The Hat Part 0.3

"Lets eat at the Hat, when you get the hungries, lets eat at the hat"

These very true words are found in the Hat's very own theme song. The Hat is an amazingly delicious place with food so massive it could probably feed a small nation. Unfortunately, its only a Southern California chain, which makes me sad that I won't be able to go here ever again. I'll miss their gigantic chili cheese fries.

Its gigantic. Really Gigantic. And delicious. So very delicious.

They also have their world famous pastrami sandwhich, which is also very delicious, and equally as massive.

Its like the place is designed to kill. Really, where else can you order some onion rings and they give you a gigantic bag, half full with onion rings, and just for good measure throw in that little tiny boat that they're supposed to fit in.

It literally took me 3 days to finish off that plate of chili cheese fries. Thats how massive it was.

Ratings:

Location: 4/5 - Eh, its a chain, but only in Southern California. Granted its not in the coolest part of town, but at least there's parking.

Price: 4/5 - Amazingly cheap for the size, but still kinda expensive. Chili Cheese Fries and a Pastrami Sandwich will put you back $11, but you'll have left overs for days.

Taste: 4/5 - Its very delicious, but really, the best quality of The Hat is the sheer quantity of food they give you.

Atmosphere: 3/5 - They have this enormous shelf of just sauce packets. But other than that, its not much of a place to eat at. Comfortable, I guess, but nothing that says you have to eat here to get the full experience

Total: 15/20 - It may not be the most delicious place, or the cheapest, but if you're a glutton like me, you'll love the Hat. We'll go to the Hat 2-3 a month just to get our chili cheese fry fix.

San Juan Capistrano Part 0.2

So for Part 0.2 of my Great Road Trip Adventure, I ended up in San Juan Capistrano. Well, really, I had to write a paper on a post modern structure. But I wasn't going to let an opportunity pass me by. So I found myself a taco stand and got me a burrito. Senor Pedro's Tacos and their world famous burritos. I don't know why they didn't call it Senor Pedro's Burritos.

So I got a burrito. It was delicious. Carne asada, guacamole, salsa, cheese all wrapped up in a tortilla. So a standard burrito. Even though it was nothing fancy, it was still good. The restaurant itself is what tipped me off that it was going to be an excellent eat (well that and it was across the street from the mission). Its in the old Spanish Adobe style architecture (characterized by thick walls and overhang) although modernized to include archways and an indoor kitchen (adobe buildings generally didn't have kitchens indoors cause it tends to cause the walls to melt, generally a bad thing). It also had a huge line for lunch and crowded and not just with camera-wielding tourists. Mostly cause the tourists were all at the Starbucks across the street.

Ratings:

Location: 3/5 - Nice location across the street from the Mission. Parking is a bit difficult to find if you're not lucky though. Best bet is to park at the train station and walk.

Price: 4/5 - Decent standard prices. Carne Asada burrito was $3.75 and tacos were $1.

Taste: 3/5 - It was delicious, but it wasn't anything special. Sorry, I've got very discerning tastes when it comes to burritos.

Atmosphere: 4/5 - Its a pretty authentic taco stand. Can't really go wrong with that.

Total: 14/20 - Definitely a place to go if you're ever in San Juan Capistrano, but I wouldn't drive down there just for food.

Ok so a quick tour of things not burrito related. So here's the main focus of San Juan Capistrano: Mission San Juan Capistrano. Well here's the entrance. And actually that's about as far as I got. They had a $7.00 admission fee and I didn't want to spend any money. But it had pretty walls, that I walked around. So I explored the other areas of historic downtown San Juan Capistrano. They even had a petting zoo! Zoomar's Petting Zoo with hundreds of animals, pony rides and little train rides. It looked pretty big. But I forgot to go back and get a closer look :(

And here's a field where the Indians used to live before the white people came in and slaughtered their village (and then put a hotel here). Now its a park!

This is the building I wrote my paper about: San Juan Capistrano Public Library. A quick short about it (since all the details are still in my mind from having to write a 7 page paper on it). Made by Michel Graves in 1983, it is considered to be the first designed post-modern building. Its clearly modern in style, but with some abstract Spanish Mission style adornments (courtyard, entrance way, towers). Also, bums like to sleep in there cause the couches are comfy (but I didn't get to add that to my essay)

And of course, here's Jesus. He looks a bit sad here. It might just be the lighting making it look like he's crying. I found him inside the basilica across the street from the library.

And here's the San Juan Capistrano Trading Post. They have a "Free Swallow Story" Admittedly, I did not inquire about it. Ok, so that was my mini adventure. And I mean mini. San Juan Capistrano is only 15 minutes down the 5 from Irvine.

ps - I'm practicing on my adventure blogs, so let me know if you've got any ideas to improve it.