Don't Miss The Hot Dogs!

Hey everyone...it was another 2 show day - but this one was a little different than yesterday, in that it was 1 school show and 1 public show. BOTH shows were great! And I would bet to say that our warmest reception was from the public show tonight....they GOT the show and enjoyed it and there was a great energy during the whole show...however lame THAT explanation sounds!
Between shows today, I took Mr. Sizemore's recommendation on a local place to lunch, and headed down the street to Hillbilly Hot Dogs - and my universe was altered. (More on that in a second.) Along the way, I met up with Jackie, Jill and Travis - and we all ended up going to EXPERIENCE this place. And are we glad that we did! It's a full-on hot dog restaurant, and it is decorated and set up to highlight the quirky nature of the American hillbilly. The tables and chairs are mis-matched, there is a bathtub AND an outhouse table, there are funny names on most of the items, the menus are all written in 'hillbilly speak...and the list goes on and on. After much deliberation on the ENDLESS variety of dogs, I ended up with the Thundering Herd Dog - spicy chili sauce, mustard, slaw and jalapenos - some fries and an order of the deep fried macaroni and cheese wedges for everyone to try. WOW is all I can say about! The food was simply DELICIOUS! We were all so very excited about our selections AND about our giving the place a chance. (I'm telling you what - they do their darndest to make it look hillbilly-scary from the outside, too! But we were ASSURED that they continually have a 97-100 % on their state sanitation scores. Good to know!)

Jackie and Jill head into lunch. Notice the yard/decoy animals all ove r the roof. Classic.

The girls try out the Outhouse Table....while Travis and I give the Bathtub Table a spin.

This is our watier, Chris...and he is modeling the POUND HOT DOG! I mean - WHAT? Evidently, if you can eat the pound hot dog (with all the fixins that come with it) in UNDER 13 minutes...you get a free t-shirt. That sounds like a CHALLENGE...but I didn't find out about it until after I'd eaten. Curses....foiled again! But seriously - LOOK how big that thing is! Crazy.

So...one of the drinks they have is called Toilet Water. And this is it. It's lemonade and unsweetened ice tea -- with (wait for it) a TOOTSIE ROLL in the bottom for that nice...um...poop effect that people love to have in their drinks. Jackie's initial response was a little shocked...and she said, 'Oh! It tastes like gatorade.' EVIDENTLY, their lemonade/tootsie roll gatorade flavor is REALLY becoming popular.

But the good times today didn't just stop at the food! We MET the founders and owners of the place - Sharie and Sonny! And they were PROBABLY 2 of the nicest people I've ever met! Sharie took time to come talk to us about the place, and how they ended up here - and telling us all about the experience of the restaurant. And once Sonny returned, they taught us the Hillbilly Hot Dogs JINGLE! The catch the jingle is that if you can learn it and sing it BACK to them, without using the words in the menu to cheat off of, you can get a FREE HOT DOG! And Jackie took the plunge and did it! I mean, what a great promo is THAT?

Jackie performs THE JINGLE for everyone...she was SPOT on!

And then, Jackie enjoyed the fruits of her labor...with a Thundering Herd Dog with EXTRA hot chili sauce. Brave soul.

So anyway....we all came away as HUGE fans of Hillbilly Hot Dogs here in Huntington! It's worth trip if you're in the area...and it gets a ROUSING PERFECT 10 on the M.A.S.E. today. It was PERFECT for what it is! THANKS SHARIE AND SONNY! We loved EVERY minute of our time there and spent the REST of the day telling our cast friends about it!

Here we all are with Sonny and Sharie, before we left! STOP IN AND SEE THESE GUYS! You won't be sorry....they were the greatest!

The other FUN part of our day was after the show tonight. The sponsors in the area had a reception for us at a local restaurant, and so we all went and ate and drank and talked to a group of the sponsors responsible for bringing our show to Huntington. We all ended up out on the patio, because the night was beautiful, and in the course of ending up there, we also all ended up watching the large number of kids who were in attendance play around - run around - and scream around! And in no time flat, Jill and Jen had them dancing around, I was getting Spiderman quizzes from my new friend, John - and we were all just playing on the patio at the restaurant! They were all such a great audience - and even MORE fun to get riled up at the reception. Our apologies to the parents who had to deal with the kids spazzing out, all the way home!

Eric and John strike a pose. John was SO impressed with Charlie's BURRRRRP in the show that he had to get a picture with him. John explained to me that he could 'fake burp' for 40 seconds. I say at 5 years old, take that talent and run with it!

Eventually, since it was SO hot inside, we all ended up outside on the patio - which is where Jill took over in entertaining the kids...and the kids, in turn, entertained us.

Everyone with some of our fans and friends from the evening!

Here is John and I - discussing the merits of each of the villains in Spiderman. The kid knows his villains...so beware when he comes to quiz you!

We all had a great time here in Huntington - but I think we are ready to pack up the van and head out to Atlanta, because Atlanta means 2 DAYS OFF! And we are NOT going to argue with that. A HUGE HUGE thanks to the people who made our stop in Huntington possible! We really, sincerely appreciate the welcome and support!
Happy Friday (Good Friday, at that) to everyone....and have a safe and happy weekend!
HAPPY EASTER!
G