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Picture show

I went to a movie last night, and my feet are filthy. The theater floor was thousands of feet thick in dirt, punctuated by gravel. Nearly all of it was flipped on my feet by my flopping shoes.

I went to a movie last night. The evening was replete with newborn gnats and buzzing lilac in my nose. By the end of the movie, I had two blankets clutched around me and my flushed sleeping baby.

I went to a movie last night and ate popcorn home-exploded in our untrustworthy microwave. The theater didn’t mind.

I went to a movie last night and held my breath as cars rolled by, mere inches from my folding chair. There were hundreds of cars, packed with families who sat together outside on chairs and blankets, in the beds of pickups, in the rear cargo sections of minivans and SUVs. Coolers packed with snacks and treats were ottomans. Frisbees were tossed, horns were honked in unison at the command of a girl coming through the FM radio feed—utterly festive and friendly.

I went to a movie last night. Admission was $14 for our family of eight, plus the cost of our drive-thru dinners harvested on the way.

I went to a movie last night. It was Shrek the Third, not quite as funny as the second Shrek, but still very entertaining and over too-soon.

I went to a movie last night, held outside at one of the remaining 200 drive-in theaters left in the United States.

Find a drive-in theater near you.

drive_in.jpg
camera phone, uck!

14 comments to Picture show

  • Those are SOOOOOOOO fun! I knew right away where you went to the movie! What fun memories.

  • Too fun! We’ll be doing that sometime this summer! We have a drive-in just minutes from our house!

    Steph

  • Oh, I wish we did! I have such good memories of that as a kid.

  • There’s a fun one not too far from the farm where we go for weekend trips fairly often. We saw a double-header there two years ago: Robots and Madagascar. You make me want to go back!

  • I love drive in theaters – haven’t seen one in about 7 years when I went to Lake George, NY. Despite the mosquitos and a really bad movie (the Hullk, yuk) I enjoyed the moment with friends and our children who’d never done it.
    Drive in Movies, lets us go back to simpler times.

    thanks

  • There was one near my parents’ house. When my bro and I were in high school and college and home for summer, we used to go to the outdoor theater together. Sadly the theater is no more.

    (I added another reply under your “Pa” entry. Just didn’t want you to miss it.) 🙂

  • Shayne

    How fun! I didn’t realize that there is still one in Houston. It is open on the last Saturday of every month. We’ll have to check it out with the kids!

    Here’s something horrifying that I found in the listings of active theatres in Texas:

    Apache Drive-In
    Hwy. 31 E. Tyler, TX 75701 (903) 566-1199 Shows Adult Films

    Ewwww!

  • We go the the drive in all the time. LOVE IT!

  • mopsy

    Shayne—I can’t imagine a drive-in with adult films! Try explaining *that* to your kid in the backseat as you drive by…ewwww is right.

  • I love the way you wrote this. I could feel the dirt on my feet, and smell the lilacs. I miss the drive-in that I used to go to as a child. It is long gone, replaced by a liquor store and an O’Reilley’s Auto Parts store. There is one drive-in not too far from here. But it’s on a side of town I don’t feel particularly safe in. I may have to google surrounding towns and see if we can find a nice one to take the kids to, before they are all gone.

    ~TaunaLen

  • Julana

    I know how you feel. 🙂

  • Wonderful! It made me think of my teenage and that was a long, long time ago. I had to go to the Drive-In site and was surprised to find one not too far from us here in Ohio. Even better, there is one in No. Ft. Myers, Florida where we live for six months of the year. Makes me wonder if the golden agers there will snuggle in the movies, like they did in the fifties.
    Also, tell your Chipita she looked stupendous for her school program. School sounds like more fun than when I was in the fourth grade.

  • Despite the camera phone, what an adorable picture this is!!

  • There’s a drive in theater about forty-five minutes away from us. I keep saying we are gonna go…

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