does Virginia count as "down South"? Part 1

being an Northeastern'er my whole life, i really don't know. how sad.

road trips with friends are always fun. especially when you know that drinking and debauchery are waiting for you at the other end. however, drama is never fun. and my trip to VB was almost derailed because of drama. BOOOOOO. you would think, the more the merrier right? wrong. when too many heads come together, there's just too many conflicting desires and personalities.

problems started even before the trip was underway. The initial plans were to go to Coleslaw's place in VB, so Cubed bought a plane ticket to VB. however, Coleslaw subsequently got a job in Richmond and was staying at a friend's place in Richmond and wanted to shift everything to Richmond. this coincided with AMW's desire to see her latest boy, who also resides in Richmond. not ideal for Cubed, who couldn't change his ticket without a monetary loss, or Kiddo and i, who balked at the idea of a weekend surrounded by strange boys as opposed to the law school reunion we'd initially pictured. BGA, who was also going, didn't care either way. strange boys make him happy and so do we.

a compromise was reached wherein Kiddo and i would drive to VB a day before everyone else so we could pick up Cubed. we would then drive to Richmond and rendezvous with BGA and AMW, who were taking the Chinatown bus. party in Richmond for 1 night and see where the mood took us.

i actually really like roadtrips, and it doesn't really matter if i'm the driver or the passenger. it all depends on the chemistry of the ppl in the car. Kiddo is a combination of a lazy/polite and reliable passenger. he defers to the driver for the roadtrip soundtrack, which i like since i'm an iPod tyrant of sorts, but it makes for tricky driving, particularly when i'm driving a route i don't know. plus, i get chagrined making ppl listen to music they don't understand, e.g. korean, japanese, and chinese pop music, which meant i was grabbing the iPod to skip a lot of songs. also, Kiddo is the type of co-pilot who would rather be sleeping, which is total co-pilot faux pas. however, since Kiddo isn't the most talkative person in the first place, whether he was sleeping or awake really didn't make that much of a difference so it didn't really matter. Kiddo is a pretty reliable navigator tho, so plus points for him on that. and, because he's so laidback, he took my occassional spazzy/scary driving tactics in full stride. and that is not easy to do.
when we arrived in VB it was pretty late (i had to drive slower because it was impossible to see on the windy backroads and there were no streetlamps). without many food possibilities, we ended up at TGIF's, which seemed to be the late-night hang out for the area on a Thursday night. it's interesting to be a tourist hanging out in a place where locals frequent. although Kiddo and i were engaged in our convo, i couldn't help eavesdropping on the convos of those around us.

staying at Coleslaw's apartment without her there was just as interesting an experience. first off, it was scarily messy. secondly, according to Kiddo, it was devoid of food. Kiddo and i diverge on this issue. there were plently of Lean Cuisines and microwave snacks and food at Coleslaw's which i completely categorize as "food", but apparently Kiddo does not consider those items consumable. and then there's Kittles, or his real name, Texas Pete, Coleslaw's cat. she was super friendly and kept rubbing her head against me. this is prob the only cat i've ever liked although i still had an unreasonable fear that she would smother me in my sleep. when i laid down to pass out in Coleslaw's bed, i heard a "mew" and all of a sudden Kiddles was right in front of my face. it scared the bejesus out of me! hence the wall of pillows for protection.
the next morning Cubed arrived and we all went out for brunch/ lunch. we attempted to go to Pocahontas Pancake House, which we read about on Yelp and has apparently been showcased on the Food Network, but alas, we arrived too late (uh, 11:30 a.m. is too late? apparently). so i called Coleslaw for suggestions but could not for the life of me, find the place she had suggested. so instead we pulled into the parking lot for Beach Bully's instead. we took the packed parking lot as a good sign.and it was such a good decision! aside from the embarassment of Cubed having to ask "what are hush puppies" and the deafening silence that ensued in the restaurant, the whole experience was extremely enjoyable and yummy. i ordered the fried catfish platter with mac and cheese and fries (you get the choice of 2 sides. i was not just being a fatty :p). Cubed ordered the sandwich which was so good, tender meat and delish BBQ sauce. Kiddo, being the growing boy he is, ordered the Queen Combo which is 1/4 chicken and queen rack of ribs + 2 side dishes. the chicken was "eh" but the ribs were fall of the bone yum.
my favorite part of Beach Bully's, aside from the clearly delicious food, was the abundance of sauce options. i wish they had these in every restaurant.
as i was lauding the food and wishing i could eat it every day, i noticed the size of some of the other customers and realized it's probably a good thing that there isn't a Beach Bully near me.