Night Out in Richland County

The McCallister's only spend a night out this late only once a year. Were not the going out type usually, mostly for dinner, shopping, a movie then straight home not usually till wee hours in the morning. You may be thinking we only do this for New Years Eve! But as I write this the calendar isn't there yet so it can't be that. Does anyone have any other guesses? If you know this time of year with the box office you may have guessed it already, yes it was the midnight premier of The Hobbit. We only do this once a year and it is to see the best movie of the year.

Our first time viewing a midnight showing together was last year at the first Hobbit movie. After we both arrived home from work we each took naps, grabbed a snack, then on our way to the theater and we stopped at the gas station for a 5 hour energy drinks. When the movie ended we caught breakfast at the nearest Waffle House to discuss the movie.

This year was different, we had the same idea of taking the naps and getting 5 hour energy drinks but the timeline was different. During the day I baked Christmas cookies for the youth bake sale for our church for Sunday. As I was getting near the end Ray called to confirm if I wanted to go bowling before our show then out to dinner with his co-workers. At first I hesitated due to being up early, not having lunch, and baking all afternoon. Even though I hesitated with going out with his friends from work I didn't say no but did initiate I needed a nap prior to having a night out in Richland County.

Our first stop was the Royal Z-the bowling alley. We were the first to arrive. As we waited we warmed up with some throws down the lane. I ended on my strike but Ray continued to warm up as he friends drizzled in. It wasn't long till our first game began we had two teams of four. The first game was to see where we stood so the guys could bet on the next game. We hadn't bowled in at least a year but our first game was our best. So the guys bet the next game in our favor. The bet was to the team that lost had to do 25 push ups.

One of the guys had to leave early so Tao was on our team. He wasn't the best at bowling till Ray and I gave him a few pointers. He had this thing he did with the ball before throwing it, like holding it high swaying it back and forth, then would walk toward the lane and throw the ball. Every time he threw it he would get 8 pins down. As the night got later our stamina for bowling decreased. And our team was the ones that had to do the push ups and yes even I had to do them too. I only did 6 real push ups then did the rest in girl push ups.

After our time at Royal Z we were ready for dinner. We found a restaurant close to the theater so we could get a good seat. Red Robin was our choice for dinner. We each got the burger they are known for, and it was the best burger I've had in a long time. And the sweet potato fries are the best with the sea salt!

We arrived at the theater by 10:30, an hour and half early. I thought maybe we had gotten there too early but I think it was a good choice. Ray bought our tickets early due to the overflow of people last year. As we gave the ticket master our tickets she informed us we weren't in the 3D movie like we had thought, so we upgraded. We waited in line until the doors opened to the theater. We noticed not many people waiting which made us think not many people would be viewing the first showing. Little did we know as it got later more people swarmed in til the theater was packed.

It wasn't until 3am till the movie was over. Instead of going to Waffle House like this last year we decided to go straight home since we had a late dinner. On our drive home we discussed the movie, of how it didn't compare to the book and how we wished it had but in the end it was a good fantasy filled movie.