Geek Out With Your Wand Out

Earlier this week two of my best buds from Arcata drove over to Redding for the midnight release of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. A lot of sitting around, twiddling our thumbs and waiting to go stand in line and wait some more happened. But since neither of them had ever really been here, Chris and I made sure to treat them to all the joys of this big-little city, however few they may be.

We started off with a lunch buffet at Priya, an amazing local Indian restaurant.

Followed by a trip to Collector’s Choice, where Allyson let her inner fangirl roam free.

And then Dairy Queen, which I hadn’t had since we were in Thailand (and, as noted in the video, the sizes were way smaller!).

Having them in town made me realize how much I take things like Dairy Queen for granted. Arcata has a cap on the number of corporations allowed within city limits, so a lot of things– like In ‘n’ Out– are nowhere to be found.

The next morning we went out to breakfast at Black Bear Diner, but not before this happened. It was a total accident, I swear!

Allyson fell in love with Black Bear’s mug. I’m not going to say she took it with her as a momento of this trip… Or did she?

Oh yeah, Chris was part of this whole adventure, but as per usual, he rarely allowed himself to be photographed.

He also gave up his ticket to the midnight showing so that Dorian could go– how sweet is that?! The next day I went to an evening showing with Chris, which means I technically saw HBP twice on opening day. Taking geekery to new heights!

I hope everyone who wants to see the new Harry Potter film has already gotten a chance to do so. I really believe it’s one of the most well-done so far, though it helps that I couldn’t even remember who the Half-Blood Prince is while watching it!

Everyone looked and played their parts superbly, and there was none of that awful CGI that we’ll look back on in 2 years and cringe (Grawp, anyone?). And since when is Draco Malfoy actually attractive?! I suspect it’s the turtlenecks.