A Willingham Wedding Road Trip: Part 2 - Buck Wild at Buc-ee's

 Photo from: https://jeremymcnair.wordpress.com/2011/08/20/day-two-hundred-and-thirty-two/

Photo from: http://louminatti.blogspot.com/2009/07/road-trip.html

Like many of you, I've passed these billboards on IH 45 dozens of times. I've even passed the physical store many of times, and even though I find the advertising hundreds of miles away quite clever, I've never actually stopped in the store(s). If someone asked me if I knew what Buc-ee's was though, you better believe the answer would be "yes."

Tapping into our inner high school spirit, after leaving Lake Jackson for Chase's wedding Kelly and I begged Jeff to take us to Buc-ee's... twice - once at a small gas stop to start our trip and again later at the big one in Madisonville to have lunch. After squealing like little kids in the small gas stop, we had no idea what we were in for in Madisonville.

Oh yes, the infamous Buc-ee's that lines our highway billboards. Even the reluctant Jeff had wide eyes when he pulled up to see a Buc-ee's Outdoor attached: grills, cast iron, butcher blocks and all. But the real Beaver mecca was awaiting inside the actual stop. I walked two feet in the door before I was won over by $15 Beaver backpacks.

Sounded like our nephew Oliver was all the sudden in need for a gift :) After another two feet I was won over by the crawfish jambalaya sample. For some reason though Jeff wouldn't let me bring home a frozen chicken stuffed with crawfish jambalaya. Party pooper. That's ok though because Kelly and I walked another two feet and realized we were in Beaver heaven.

I did warn you, little kids. Our first field day was in the canned vegetable land - pickled okra, marinated mushrooms, pickles quail eggs, etc. etc. I could have almost compared the experience to my first time walking into Central Market, just on a smaller scale. I believe Kelly ended up purchasing pickled quail eggs (convinced by Jeff) and pickled garlic. Jeff unfortunately banned me from making canned purchases, grrrr. So I moved onto the next item of overwhelmingness, Beaver brand land. Oh you better believe it, Beaver EVERYTHING.

Hitch Covers

Pajamas

Eco-friendly Water Bottles

Dominoes

And even Beaver hats!

 I could hardly refrain from comparing the obsessive Beaver branded everything to the University Co-Op, which is home to Longhorn everything. Then to my surprise, look what I found in the corner of the store:

 

You got it! A mini University Co-op! The owner must be a great person :)

I then tried to convince Jeff that we REALLY needed the UT hammer with a football handle (for the remodel, duh), but once again it was an epic fail. It does sound like Jeff was no fun, but that would be an incorrect statement. He just didn't let his childish excitement display so obviously. The moment I knew he was having fun is when he made me come see this:

I think our elderly neighbors would really appreciate one of these in our front yard :)

Well, the fun could have gone on for days but I realized that the more I walked around the store the more my excitement would be tempted, so I finally retired to the section where Jeff wouldn't ban my wallet, lunch. The grab-n-go selections had me occupied for quite a while, but I was ultimately satisfied with my choice.

Alamo turkey sandwich, German potato salad, and a pudding & berry parfait

Next time I'm going for the Italian hoagie though because Jeff's was delicious! If only there was a Buc-ee's by my work, I'd eat lunch there all the time. I guess I'll just have to wait till the next time Houston calls my name.