Last Friday, Susan and I took a day trip to Denton, Texas. Susan had tickets to attend a TEDx event at the Texas Woman’s University, and while she was there I had around four hours to explore the town and do some shopping. I haven’t visited Denton in several years and a lot of things have changed since the last time I was there, but I have always had good luck finding treasure there and this visit was no exception.

My first stop downtown was at Minifigs Bricks and More, a LEGO resale shop. This wasn’t my intended destination, but I had parked down the block and the large display of Star Wars LEGO sets enticed me to enter. The inside of the store was filled with assembled LEGO models for sale along with Ziploc bags full of bricks available for purchase. I wasn’t in the market to buy any LEGO sets, but they were fun to look at.

My intended destination just a few doors down was the Denton Mini Mall II. The store was advertised as a “Thrift/Vintage” store, and… I don’t even know what to say. The store had somewhere around 100 booths, and every single one of them had things I was interested in. Many antique malls are full of… well, antiques! I’m never looking for old glassware or furniture; instead, I’m looking for things from the 70s and 80s, and this place did not disappoint. I am not exaggerating when I say I could have purchased something from nearly every single booth. There were booths with cassette tapes, booths with VHS tapes, booths full of horror soundtracks on vinyl… it just went on and on! I spent more than an hour and a half wandering up and down the aisles looking at all the treasure. One of the last booths I entered was full of vintage Choose Your Own Adventure books! I ended up buying two of those books, a set of vintage Universal Monster Halloween wall decorations, and a Pop Vinyl version of the Green Giant. I don’t know how quick the Mini Mall’s inventory turns over, but I can see making multiple trips back there a year just to see what’s new.

After walking around the Mini Mall for an hour and a half, it was time for lunch. According to my phone, I was only a block’s walk away from the Rusty Taco. After ordering two tacos I was warned that the restaurant had run out of ice for their soft drinks. Before I had time to change my mind, the employee suggested I try a frozen margarita with my meal instead. Win/win!

After lunch, I walked back up the block and encountered a couple of kids on the sidewalk in front of my parked car. One of them was desperately trying to perform a kickflip on his skateboard while the other one was filming his friend’s multiple attempts with his phone. As I got closer to them the two kids shot me a look and moved further down the block. I was surprised that they didn’t recognize me as one of their own! Then, while standing next to my car, I caught a glimpse of my own reflection — gray hair, gray beard, button down shirt… sigh. How were they to know that when I was their age, my friends and I could be found skateboarding around my own town’s sidewalks. I’m still one of them at heart. As I pulled out of my parking spot I rolled down my windows and cranked up Wild in the Streets on my car’s stereo. It wasn’t until I pulled away that I did the math and realized that song was 30 years older than they were.

My final stop of the afternoon was the Antique Experience. The Antique Experience is a more traditional antique mall, and the majority of the booths were filled with glassware and furniture.

That’s not to say I didn’t find anything of interest. One booth was filled with vintage lunchboxes, although the prices were about twice what I typically pay. In the rear of the building I found a wonderful room housing hundreds of movie posters, mostly horror-related.

There was another antique mall in the same parking lot, but unfortunately the TEDx talk was ending and it was time for me to head back the other way and pick up Susan from the college.

Our final stop before leaving Texas was Buc-ee’s, where we fueled up the car and our bellies before hitting the road. Susan picked up a pack of Buc-ee’s famous cashews for Morgan and I grabbed some hot sauce to take home.

Susan had a great time in Denton, and so did I. Hopefully she’ll have another TEDx event there soon because I can’t wait to go back!