Buc-ee's!

 Trip bonus! Have you ever heard of Buc-ee's? Some of you might be like... um, no? And the rest of you are like: BUC-EE'S!!!! AWWWWWW YEAH! If you don't know, Buc-ee's is a chain of large-sized highway rest stops. And here's a bunch of pictures to show why that's sweeping across the country with great excitement.

There's a huge parking lot and tons of gas pumps. Re-fueling your car is only a little bit of why you came here. Check out the big circle with the mascot Buc-ee Beaver. There's a whole big place to explore over there.

After the gas, we re-park the car. You'll be in there for a while, so it's rude to block a precious gas pump by using it as a parking spot. Other people were doing that though, make sure you set a good example for everybody by re-parking.

There's a couple of Buc-ee's between Virginia and Florida. The first few pictures were from our trip down. The gift shop area is vast, with both branded and generic souvenirs a-plenty.

There's a car in here! Filled around with merchandise. I don't think this is a real car.

I tried to get a wide picture so you can have an idea of how big this place is. Also, it's mega-crowded. Like, wall-to-wall sea of people. So many people!

The Beaver Nuggets are a signature treat. On the way back, we got some, and I can agree they are the thing to get. It's hard to describe the taste experience, but they are crispy and sweet, almost like a cereal but like, a high-quality gourmet cereal, if that makes any sense. Like Cracker Jacks but on different stuff.

The lunch meals are another big reason to go to Buc-ee's. It's the best kind of barbecue sandwiches you'd expect. All made in crazy amounts all day long.

Brisket, Pulled Pork, and others. The bins are emptied as fast as they can fill them. Just grab and go! If the one you want isn't there, just wait a minute for them to make a ton more.

Lunch on the way down, Pulled Pork Sandwich and Beaver Chips. The kettle-cooked potato chips were amazing, as was the pulled pork. It's not even crazy-expensive like you think it might be. Just regular-expensive like any modern-day lunch place. This picture is making me so hungry right now.

We stopped at another Buc-ee's to fill up again. Second Lunch anybody? Haha it was tempting.

Do we need another picture of the entrance? This was the trip down, so right now we are excited and getting extra pictures.

This bucket hat has a silly Buc-ee's version of an American Flag on it, which kind of looks like a ridiculous alternate universe where the Beaver has taken over the country or something. All hail Buc-ee!

Yo yo! Word up my Buc-ee's! This beaver is too cool for school.

This Buc-ee has had too many Beaver Nuggets! It's just that all the food is so tasty... Be careful if you work or live around here that you don't over-do it.

It's PINK! Hey, it's 2023, and anybody can wear pink. Right? It's not still only for girls, is it?

Plenty of cool t-shirt design options. I'm thinking about brisket!

I got one of these 'frigde magnets for our friend. Top two reasons to stop at Buc-ee's: #1 and #2. Ha! It's a rest stop after all. That's what you came here to do.

Did I mention the fudge? We resisted the fudge, but it's here. I know there are fudge people who would get excited over this.

Had we known it was going to rain so much, I might have gotten one of those umbrellas. Buc-ee's Beaver logos on everything like it's a sports team logo. Hey, I'd root for them!

I tried to get a picture from the highway, so you could see just how large the building is. There's a lot of trees in the way, but I think you can see, right?

This picture is from Epcot. You couldn't count the number of people wearing Buc-ee's t-shirts! Tons of them everywhere. It's cool to know it's so popular. Maybe a subtle way to know that those people drove to Disney? Because they must have stopped at the Buc-ee's on the way.

On the way back, I spot the job opportunity board posted outside. Interested? No pressure, everyplace else.

On a whim I got some of the Cinnamon Glazed Pecans. We stopped to get gas and were going to stop at a different Buc-ee's later for lunch, but these made the perfect breakfast snack to hold me over until then.

There were a bunch of clever Buc-ee's billboards on the highway.

Pets need a rest stop, too! I'll read that sign for you: Attention Dog Guardians: Pick up after your dogs. Thank you. Attention Dogs: Grrrr Bark Woof. Good dog.

Buc-ee's hiring board further north has higher numbers. Is that fair? Economics! What?

Some more groovy shirts.

Lunch! Got the brisket sandwich this time. It was also amazing but I think I liked the pulled pork slightly better. I won't complain if you say the brisket is better, they were both great.

I tried to get a picture of that crazy traffic direction sign, barely in the picture over there. Just an excuse to take a picture as we leave to get an idea of how long our stop was, about an hour.