A Walk On the Wet Side

It was only cloudy and humid when we headed out late this morning. The sign at Beneficial Bank said 83 degrees, but thanks to the humidity, it felt a lot warmer than that. We made a brief stop at WaWa for a pretzel (I forgot to eat before we left), but otherwise hiked straight down the White Horse Pike to Haddon Heights. My graduation present to Lauren was lunch at Anthony's, a fancy gourmet Italian restaurant on Station Avenue. I figured it was a gift that would be far more appreciated than some DVD.

We just made it. We'd been sipping water in their upstairs dining room for about 20 minutes when Lauren noted that the rain had started outside. And when it rained...it deluged. By the time we were eating salad for our first course (Lauren had Spinach Salad with bacon dressing; I had Warm Mushroom Salad), the rain was coming down in torrents.

And this time, it only got worse. It started thundering as we enjoyed our main courses. Lauren had Oven-Baked Tilapia with steamed vegetables. I had a Chicken Italiano Sandwich with "pub fries." The lights blinked briefly while we were eating dinner. The rain didn't do much to dampen anyone's spirits. Anthony's was busy with the lunch crowd, mainly older people and office workers looking for something better to eat than the usual hoagie.

The rain continued, even as we had raspberry sorbet for dessert. We finally decided we couldn't hang around in the freezing air conditioning for much longer. Not to mention, I spent my last money on our lunch. We dashed down the street to the big PNC Branch a few doors down. Their ATM machine seemed to be down or running slow, probably thanks to the weather, so I went inside to withdraw cash for the rest of the week.

Our next stop was the other area comic books store, over the tracks and down the street from Anthony's and PNC. The Comics Connection is smaller than Oaklyn's Comics Shop, but it's brighter, cleaner, and far better-organized. Toys and comics are displayed on shelves instead of being left in cartons and boxes, and it makes everything look so much better. I didn't get anything (I'm not really into comics), but Lauren bought four Voltron titles.

I've been wanting to show Lauren the Barrington Antique Center for a while now. Though it was still raining, it wasn't quite as hard as it had been, and we were closer to Barrington than to Oaklyn anyway. We explored the winding labrynths of the Antique Center for almost an hour, checking out toys, books, records, vintage clothing, and linens. I saw three American Girl dolls, Kirsten, Samantha, and Felicity in a display. I already have Sam and Lissie, and while I wouldn't have minded having Kirsten, they all cost 250 dollars each! The high price is probably because all three are retired. Even two of Lissie's dresses were $50. (I might have been more tempted on the dresses if I didn't already have the pink Birthday Gown.)

I did find the last Samantha book I didn't have, Samantha Saves the Day, and Garfield's Feline Fantasies, a comic book based after one of the last Garfield prime-time specials. Lauren did a bit better. She found a mini Pound Puppy and a bag of Garfield figurines. We both saw quite a few other things we wouldn't have minded buying, including several records, but we didn't feel like lugging them home in the rain.

Speaking of the weather, it was improving, even as we strolled beneath the highway overpass and back to Haddon Heights. While the rain was getting better, the traffic wasn't. I have no idea why rush hour traffic was bumper-to-bumper all the way down the White Horse Pike. It's Tuesday, not Friday, and the weather wasn't exactly conductive to rushing down to the Shore.

We got away from the long line of cars in Audubon. I originally planned on taking Lauren to the Barrington Coffee House after we finished at the Antique Center, but they were already closed by then. We ended up at the TreeHouse Cafe instead. The dim, burlap-hung room was nice and cozy after the rain and mess outside. Lauren had a berry smoothie. I had a Cookies and Cream Milkshake.

We finally made it home around 5:30. The rain had calmed down to a sprinkle; it's picked up on and off for the rest of the night, though never to the degree it was at Anthony's. We've spent the night playing Uno (Lauren won most of this round) and online, watching Recess: School's Out and Wreck It Ralph.

Lauren goes home at 12:20 tomorrow. I have to figure out what to do about the deflated back tire on my bike.