So, my computer is still out of commission… I need to take it to the Apple store downtown, but haven’t had a chance yet.

The good news? I’m staying late at work to get some blogging in so you all can know just where and what in the world I have been up to because there is a lot to report on!

So first things first,

You all know that there are some of my favorite chain restaurants that I have been missing dearly out here in the big city. One of my favorites being Red Robin. Aw, sweet Red Robin, how have I lived a year and change without you?!

So, when my friend brought her car into the city from Jersey for the weekend, what do you think was the first thing I suggested? Ok, well, let’s back up a little bit. About a month ago I was missing my chains so dearly that I did some online research and made a little map of where the closest locations were. This was a smart idea being that my friend brought her car in a mere couple of weeks after I realized there is a Red Robin in Long Island and New Jersey. The unfortunate part about the locations is you really need a car to get to them.. the one in Long Island is a 40 minute drive, but a 2 and a half hour public transportation trip. While I wouldn’t mind traveling the 2 hours.. convincing any of my friends would be a difficult task that even I, a great persuader, may not be up to task to doing.

I still had to do some pleading to get my friends on board to drive to New Jersey for a burger place they had never heard of, but after working a little of my magic we were on our way! It felt so weird to be in a car driving down the streets of Manhattan. I take cabs every now and again, but driving in a cab is more of an amusement park ride than a drive with your friends. You know having a car in the city is a novelty when we’re taking pictures inside the car, because “We’re in a car together guys!” Yes, this really happened.

The funny thing is that this Red Robin was actually only 14 miles away. It took us 3 times as long to get out of the city as it did to actually get there once we were in the tunnel, but being in the car with 3 of my favs with the radio blasting made the trip a lot of fun.

After a few missed turns and switch of directions we had finally arrived will all of us singing the commercial Red Robin… yummmm. My friends may have never been to a Red Robin, but they had certainly seen the commercials.

I was up for the task of showing them how Red Robin pros order… french fries before with honey mustard sauce please! I was pleasantly surprised by a new burger too! If you are close to a Red Robin, make sure to go and try their Jim Bean burger! It said it was a limited-time item, but I’m not sure how limited that actually means.

The food was fabulous and of course I documented Darcy and Chris’ first Red Robin burger experiences.

and then there is my glorious burger…

Nom, nom, nom… and that is exactly what we did…

It was a bittersweet goodbye to one of my favorite places, but you can count that I will be hitting one up in Washington over my vaca! Oh yeah!

Where in the world is... Carmen San Diego