Franklin Drive-In Theatre in Franklin, Kentucky
(image linked to their website)
This past Saturday night my husband and I did something together we've never done. It was actually really special and different. Of course, I'd never done it before at all with anyone, but he had a lot of times in his life. I mean, he did it with his parents and his friends, and now we've shared the experience with our kids.
We took the kids to see movies at the drive-in.
(Yeah, I can't get "Sandy" or John Travolta's falsetto whining out of my head now either, much as I love Grease)
My parents first date was at the Twin Hills Drive-In in Harrodsburg, KY in the 1970s. My mom said she didn't eat before they left, so while my dad tried to smoke a pipe to impress her, she snuck off to the concession stand and wolfed down a burger to quiet her rumbling stomach. But, in all the time I was growing up we never went to the drive-in, which was closed in the mid-80s. Truth is, we never went to the movies when I was growing up.
The first movie I ever saw in a theater was on my first date when I was 18 or 19 years old- We went to see "I Love Trouble" with Julia Roberts and Nick Nolte. It was the longest, most horrible movie I'd ever seen and it could have tainted my view of going to the theater altogether except that my date and I got the biggest kick out of laughing about how horrible it was and how it was the longest 2 hours of our lives.
My next experience was better- "Billy Madison" with my friend and her boyfriend. That movie went over much better and after that, going to the movies became more commonplace for me. I went with friends or on dates. And then there was the time period after having my daughter that we didn't go to the movies much at all. Taking little kids to the theater just does not happen. Now that my stepson is 13 and our daughter is 9, we go a little more often, but not a lot because we have to weigh the cost of the tickets and concessions against what's in the bank and what bills need to be paid. Indoor theaters are not cheap.
BUT- this past weekend when we realized we'd have both kids (stepson stayed the weekend with us instead of going to his mom's) we tried to come up with something that we could all do together. At first, we thought about going to the zoo. Nashville's not that far, nor is Louisville, but the idea of walking all day long was a bit daunting, especially if it were hot. And then the idea of whether there were any old-fashioned drive-ins still around these parts came up.
We did some online searches and there was one in Tennessee we were looking at but then we discovered there was one open a county over from us and they only charge $15 a carload. Not too shabby and the movies playing were suitable- The Pirates: Band of Misfits and Men in Black 3, which hubby and I'd been wanting to see.
We got there just before the gates opened around 6:30 and soon they began allowing the cars through, so we found a good spot and headed to the concessions to get supper. My stepson said their chicken poppers were great and their tator tots. Hubby, daughter and I got cheeseburgers- the good kind like you get at the fair- the kind you just can't get anywhere else. Daughter's fries were great as were the spicy wedges hubby and I got. We ate in the car and relaxed until it got dark.
The family next to us had teenaged daughters, so they blew bubbles to pass the time. The only thing that might have been better was if we'd brought some folding chairs to sit in outside the car, but it was a cool evening, so sitting in our car worked all right, other than my daughter not being able to see while my seat was in the upright position and she overdid it eating Junior Mints and cotton candy during the movie and felt a little sick on the ride home around midnight.
At intermission, my husband went to the concession stand and got himself a couple slices of Domino's pizza and got me a warm powdered sugar plate of heavenly goodness I call a funnel cake. YU-U-U-MMY! Overall, it was a great family outing, and also a first for myself and both the kids, so it's an experience we can always say we shared together as a first and hopefully it won't be our last time. The movies were good. The Pirate movie was okay, in my opinion but I was way more interested in seeing if the MIB 3 movie would be better than it's predecessor (the 2nd one) as I loved the first one, but wasn't that impressed with the story in the 2nd one and I personally found the 3rd one to be laugh out loud funny, it was nice to see those characters again and I have to give props to Josh Brolin for his Tommy Lee Jones impersonation and it also had a very heart-warming part that made me love Agents J & K even more. I truly enjoyed it and I can't wait until we can go again!
Please don't forget that I'm also visiting at
this week and would love it if you stopped by to chat or say hi!
