love to do again........
p.s. i have NEVER been to the drive-in movies
Considering our new home, there are many things I'd love to do. However, the food next to the bathroom thing is no longer a problem for me, infact I had to read it twice to understand what the problem was. :o) Lastly, be glad to have 48 degree weather. In three months I haven't lived a day under 95! (and yes, it is still Nov here too)How's that for making you feel bad. I really didn't mean to, I just think its really funny.
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