The plan was to hit the outlets at Gilroy after dinner at the Black Bear Diner. Knowing how dead the stores can be on a weeknight this early in the season, I joked to family members that there certainly wouldn’t be the usual long line at the diner.

There was. Worse, even. I looked around at the huge number of kids, most with balloons. It was around 7:00 p.m when we were seated at last. The stores closed at 9:00 p.m.

Either it was the biggest birthday party ever, or some sort of family reunion, since everyone seemed to know one another. It turned out to be a fundraiser for a local school.

After our pot roast, fish and chips and chicken pot pie, we headed out to see what shopping could be done. Very little, unfortunately, but I learned something useful. In the future, if I want the above-mentioned family to shop cheerfully, enthusiastically, and even browse in stores they’d normally refuse to be seen in, I should make sure they eat a hearty diner meal beforehand.