Day 20

Fairgrounds Square Mall was once a magical place. I worked one of my first jobs there. I visited my future wife there long before we began dating. I spent countless quarters trying to get the high score on the Superman game at the arcade there. I ate far too many waffle fries and pizza pretzels there. Now, I hardly even go there. It's a wasteland. Empty storefronts and cell phone dealers outnumber the consistent tenants. People only park there to go to the semi-state-of-the-art movie theater. It doesn't even have a fountain. It's the "dirt mall".

Naturally, I thought my son might enjoy walking around there as there surely would be plenty of wide open spaces. I was right. Ramps, steps, and center court! What more could a toddler want? Lunch? Sure, we had lunch at a fresh new Subway (why someone would open a franchise there, I have no idea). Visual and aural stimulation? He "played" his first video game. Something to play with? You can always count on Spencer's Gifts for some kind of useful/ -less trinkets. New friends? He got to meet several puppies and kittens at the pet-store-that-used-to-be-a-card-shop. I'm not sure that he'll ask to go back, but all in all it was a fun trip to the dirt mall.

He fell asleep soon after we left, so I drove around town. We were near Albright College, and I remembered seeing some really cool homes there when I used to spend some time on campus. Some of the nicest houses in the city are near or on Hampden Boulevard. Driving through other parts of Reading, it's difficult to believe that these gorgeous homes are even in the same county, let alone the city limits. There are still plenty of great things in the city, but they often get overshadowed by the negatives. It was nice to be reminded.

These homes are at the foot of Mt. Penn, which is the home of the famous Reading Pagoda. I had the foresight to bring along my textbooks for my current class, so I figured we would park there while he slept so I could get some work done. I was able to complete an entire chapter before he woke up! That was more than I have read in a single sitting in a long time, so I was satisfied. He quietly appreciated the rainy drive back down Mt. Penn and back to a waiting Mommy.