Every summer our family tries to explore a couple of unique sites within our state. Not only is Minnesota blessed with a beautiful and diverse nature landscape, we also have an eclectic art and theater culture. I believe it’s important to give our children a taste of all our state has to offer.
On Saturday we took a road trip to a near-extinct form of entertainment: the drive-in movie. We’ve been wanting to go as a family for a while and finally found a night when one of the two remaining theaters in the Minneapolis area (Cottage View Drive-In, Cottage Grove, MN) was showing two movies that we liked, Brave and The Avengers. We’d seen both before (Avengers 3 times. 😉 ) but knew this would be a completely fresh experience.
And it was very well worth it!
Although we arrived nearly an hour before the movie started, the lot was nearly full. After paying a mere $8 per person (for two new releases!), we backed our minivan into a parking space near the back row, opened our hatch, and pulled out our lawn chairs. The weather was gorgeous, hovering around 80 degrees with a slight breeze. God even painted the sky with a reddish-orange sunset. The sound was perfect coming from our car radio. There’s something very peaceful about sitting outside–wrapped in a blanket–watching a movie.
The experience wasn’t entirely perfect, though. The screen was too dark during some of the darker scenes, and the view was hampered slightly by other minivan hatches. The lights on a car in back of us kept blinking on. The restrooms were few and very crowded.
Still, we all will gladly do it again.
Have you ever been to a drive-in? Do you have any drive-ins near you? Seen any movies recently?
Other Drive-Ins in Minnesota:
- Vali-Hi Drive-In, Lake Elmo
- Starlite 5 Drive-In, Litchfield (They have five separate screens)
- Long Drive-In, Long Prairie
- Verne Drive-In, Luverne
- Sky-Vu Drive-In, Warren