Sonic Drive-In comes to San Diego

Ok, so the Sonic is not technically in San Diego or Carlsbad. It is actually in Vista, CA, which is about 8 miles or a 15-minute drive from our house. The closest Sonic to us previously was in Mission Viejo, LA area. As I was driving to work yesterday I heard about the new one opening in Vista. I told J... and we agreed on a date night to Sonic to get some tots, a chili-cheese coney and a nice cool slush. We followed the Garmin's directions specifically and made it in record timing. Not knowing what to expect, since they had just opened the day before...we were mesmerized by the amount of people waiting in lines and standing outside the walk up-and-eat area. We drove around the block 2 times and there were signs everywhere that said, NO SONIC PARKING. Then we waited in a line for 10 minutes for a guy to tell us we had to drive to another line where the wait was like 60 minutes for eat-in-your-car service. They had a "staging area" for the drive-thru area, where you had to wait in a line till there was room for you to move over to the drive-thru line. It was insane. We didn't think that many people knew about the joys of Sonic or appreciate it like we do, but apparently we were wrong. Maybe there was a mad rush because it was a new restaurant. No one will ever know.

We were pumped to eat, but didn't want to wait in the hour eat-in-your car line (even though it defeats the whole purpose of the Sonic drive-in). Anyways, we found a parking spot a few blocks away and walked over to the walk-up area. They had 6 different order boxes in place, but of course only 2 were taking orders and working. The lines were 10 people deep. We stood in the line and watched some teeny boppers look at the menu, then text on their sidekicks, then look back at the menu and then laugh about their order for about 5 minutes. Then, they realized you have to PUSH THE BUTTON to order and a person will "talk to you and take your order". (God bless the younger generation.)

We contemplated our options. It was 5:45 pm. Hmm. We eat now at another restaurant or we wait another hour before we even order/get our food. It was tempting, but what was even more tempting was the fact that we hope to be in Texas for Thanksgiving in two weeks and there is literally a Sonic on every street corner and there is not a "staging area" with a 60 minute wait. We decided we can eat at Sonic in Texas and we were too hungry to wait in line. We settled for Wendy's instead.

I think the highlight of the night was at Trader Joe's after dinner while doing some light grocery shopping when the free sample guy came around with the Peppermint JoJo's. The most delicious holiday treat, exclusively from TJ's! We each had two cookies and then went looking for the box of cookies on the shelf around the store. They were no where to be found and after asking two store clerks, we soon learned they were sold out. (But still handing out free samples as a mean nasty cruel joke.) You don't give someone a sample of something and get their hopes up and taste buds happy and then tell them you don't have the product they just tried. The free sample guy did this exact thing to us tonight. So after he apologized, he gave us two more JoJo's each to make up for his cruel mistake. We have to go back tomorrow now, when the shipment comes in to stock up on our favorite minty holiday cookie.

I'm so happy for the upcoming holidays and all the little treats and small joys, such as Peppermint JoJo's, that make the holidays so merry and bright. Yay for TJ's our favorite store, even though tonight they are on my bad list.