My daughter asked me to go shopping with her today, and I said, "Sure!" And she said she wanted to go to the outlet malls on International Drive, and I said, "Why not? I haven't been there in years!" We did know that there is basketball stuff going on this weekend, but foolishly assumed that the mobs in town for the events would be AT THE EVENTS, instead of at the malls. Traffic was beyond horrendous - it was worse than the worst Christmas madness I've ever seen. We sat in gridlock both ways, the mall itself was jammed.
For the uninitiated, the I-Drive Premium Outlets are not your basic collection of shops. It's like the Las Vegas Strip of Discount Shopping. After you get off the highway and make the turn onto International Drive North (there's a whole lot of other stuff to the south, but this particular destination is on the north end) you crawl from red light to red light between countless smaller strip malls with outlets for everything you can imagine, plus restaurants, t-shirts, etc., until you reach the Ultimate Goal. It took 20 minutes to crawl the maybe two miles up International Drive. I was seriously rethinking the wisdom of the entire trip by the time we parked.
But we did score - Girlmama found some very cute and work appropriate tops and little cotton cardigans at the Gap Outlet. Miss D got an adorable ruffled bathing suit from Baby Gap, and Grandma bought her a cute little top and leggings on clearance. We wandered other stores, ate overpriced and just okay pizza at Red Brick Pizza, and wandered some more.
These outlets are an experience - they are a destination for tourists from all over the world, and many of them buy big suitcases (conveniently sold at kiosks in the open-air plaza) and then drag them through the stores, filling them with designer goods. (They aren't the ones hitting the clearance racks at the Gap and tucking our small purchases on the shelf below the stroller. That was us.) On a normal day it's busy. Today was a freaking madhouse, the craziest I've ever seen. I'm glad we scored some things that made it worthwhile, because holy crap, it was awful.
My only purchase (besides the overpriced pizza) happened at the Calphalon outlet. Years ago I had an older version of their "Everyday Pan" - it had two small rounded handles on the sides, instead of the long handle on one side and small handle on the other that everybody seems to have gone to these days. I used that pan nearly every day, until it suffered some sort of tragic end I can't quite remember. I have searched for a replacement pan for at least 3 years, maybe longer, in every store that carries Calphalon. Even Williams-Sonoma had no idea what I was talking about - which is good, because it's a measure of how much I missed that pan that I'd have cheerfully paid retail for a new one.
Today I found a 5 quart version (so handy for cooking down large quantities of greens, etc). It's a non-stick saute pan with two small metal handles, instead of the long handle. It can go from stovetop to oven to table, for those times when something has to get finished under the broiler. Rare, but it does happen. (I find the smaller handles are much easier for my carpal-tunneled wrist - the weight is more centered, instead of out there at the end of a long handle.) It is a $100 pan, and they had it for $40.
Finding that pan made my day. Miss D didn't melt down until we were in the car on the way home, when she spat out her pacifier and told us how much she hates sitting in traffic. We agreed. Leaving the mall was as miserable as arriving, it took 20 minutes to get out of the parking lot. The last time I visited that mall was 2 or 3 years ago, and right before Christmas. It was about one tenth as crazy busy as today.
And I'm with Miss D - we need to get these safaris down to 3 hours. Today was a 6 hour tour. Worth it, but DAMN, I'm tired.
No comments:
Post a Comment