Scooby's Hot Dogs

So I am from Chicago. We have the best hot dogs ever. Don't even try and tell me any different. It is VERY hard to find a place that really makes a Chicago dog right. You need the poppy seed bun. The VIENNA beef dog. The Sport Peppers. And of course the mustard, sweet relish, tomato SLICES, onion, and celery salt. NO KETCHUP! NEVER ANY KETCHUP! Finding all of the above is pretty rare outside Chicago. However, I found somewhere that had REAL dogs and Chicago Italian Beef. Complete with giardiniera. Scooby's in Richmond. So I trecked my happy little butt 20 mins there to grab some lunch. I let the guy know when I ordered it BETTER be right. He chuckles. I didn't. Did he not know how life or death important this was to me? Anyway, I ordered a hot dog and an Italian Beef. The Hubby and I were going to share. I ordered and paid and waited. I got my food, told him again it better be just like home, and I left. Drove an agonizing 20 mins home. The whole well smelling the beef, picturing the hot dog, tasting my precious food in my mind. I walked in the house and the kids thought they needed their food first. Apparently they did not realize the importance of a woman who has not had her hometown favorites in well over a year.

FINALLY, it was my turn. I bit into my dog while The Hubby started on the beef. It was delish! Not 100% Portillos but close. Close enough for me to be a happy mommy. Yes, I know my picture is sideways.

Then, I tried some beef. Not bad. Not perfect, close, but it needed some more flavor. Also more au jus. What is with these places? The bread was barely wet. That is just not right. I want it wet. I want a side of au jus to dip it in. Yes, I see the side of au Jus sitting there....it was like an oz. Teeny, tiny, cup. I need MORE. I want to need a dang spoon by the end. Nope, not here. After the 20 min drive home the bread should have been wet through the bottom, nope all dry. I realize they might have done this so my bread was not soppy when I got home. Ok, even if you use that argument the amount of au jus they gave us was NOT enough to make the bread wet. Everything was still pretty dry, bread and meat. So still, not enough.

It was ok. Would I order it again? Maybe. if they gave me more au jus. If not I would pass. So if you are in the Richmond area and need a Chicago Dog head on down to Scooby's. If you need an Italian Beef really bad give them a shot too, just make sure you get it wet!

Chuy's Restaurant

A friend recommended Chuy's Restaurant in Short Pump, VA ; so we decided to check it out. I don't usually review chain restaurants but we really enjoyed this one. We got there and the decoration was fun and upbeat. They have shirts with fun little saying on them like The Guac-ing Dead, and other fun little puns.

We were seated and started looking over the menu. There was lots to pick from and it all sounded good. After we ordered the kids and I went to watch the lady make tortilla shells. The kids thought this was really cool and spent most of their time watching her. Our food came rather quickly and we all enjoyed it. The Hubby got the Big as Yo Face Burrito and Cat Boy thought it was the FUNNIEST thing. After we were done the kids got Push Pops as part of their kids meal. This was probably the BEST part of the meal for a few reason. First, who doesn't love a push pop. Second, they brought one for Princess. She was only about 16 or 17 months at this time. She has just figured out a straw just a few weeks before this. Yeah, you see where this is going. She kept turning it over trying to drink out of the straw. So picture this, baby+pushpop+the handle looking like a straw+it melting+a WHITE dress=a VERY, VERY, VERY messy baby. I can not believe I didn't get any pictures. Probably because we were to busy laughing the whole time. Thank goodness for LOTS of baby wipes!

We enjoyed it there when we went the first time so we actually went another time as well. Plus Cat Boy HAD to get the Big as Yo Face Burrito. I mean when your kid has a food bucket list you can't say no. So we went again. This time MINUS the white dress for Princess. She did pretty good witht he push pop this trip....the rice on the other hand......yeah the floor ate most of that. Don't worry, we left the extra clean up tip. Anyway, here is Cat Boy seeing if the Big as Yo Face Burrito really was as big as his face. He was SUPER excited that it was in face, as big as his face!

Leaving Our First Place

So it was finally time to leave the RV park we had been staying at for almost 5 months. Americamps was a WONDERFL place for us to start our journey out and I will make another post reviewing it. Our last day in VA was spend getting ready and enjoying out last day. I took the kids to the AWESEOME park we had discovered a few days before while The Hubby worked. It is called Crump Park We planned to go for a little bit and come home and get The Hubby to go up to my Uncle's house but the kids were having to much fun. So I called The Hubby and it was decided he would just meet us up there.


After we were done with the park we headed to my Uncle's house. He had invited everyone over for pizza and an outside movie for a little good-bye get together. It was a little nippy outside but we had a fire pit, and blankets and had a great time. He also had some M&M's that someone found and as you can tell Princess was a fan. So much for them melting in your mouth and not in your hands, because she was COVERED!


The next morning we got up and got the rig ready for its first big voyage. The Hubby will make a post later about his first time driving the rig. Something I honestly hope to NEVER have to do. We got everything put up, un-hooked or hooked-up everything depending on what it was, and brought in the slides. While we were doing that we had the kids pick up all the garbage around the site and anything that was not supposed to be on the ground. We are firm believers of leaving a place how it was, or better then when you got there. It was a bit like Tetris trying to find out where we could shove put everything while we were driving, but we got it worked out. Of course The Boy did have to climb into the rig a few times after the slides were in to get something, or fix something but he liked it. LOL


Next stop....North Carolina!