A Day at the Movies

A couple of weekends ago we learned that going to the movies really is an all-day affair when you live out here where we do. The closest movie theater is almost an hour and a half away. When you have a 3 hour round-trip drive, a 2+ hour movie, and then you factor in the fact that I stop at practically every scenic overlook we pass to take pictures, well…you get the idea.

We drove to the town of Seaside to see the movie Divergent. To say that this movie theater could use a little updating is like saying the Roman Colosseum could use a little work. I don’t think I’ve been to a theater quite like this one since the 70’s. Maybe not even then.

When we pulled into the parking lot, I wasn’t even sure I had the right place. The building was sorely in need of a paint job, and the entrance wasn’t clearly marked. I couldn’t tell if we were walking in the front door, or the employee break room. I had ordered tickets online, afraid that the movie might sell out, since it was new. I shouldn’t have worried. Rather than picking up the tickets from a machine or the box office, we were directed to pick them up at the concession stand.

Once we had our tickets, we walked down a long, narrow hallway with red fabric-covered walls, then turned down an even more narrow hallway to reach our theater. The theater itself was small…maybe 15 rows of seats, total. The floors were entirely concrete – there wasn’t even a carpeted aisle. Some of the seats may have had cup holders, but ours did not. And stadium seating??? Fuhget about it!

Did I mention that the sound did not work throughout almost the entire “First Look” program that they show before the previews? One of the other patrons went and told the teens working up front and was told that “it will come on in a minute.” Five minutes later, I went and told them again, only to be told the same thing. Oooook. It finally came on right before the previews started, which was good, because I was starting to think maybe I’d just gone deaf, and didn’t know it.

At least the movie was good.

As I mentioned earlier, I stopped for every photo op on the way home:

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No matter how hard I try, the pictures never really convey just how freaking big the hills are...
No matter how hard I try, the pictures never really convey just how freaking big the hills are…
This little guy had no fear of people whatsoever. He stopped right in front of me to pick some grass to take back to the nest he was working on in the rocks.
This little guy had no fear of people whatsoever. He stopped right in front of me to pick some grass to take back to the nest he was working on in the rocks.

2 thoughts on “A Day at the Movies”

  1. Yeah.. I remember taking photos in Germany and thinking, “No one can understand just how GRAND this mountain is in a photo.” so I get what you are saying here.

    Does this mean you looked into buying the theater in your town? You know, like the Cinema and Draft houses are back here? I think you could do it.

    :0)

    • We thought about it for maybe half a second. The local newspaper took a survey, though, and the majority of people would like to see someone also take over the retail space next door and open up a multi-plex…which would be out of our price range. LOL

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