Artegon with the Boys

My friend Amanda had been telling me about the store Gods and Monsters (2nd largest fandom store in the US) for months. Her friend/old neighbor works there so they frequent it quite a bit. She insisted Dustin and I would love it. The reason it took us so long to check this place out is because it's all the way on International Dr. I don't mean "all the way" like it's far, I mean it more in the sense it's in the middle of tourist land which is not an area of town I like to be in. But a few Saturdays ago we were free so we invited Pat along to check it out with us. 

First of all, Artegon as a whole is incredible. I used to work right down the street from it (before moving to Palm Coast) but at the time it was called Festival Bay. I couldn't believe how much had changed on that side of town. Before it was nothing special but now it is flourishing and incredibly busy. It took about 3-4 light cycles when getting off I-4 just to get to the damn place. I hate traffic and especially traffic that is mostly caused by tourists who don't know what the hell they are doing, so this is why I never venture to that side of Orlando. 

We walked around Artegon and with every step I was in awe of the well...the art! I mean, yes there was a giant play place for kids when you walked in, a Bass Pro Shop, a nice movie theater, but really I was more impressed with the atmosphere created by all of the cool pieces. Plus they had a giant chalk board wall with chalk to write whatever you want. They also had a postcard center which encourages people to actually send mail which I of course LOVED. The whole vibe was just awesome. 

We weaved in and out of the actual stores and the little booths set up everywhere. There were so many unique places and items being sold. It was almost like a permanent Deland Indie Market/Big Bang Bazaar. 

We saved Gods and Monsters for last. It is HUGE. I was immediately unsure which way to go first. There was just so much to look at and take in. If you're into nerd shit like us, this is the store for you. There were comic books, collectibles, movies, art pieces, board games, working pin ball machines, and a little bar area with tables. My guess is they must hold trivia or game nights. 

Artegon was bad ass; I just wish it wasn't in the middle of tourist town. I guess you can't have it all. 

From there we went to Olive Garden for a lovely Italian lunch. But we went to the one by the Mall of Millenia (which Dustin now calls the Mall of Melania and says it in a Trump accent) which was insanely busy. We had one of those pagers that was supposed to buzz when ready except it played music the entire 15 minutes we had it. We all started going crazy from the sound so Dustin decided to take it inside to see if it was broken. Nope it's "supposed to play music" and annoy the shit out of you. Cool , OG. Real cool. We finally were seated and had a good lunch. 

Next up we did a lap of the Mall of Melania. Like I said before, I rarely go to that side of town but if I do it's to go to that mall or IKEA which is right next door. I couldn't tell you the last time I was there. It had to have been over a year or two. I'm not sure what it was but the mall seemed smaller with less stores. I found some things in Urban Outfitters and of course Anthropologie but beyond that it was just the same old shit mixed with overpriced fancy shit. The boys made shopping pretty fun and also they would entertain each other while I was looking for shit. Win-win!