A few weekends ago (Sept 24th), Husband and I attended the Portland Retro Gaming Expo!
I was really jazzed to finally use the video feature on my camera and took tons of pictures and video.... only to come home and find out that Windows has decided to "upgrade" Movie Maker to make it less friendly and take away features that I had planned on using (like adding a voice over). I still haven't been able to find a free replacement that I actually like, or even a cheap one, so no awesome video for you guys; sorry. If anyone has any recommendations on software I could use, I would really really love to hear them!! In the meantime, you get my pictures.
The Expo was actually held over two days, Saturday and Sunday, but we decided to only attend on Saturday. I was actually really really excited to go to this event because Husband and I both really love retro gaming and I knew that he would be really excited to see everything. When we arrived though, it was so overwhelming! I wasn't expecting anything really big, but the room that they did have was absolutely stuffed to the gills! They had three main sections, the marketplace, free arcade, and a "theater" for speakers and guests.
The first thing you're hit with as you walk in though was the amazing marketplace! I don't think I've ever been anywhere that had that much amazing retro stuff! They had everything from the earliest Ataris up to PlayStation and all the games and accessories too!
We actually didn't end up getting the one thing we had specifically come looking for, but that didn't stop us from getting a ton of other cool stuff. Husband got a TurboDuo machine with a couple games to go with it, and I finally got a Genesis with Mortal Combat so that I can relive my memories of the first time I watched someone decapitate another person with their bare hands.
Shop Husband, shop! Buy buy buy!
The free play arcade was extremely well stocked and offered not only home console machines, some with a full catalog of games to play, but also arcade cabinets and pinball! Husband had a great time with some of the machines; he's actually a pinball nut so I know he had a great time with that. I didn't play any of the games because I'm no good at arcade machines and I'm very picky about my original Nintendo controller when I play Super Mario.
My favorite part of the whole expo was the retro living room complete with paneling, old tv with Atari, bad carpet, and retro couch!
We actually didn't end up spending a ton of time at the Expo, it was so overwhelming that we got burnt out relatively fast. We decided to have some lunch and Husband was sweet enough to take me to Sock Dreams, a store I've always wanted to visit in person! Sock Dreams is essentially a sock store and they're known to carry lots of knee socks perfect for Lolita. They also carry other lingerie-type items, but obviously the draw is socks.
I ended up stocking (ha ha, that's like a pun!) up on Halloween socks to match my different Halloween Lolita skirts (yes, plural, I LOVE Halloween). I also got some comfy pink socks and a set of suspenders to try out in some different looks (I was so inspired by Violet's post here!). My mom and my aunt are also fans of funny socks so I got them some gifts as well. I love the shark socks, they're actually 3D so when you put them on, the little fins fit over your ankle bone and stick out a bit like real fins! I'm sure my mom will think that's hilarious!
Afterwards we decided to just head home. I absolutely love going to Portland, it's always beautiful and I end up having a great time. We definitely plan on attending the Retro Gaming Expo again next year and we'll know what to expect and can arrive better prepared.
As I mentioned, Halloween is my absolute favorite holiday of the entire year! Look forward to tons of Halloween themed posts and if you follow me on Tumblr, I'm going to be filling the queue up with tons of fun Halloween stuff as well. For the next two weeks or so though it might be a bit quiet around here as my in-laws are coming to town this Saturday! We have so much fun stuff planned though so there will be plenty of pictures and things to write about once they depart!
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