Calling All Angels

Once again, we began the day with a trip down the Mass Pike. Instead of continuing to Springfield, we turned off at Holyoke to check out the huge mall there. Once again, we had no trouble on the road, no traffic anywhere. It was gorgeous and sunny when we came out, if chilly, but clouds began to move in even as Lauren pulled into the parking lot of the shopping center next-door to the mall. 

Barnes and Noble was the only store open at 9:30, so we started there. I love that store. It's huge, two stories with a mostly-full music and video section. We both found things here. Lauren dug a movie out of the music and video section. I picked up the next book in that teddy bear mystery series, Bear a Wee Grudge, and two CDs: 

Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool

Little Richard - The Very Best of Little Richard

Since my purchase came with a coupon for a dollar off iced tea, I bought a green iced tea while waiting for Lauren and checking out my new book. It was earthy and not sweet at all. Just wet enough after the car ride.

Went across the street next to TJMaxx, the only other store open that interested us. I used the bathroom, but otherwise didn't find anything. When Lauren didn't see anything she wanted either, we headed out.

We were the first ones at the door of Red Robin promptly at 11 AM. Far from the only ones, though. Shortly after we came in, several other couples arrived as well. Lauren had the Red's Double Tavern (smaller) Burger. I had the California Chicken Sandwich. The waitress brought fries out right away, and we had to order the usual towering onion rings. Lauren had a sparkling lemonade. I ordered a mint mojito...before I realized that the waitress hadn't heard my request for it to be non-alcoholic. I took a few sips, tasted rum (yuck), and didn't finish it.

After lunch, we jumped back in the car, and Lauren drove us to the main Holyoke Mall. She parked at the JCPenney entrance, which isn't far from Round 1. We wanted to start there, before we had a lot of packages to carry around and the kids got off of school. I spent the next hour running from Bust-a-Move to giant Pac Man to Nerf Arcade to Lane Master bowling to skee ball. Practiced my pinball skills for the Vermont pinball parlor on Friday with games based on Guardians of the Galaxy, Star Wars, and Deadpool. Played Mario Kart Deluxe and came in first with Yoshi. 

I eventually amassed over 2,200 points, not bad for an hour. I liked the dragon Kai that I picked up in June so much, I went for a smaller stuffed animal from the same line who was even prettier. Haru is a red and white fox fire spirit ("kitsune") with three tails like Tails the Fox, a bell on her collar, and a mischievous embroidered expression. I think she's an absolute darling, and one of the loveliest from that line. Lauren forgot her original card and didn't have the points, so she just got candy.

We were in and out of stores for the next few hours. Lauren did best at the two Stateline Used Video Games, picking up five Nintendo 64 games to try between the two stores. She also bought a dress that resembled Sally's in The Nightmare Before Christmas from Hot Topic and a Sarah Sanderson from Hocus Pocus costume from Spirit Halloween. (Apparently, she and the women at the bank where she works will be dressing as the Sanderson Sisters this year.) She bought a dress at Macy's. I just used the bathroom. We browsed in Build-a-Bear, but didn't buy anything. She bought pants for her father and for her at JCPenney. I found a sea blue short-sleeved t-shirt on the clearance rack for $6 and Fila sneakers on sale for $44 to replace the Reebox that never really fit right and were already looking shoddy.

I did the best at FYE. The FYE at Holyoke has a far larger selection of CDs and DVDs than most of their stores nowadays. They were having a buy two used items, get a third for $1 sale. I really hit the jackpot with cast albums on CD in particular. I eventually came up with:

The Who - Magic Bus: The Who On Tour

The soundtrack from That Thing You Do! (I have this on cassette, but not only are my cassettes in storage, I'm trying to phase out all cassettes but the ones containing old-time radio shows I've never seen anywhere else.) 

The original cast albums for the Broadway Little Women from a decade ago, Liza Minnelli's first show Flora the Red Menace, Kinky Boots, and the Bette Midler Hello Dolly! revival. (Dolly ended up being the dollar item. I forgot that the Who was a new CD I grabbed from the bin up front.) 

Our plans hit a snag when dinnertime came around. We were going to eat at the 99 Restaurant there, like we did last year...but it would seem that they've closed since then. The only other sit-down restaurant was the expensive 110 Grill. We eventually ended up downstairs at the food court. Lauren had a pepperoni stromboli and salad from Sbarro's that she claimed was excellent. I had two street tacos with cilantro, tomatoes, and taco meat and a Diet Coke from El Burrito. The taco meat was a little dry, but I liked the soft corn tortillas they used. It also came with a bag of chips and container of salsa that were so huge, Lauren and I agreed to have them for a snack later instead.

It was past 5:30 when we made our way back to JCPenney and the parking lot. Once again, no trouble getting home. It had clouded over considerably since this morning, but otherwise wasn't bad. No traffic anywhere, on the Mass Pike or in Lee and Lennox. Lauren's brand-new van allowed her to speak her comic texts to a guy friend on his way back from work and still focus on the road. 

When we got in, we showed our finds to Mr. and Mrs. Miller, and then I took a shower. After my shower, I joined Lauren downstairs to try those new games. The only one we could play together was a WCW Wrestling game...but that honestly ended up being a lot of fun. We did a tag-team (two on two) game. It took forever for us to figure out which buttons did what, let alone pin a guy! It was 9 PM before my Randy Savage managed to get Lauren's Kevin Nash down. (We also had Sting - who wore black and white makeup like a KISS reject - and Booker T.) 

Finished the night with Charlie's Angels at The Roku Channel. "Angels On the Run" help a singer newly hired by a nightclub to find her husband when he doesn't turn up for her show. Turns out the guy was a dump truck driver who left his truck and a pile of dirt with his farmer girlfriend (Elaine Joyce)...along with a fortune in diamonds a group of crooks stashed in his truck. Kelly poses as the singer to get the goods on the thieves...and the other Angels and Bosley go after her when she's kidnapped as well.