| Yocco's King of Hot Dogs (throught the Allentown area-- we went to the Yocco's on route 100 west of Allentown) Yocco's was the worthy coda to the hot dog portion of the program. Tasty chili cheese dogs. Maddie proclaimed them the best of the trip. They were very good, but Maddie had been having mostly ketchup dogs, so the bar was set pretty low. I'd put Hot Dog Johnny's last (a good, not terribly distinctive dog), and then the other 6 places were all perfectly delightful. I'll forever have a tough time passing any of them. There was a bigger distinction between the sides. Yocco's offers pierogies. That's a nice option. Rutt's had the gravy fries. The rest had pretty standard fry offerings. |
| Swanky Franks, Norwalk, CT Could anybody be as happy as folks who live within a couple of miles of Route 1 in New Jersey and Connecticut? Swanky was again delicious, the visit to the bathroom again rich with mystery. Drove outside of NYC listening to radio accounts of convention protests (me; Maddie probably listening to Shrek 2). Into NJ. |
| Sunday Left around 9. Completely forgot to hit Bishop's Orchards, and pushed on to New Haven. A quick check of my info indicated that Foxon Beverages was closed on Sunday, so we headed for the New Haven Carousel. Drove for a long time, and found that the park required a $10 entrance fee. Turned around, headed back toward the highway. Not a great record for Sunday morning. |
| Charlie's Italian Dogs, Kenilworth, NJ (see www.hollyeats.com/charliesfamous.htm for pictures) This was the one place where it might have been better to be traveling with another adult. Or where it might have been better to not have eaten a half-dozen dogs already. An Italian dog is on a folded bread, with a dog and fried potato slices inside. You want that thing to have some gooeyness-- mustard, kraut, grilled onions. All of those were off-limits since we were splitting it. So we had the entirely basic Italian with pools of ketchup or mustard to dip it into. You could see the promise, but it was frankly disappointing as we experienced it. I'll be back, Charlie, and this time, as God is my witness, I'll do the concept justice. Arrived at the Hilton Garden Inn west of Allentown, and relaxed in the pool, having a nice chat with some Long Islanders. |
| Shankweiler's Drive In, Orefield, PA After dinner, headed off to Shankweiler's Drive In to watch my first drive-in movie in about 30 years. It was The Princess Diaries 2 and Spiderman 2 (we only stayed for the first). Backed the station wagon into the slot, hung the speaker on the door, popped open the hatch and watched out the back, lying down. A big bucket of buttered popcorn. An excellent way to watch a movie. |
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