What better time for nostalgia is there than around the holidays? A few close friends and I recently embarked on a grand quest to recapture some of our favorite childhood pastimes. We didn’t need a DeLorean to go back in time that day, just a Buick Century stocked with enough Fruit Gushers to feed a small country. We brought along other nostalgic snacks to help set the mood: Cheetos, Funyuns, and one Lunchables cracker stacker (which we shared).
I was halfway through my second pouch of Capri Sun by the time we got to San Luis Obispo. We managed to find a parking spot near our first destination—Boo Boo Records. Once inside the shop, we briefly separated to browse our own preferred areas. Weston and I went straight to the soundtrack section, while Chris and Alli went to to check out the vinyl records in the back of the store.
The four of us reunited at the cash register with our respective purchases. I couldn’t decide between two classic ’90s soundtracks, Titanic and As Good As It Gets, so I bought both. Is it just me, or does putting in a CD feel so much cooler than listening to Spotify through an auxiliary chord? There’s something special about being able to physically hold an album in your hands.
I feel the same way about comic books, which there were plenty of at Cheap Thrills (the second shop at which we stopped). Like everything else nowadays, comic books can be purchased digitally. But where’s the fun in that? Browsing through the new comics at Cheap Thrills is almost as fun as checking out the old ones, which they keep upstairs (third floor). I tend to freeze mid-staircase staring at all the Star Trek action figures adorning the walls.
No matter how many times I’ve been to Cheap Thrills, it always amazes me to see vintage systems like Super Nintendo and Nintendo 64 in their boxes (never been opened). Browsing through old titles like Donkey Kong Country and Mario Kart is quite the trip down memory lane. The original PlayStation holds a special place in my heart; it’s still the favorite Christmas present I’ve ever received.
“Does anyone remember the Gilligan’s Island game on the original Nintendo?” Chris asked us later, while we were having lunch at The Habit. None of us did, but we reminisced about old video games over burgers and chicken nuggets.
“Kingdom Hearts is the key to my heart,” Weston said.
He probably didn’t say it exactly like that, but I prefer to remember it that way.
“So which CD should I put in?” Alli asked us after we got back to the car. Weston voted for Titanic, but As Good As It Gets won (three to one).
“Don’t worry, we can listen to Titanic on the way home,” I assured him. The day wasn’t quite over yet; we still had one more stop further north before heading back to Santa Maria.
About half an hour later, we arrived at The Slice Pizza and Games in Paso Robles. I don’t think we could have asked for a better finale to such a nostalgic day. We were still pretty full from lunch, so we decided to play arcade games until we were hungry enough to pig out on pizza. Weston challenged me to a game of air hockey. I accepted, but honestly don’t remember who won. I also don’t remember who beat whom on the motorcycle racing game either, or who got the better Skee-Ball score. But we were having fun, and that’s all that really mattered, right?
The real cherry on top though, was claiming prizes at the ticket counter: a yo-yo, a sticky hand, a miniature slinky, and one of those plastic parachute army soldiers (which I threw off of my roof when I got home). After so much suspense and excitement, we were finally ready to eat again.
After dinner, we grabbed what remained of our then-deformed pepperoni pizza and stuffed it into a take-out container. And as promised, we listened to the Titanic soundtrack during the drive home. I kept waiting for Weston to shout “I’m king of the world!” But he never did. And part of me is still waiting.
Caleb Wiseblood wants to know what your favorite Capri Sun flavor is. Contact him through Arts Editor Joe Payne at jpayne@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Dec 22-29, 2016.