Over the weekend my wife insisted we drive an hour away to "the outlets" way out in Camarillo (a place between L.A. and Santa Barbara). This particular outlet, which is coined as a ‘premium outlet’, gets really crowded on the weekends. Why? I'm not sure. From the crowds you'd think they were selling everything for a $1. But that's not the case at all. Most stuff there is just as expensive as normal department stores. I'm really not sure how taking 10% off the retail suggested price is considered "outlet" shopping. When I think of outlet shopping, I'm thinking garage sale pricing where things go for $.25- $5 max. It's all a marketing conspiracy to me.
The most entertaining part of the day trip was the nearby Camarillo Air Show happening overhead. Old planes were doing donuts and making a bunch of loud whining noises like in 1940's war movies (or "pictures" as people over 90 call them). I never really thought about it, but I didn't think places still had Air Shows anymore (didn't they have accidents that closed them down?) I found myself moving the stroller around quickly to avoid being under a stunt airplane – just in case.
When I was a kid my Dad once took my brother and I to the now defunct, El Toro Air Show down at the base in Irvine (which I think is turning into tract houses or some mall) I remember there being a lot of survivalist-type people there tailgating in the parking lot hooting and hollering at the planes overhead. That's about all I remember.
The second most entertaining part of the day was walking past the "Guess?" (Big in the 80's, but really -who shops there anymore?) outlet shop. They had a Dj playing weird dance booty-hip/hop music while a fashion show was going on. It looked something like this: