Walk down memory lane, Cant stop

Today I woke up to rainy weather and an indefinite game plan.  After grabbing DD, I decided I wanted to visit the good old Berkshire Mall and I emphasize old.  It was Black Friday after all.  This mall was a staple of my childhood, it was cool to go to the mall, always.  The biggest draw for me was the kick ass arcade that used to reside on the second floor.  I spent an infinite amount of hours and quarters in that place.

I snapped a picture of the seating around the center court area, unchanged since my earliest memories of them.  I recall sitting there and watching the old fountains dance in front of me, many, many times.

Of course everyone knows that brick and mortar shopping, especially malls are a dinosaur nowadays.  Even with this being the busiest shopping day of the year the place was not jammed.  All of the big stores had closed, leaving only Boscov’s as the lone survivor.  I went in a few stores that interested me and actually bought a couple items but the real deal was just being back in a space that was such a big part of growing up. It was a bit surreal.

I grabbed lunch at another old staple, V&S sandwich shop.  Todd said V&S has gone downhill significantly in recent years.  My tuna sub was quite good and I had no complaints whatsoever.  However at 11:45 AM there were only 4 or 5 customers in the place which was a bit shocking.

The rain had stopped so playing more pickleball immediately jumped into my head.  However my hip was sore from falling on it after crashing on the OneWheel on Thanksgiving and both of my knees had some annoying soreness going on.  Like a true addict I ignored these things.  I stopped at CVS and bought two knee braces, popped some Advil back at the house and headed out. Todd and Mindy were out setting up for some monster craft show all day long so it worked out.

I headed back to West Reading, hopeful to get some games in.  The courts were not as packed as they were on Tuesday afternoon but before long I was able to get in on a game.

I honestly am not sure how many games I played in total but I do know that I played for somewhere around 3 hours.  Early on I was not playing great but as I warmed up my play did too.  I finished off the session winning 4 or 5 games in a row.  It was a ton of fun.

Everyone I played with, except one guy that got a little salty if he thought you made a mistake, was very nice.  The social aspect of pickleball where everyone is able to detach from the madness of the world that surrounds us and just enjoy playing is something that is very endearing to me.

Tonight Todd and I had dinner at the Ranch House ANOTHER staple of my childhood.  I used to love going there to get burgers, fries, and a massive chocolate milkshake.  The reason we chose it was this is where my niece is working so we sat in her section.  There is absolutely nothing notable about this place other than it still has it’s straight out of the 70s feel.  Both Todd and my meal was good and it was fun having Caroline be our server.

Tonight I did some prelim packing for my early departure tomorrow.  My plan is to be up by 6 and on the road by 7 so I can burn through as many miles as humanly possible tomorrow.  It’s going to be grueling but I have mentally prepared myself for the journey.  It’s been a great holiday visit.  I hope to make them a more regular part of my life.