Lauren wanted to stop somewhere and use the bathroom. We tried a truck stop, but they had a sign on the door of the main building stating that the bathroom was out of order. She drove into Bennington and stopped at a Walgreens, but they had no bathroom. We finally ended up at a Dunkin' Donuts down the street. Not only was their bathroom fine, but we picked up donuts and drinks. I had green iced tea (which definitely had burnt notes) and a butternut (glazed rolled in nuts) donut. She had an iced coffee and bought a dozen donuts for her parents later.
We finally pulled into the Vermont Country Store at Weston around 11 AM. The Vermont Country Store is a rambling old farmhouse that sells "the practical and the unique." Their wares may be practical and unique, but the vintage holiday decorations, fancy milled soaps, huge bottles of long-discontinued shampoo and conditioners, recreations of older toys and books, kitchen gadgets, local cheeses and baked goods, and handmade linens tend to be pricey.
There's an upstairs clearance area that sells items on deep discount. I did better here, digging a long-sleeved maroon blouse with a pretty fall leaf print out of the women's racks. Originally priced at $69, the tag said $34; it rang up as $19.99. I also grabbed a bag of coconut macaroons, a cute little stuffed female scarecrow to go with all of my male ones at home, and a small leaf-shaped bottle of maple syrup. Lauren bought a blouse for her, a plaid shirt for her dad, a shirt for her mom, polo shirts for her guy friend Rico, and candy for her and her folks.
Someone finally opened up the old Bryant House Restaurant next-door, behind Mildred's Dairy Bar. It's now known as Leyla's, and apparently it just debuted this past June. The formerly whitewashed building was now stripped down to bare, polished wood floor and ceiling beams and was decorated with what I suspect was local artwork and textiles. They're owned by a Manchester cafe that specializes in food cooked on a wood-fired stove, including pizza. The wild mushroom pizza, real mushrooms and caramelized onions on local mozzarella with a thin, yet soft crust, was amazing. I'd never had such wonderful mushroom pizza. Lauren had a Diet Coke, but I went with a sparkling water that was almost as good.
It was almost 2 PM when we bounced down the country highways to Manchester. This is a slightly larger town that's mainly known for its outlet mall...but it does have one truly unique business in that mall. Pastime Pinball is an interactive museum that showcases pinball machines from Humpty Dumpty, the first machine to use flippers in 1947, to consoles themed around Labyrinth and Elton John from last year that boast fancy LED graphics and elaborate levels and bumpers.
I spent an hour playing those games, and Lauren was there for even longer. I did best on a nifty version of Ghostbusters from 2003 that included a cool Slimer that "floated" around when you hit him. I swear I remember seeing some of the 80's and early 90's games like High Speed, Space Shuttle, Pin Bot, Diner, The Machine: Bride of Pinbot, The Addams Family, and Fish Tails at the Cape May arcades when I was a kid. Theater of Magic, The Simpsons Pinball Party, Indiana Jones, Spider Man, and Lord of the Rings were among the games at the Wildwood arcades in the late 90's-early 2000's. I played most of the consoles, including the gorgeous LED retelling of the 1939 Wizard of Oz that was down the last time we visited here in 2022. I even gave the awkward sit-down console Night Moves a try.
The third level features other vintage games besides pinball, along with the snack stand. I decided to save my appetite for later and focused on the games. I never was very good at Pole Position, and today was no exception. I couldn't figure out the shoot-the-neon-aliens gun game, either. Tried Pac Man on a table console. I did better at Skee Party from 1950. It plays like the skee ball of today, but instead of rolling balls, the player sends a heavy metal puck into the holes. I got pretty good at it, but I was afraid that big metal puck would fly off the wooden ramp and hit someone in the head!
Lauren was still working her way through the consoles at 4 PM. I left her at this point to walk two blocks and around two circles to the Northshire Bookstore. I can never pass up a local bookstore. This one is housed in what had once been an inn. The children's books are upstairs. The downstairs is given over to everything else, including records, stationary, journals and notebooks, accessories, and adult fiction and nonfiction. I considered a book on the Monkees and a huge paperback pirate novel, but eventually just bought the first Brooklyn Wainright mystery Homicide In Hardback and a book to write down my internet passwords. I've been using the same notebook for over a decade to write passwords. Not only is it falling apart, but half the passwords listed are ones I don't even use anymore.
At least it had turned into a gorgeous day for hiking between stores. It was foggy when we drove over the mountains this morning. By the time we got to the Vermont Country Store, the clouds had cleared, the sun was out, and it was now far warmer than I anticipated, probably in the mid-70's. It felt great on my back as I dodged heavy traffic and made my way back to the Outlets.
I met Lauren outside of Pastime Pinball around quarter after 5. We strolled another block past the Northshire Bookstore to have dinner at Christo's Pizza and Pasta. I suspect Lauren mainly wanted the pasta. Her bowl of linguine with oil and garlic was enormous, and she ate the whole thing. My turkey panini with bacon, tomatoes, roasted red peppers, and cheese took longer to arrive, but it was delicious when it did come.
That heavy traffic was getting even worse by 6 PM. We figured it was time to head home. And this time, we did go straight back to Pittsfield, with no unscheduled stops. I even got to see a stunning rosy sunset over the mountains on the Vermont Highway.
After we showed Mr. and Mrs. Miller our finds and Mr. Miller tried on his new shirt, I finished the night watching The Love Boat on Paramount Plus. It's not all fun and fabulous dresses on a high-style cruise to Acapulco for a fashion festival. The clumsy assistant (Richard Gilliand) of an old-fashioned designer (Dick Shawn) tries to keep "The Model Marriage" to his daughter (Debra Clinger) a secret. He finally gets his own chance to shine when the designer's dresses end up shrunk in the washer. The married owners of a modeling agency (Anne Baxter and McLean Stevenson) argue over whether "This Year's Model" (Camilla Sparv) is too old to be in the big on-ship fashion show, while Captain Steubing (Gavin McLeod) falls for her.
A handsome industrial thief is a "Vogue Rogue" who is supposed to be stealing a fashion queen's (Elke Sommer) new designs, but falls for her instead. The head of a major perfume company (Robert Vaughn) searches for the right woman to advertise his new scent "Original Sin." Julie is feeling a bit dowdy among all those glamorous beauties, but she discovers her inner model when a friend who is getting married claims it's "Too Clothes for Comfort" and wants Julie to take her spot in the show.
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