I’m in a vaguely nostalgic mood tonight. Which means this will, most likely, lack coherence.

Growing up in Colorado, three places made strong impressions on me. They were all grandiose in, well, grandiose ways. All of them were bigger than they needed to be and all were kind of creepy.

The first place I remember is Gart Brothers’ Sports Castle. It was several levels of sporting goods squeezed in what, from the outside, looked like four.  I vaguely remember it having low ceilings–and since I was in kindergarten and/or first grade they must have been especially low–with lots of stuff squeezed in. I don’t remember why we went there, but I remember the ski machine and the golf driving range. (My dad liked skiing and golf, so that might explain why we were there.) I also remember worrying about the tennis court on the roof and what would happen if a ball went over the fence. I believe it’s now a Sports Authority, but I haven’t been there since, probably, Ronald Reagan’s first term in office.

Our favorite hang out was Cinderella City shopping mall which, for a while, was apparently the largest covered shopping center West of the Mississippi. The creepy part of Cinderalla City was Cinder Alley, which was a dark mock up of an English village that mostly contained cobblestone walkways, head shops, “Afternoon Delight” t-shirts and lots of hippies (yeah, and my family at times). Cinderella city is the first place I remember trying an Orange Julius (and being underwhelmed). One time, one of my distant cousins ate the Pig’s Trough at Farrell’s Ice Cream Parlour and there was lots of noise and beaten drums and various horns. I also remember this cousin wiping the trough clean, being accused of cheating for doing so, and creating a diaper for his spoon (which says an awful lot about this cousin and an awful lot about me for remembering that). Cinderella City now exists only as pictures on the internet.

Finally there was Casa Bonita, which is basically a TexMex theme park with average food and great atmosphere. I remember having to wait in line outside and that sometimes the lines stretched around the block. Once inside there were cliff divers, Mariachi bands, haunted wishing wells (that pretty much took our money then said we were all doomed) and lots of dark caves and hidden passages. I barely remember the food, although I do remember the little flag you had to raise to get more food and more sopapillas.

I think Casa Bonita still exists. If it does, I hope it still has places that are kind of creepy and that you think you’ll get lost in. I also hope the food has improved.