Arden Fair Mall

I never thought I would say this, but I miss having a mall nearby. There are just some days when I don't feel like doing anything but going to the mall, where everything is at my fingertips and the climate is controlled.

There are no malls or department stores in Davis, probably all due to an effort to "Keep Davis Boring" (see http://daviswiki.org/Keep_Davis_Boring). The closest mall worth visiting is Arden Fair in Sacramento. We've made the trek (25 miles) out there twice in the last three months.

Because I'm a notorious non-shopper, I rank malls according to how much entertainment there is for kids versus the quality of the stores. And there's not much at Arden Fair: a carousel, the LEGO store, and Pottery Barn Kids. So, we made our own entertainment. We stopped at the tea store Teavana and had some (caffeine-free) samples, got a haircut at MasterCuts(Big Sis loves to be pampered), peeked in Naartjie for some deals on dresses for Big Sis, and played a little at the LEGO store. That ate up several hours, including an early dinner, and we were ready to go home.

Next time we need our mall fix, we'll head over to Westfield Solano Shopping Mall in Fairfield: looks like they have a kids' play area, storytime, and family lounge, and it's only about 5 miles further than Arden Fair (in the opposite direction).

http://www.ardenfair.com/
http://westfield.com/solano/