Fifteen years ago, I moved to Dallas - "Big D" - and fell in love with the city. Dallas has everything a girl could want including 3 Nordstroms, the original Neiman Marcus, museums, concert venues, and 4 nearby lakes. It's not uncommon to see groups of people from small towns take "field trips" to Dallas for all of our big city luxuries, and it makes me feel lucky that all of those things are right here in my own backyard.
In attempt to plan a Not Bummer Summer for ChellBell, I started researching fun things to do on the weekends and have discovered that although we have so many things in our city, there is a very exciting world right outside the 4 walls of Dallas - charming towns, neat downtowns that do not involve a skyline, and lots of Dairy Queens.
Our first "stop" for the summer was a trip Saturday night to the little town of Ennis, TX just about 30 miles south of the heart of Dallas. We drove through the towns of Wilmer, Ferris, and Trumbul before joining about 500 other carloads of families at the Galaxy Drive-in Theatre.
I seriously - until that night - had never been to a drive-in movie. Growing up in places like Honolulu and Tokyo afforded me some really cool opportunities, but a drive-in movie was not one of them. And I have to say that it was a blast! Hot as hades (seriously 104 degrees at 7PM), but even with the heat, we had a great time sitting in the back of the SUV eating popcorn and cotton candy and watching Mr. Popper's Penguins.
We ended the night with a stop at the local Dairy Queen but were reminded that they roll up the sidewalks a whole lot earlier than we do in Dallas when they turned the lights out at 11, just as we were pulling in. So we headed back to Big D and got some ice cream a little closer to home.
It is sad to think that at their peak there were over 4000 drive-in theaters around the country and now there are only 370. I hope that if you have the chance to visit one either close to your hometown or while on vacation, you will take the whole family and experience this little slice of America!
What an awesome "trip" you took with the family!!!
ReplyDelete~Becca
So glad you posted the picture of you sitting in the back of the car with the liftgate up (and the camping chairs out). I grew up going to the drive-in but most people just had sedans or coupes back then and I think eveyone just pilled into the big front seats. When I saw your update on Facebook I actually wondered how we could go to a drive-in with the minivan (or even my SUV). I wondered how the kids would see the movie. Duh!!!
ReplyDeleteWe have a little drive in at our town and it is a must do every summer. We can't wait to see CARS the movie this summer. Can't wait to see all your adventures this summer!
ReplyDeletewe went to a drive in for the first time in Washington. I don't know that they even have any here in SC. It's sad because it is such a great family experience!
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