Stories tagged road-trip

On the evening of August 22, Tilor was walking the streets outside a packed Colorado Rockies game, foil-wrapped dog in hand, the unmistakable brick arch of Union Station blurred in the distance behind a crowd of purple-shirted fans. An hour later, another shot landed from inside the stadium — this time a mustard-yellow cheesedog held up against a sea of glowing green outfield grass and a scoreboard mid-inning.

Then, less than 24 hours later on August 23, Daniel took the baton at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, dropping two back-to-back posts: a pair of mustard-and-onion foil-wrapped dogs against a sun-drenched infield, then a solo return visit just two innings later. Baseball dogs, plural, across two cities in two days — the kind of weekend the Year of the Glizzy was made for.

On August 17th, Daniel made it to Ben's Chili Bowl — the Washington D.C. landmark that's been slinging chili smokes since 1958 and, by some accounts, gave the "glizzy" its name. He didn't just stop at one: two foil-wrapped chili dogs made it onto the table, both absolutely buried under a heap of meaty chili. "Had to get a glizzy from the town that named it," he posted, with the unmistakable red Ben's bag standing tall in the background.

For extra credit, Daniel dropped the fact that Obama ate there in 2009 before his inaugural speech. Whether that makes Ben's a presidential institution or just the best possible hot dog detour on the way to the Capitol is a matter of personal conviction — but either way, Daniel logged two for the tracker and earned his place in the archive.

While the rest of the group was logging dogs from their couches and keyboards, Tilor set up a Coleman two-burner propane stove on a picnic table at the edge of a glacial lake in Grand Teton National Park — snow-capped peaks framed perfectly in the background. The setup was unhurried and scenic: hot dogs sizzling in a pan on one burner, buns toasting on the other, ketchup and chopsticks at the ready.

The finished product — a relish-topped dog held up against that impossibly blue lake and the Teton range — earned an immediate "Gorgeous" from Daniel, who followed up with "Where are you?" Tilor's response: "Le gran teton. French national park in the us. Hon hon hon." Daniel's translation: "ah yes, the big tits."

It's one of the more legitimately breathtaking hot dog backdrops this challenge has seen — a Coleman stove doing its best work a long way from home.