Drive-In

Last night we went to the drive-in theater in Belmont. Gary and the girls were felling sorry for me since I've never experienced a drive in movie before. We enjoy doing things that are new to one or both of us. Gary says, "You take me to foreign countries, and I take you jet skiing, motorcycle riding, and now to the drive in."

It was fun - and as I found out, it's really more about the "event" than the movie. That's very true. I was VERY glad we took the Chinook, otherwise I don't think it would have been anywhere near as tolerable, er, fun. We loaded up all kinds of movie junk food and arrived about 6:30 (so we'd be sure to get a good spot).

After waiting in line for a few minutes, one of the theater employees came over and asked if we'd like to get in for free. To do this, we had to park in a spot that would block the view from the Moose Lodge behind the theater - where some folks had set up chairs and whatnot so they could see the movie from their property. They had even cut out some of the overgrowth so they could get a better view of the screen. Quite a bit of drama ensued when a slightly intoxicated redneck got a little out of hand, necessitating the owner lady come over and give him a talking to.

After the owner lady finished telling the drunk guy a thing or two, we took the opportunity to chat her up for a few minutes. She told us that she and her late husband had owned this theater since the early '80s, and they've been running drive-ins since 1969. I asked her what's the biggest challenge they face running their business in this very high-tech world that we're living in now. She said a lot of people come to the drive in to experience the nostalgia. They want to put the speakers in their window even though the theater sends out a radio signal so you listen to the movie over your own car speakers in full stereo surround. She said, "I'm not selling nostalgia, I'm selling a family experience." Funny, that's exactly the reason we went.

One last note about drive ins -- it is true that it's more about the event than the movie itself. Getting there 2.5 hours before the movie starts to get a good spot is the norm. Also, it's normal that they show a double feature. You can leave after the first show, but generally people stay for both screenings. The movies playing last night were Narnia - Prince Caspian followed by Speed Racer, the latter being the one we really wanted to see. But after doing the math, getting there 2.5 hours early, sitting through THREE HOURS of Narnia which ended just after MIDNIGHT, we decided to head home during the intermission -- because none of us would have made it through 2 more hours -- plus the 30 minute ride home. That would have gotten us home close to 3am. Had we not left at intermission, that would have been a NINE HOUR family experience. Wuff! Here's a slideshow of all the pictures.