Out and About at Home

Well, now that my trip to Italy is only about a month away, time is beginning to drag a little.  But Huntington has been staying busy and I've been taking a few pictures here and there of events, new business, and such and will share those just to keep my blogging abilities honed and ready. :)

It's probably been about three weeks ago now that Huntington had its annual Hot Dog Festival (don't you wish you lived here?!)  It's all about hot dogs with various popular vendors including Sam's Hot Dogs, Hillbilly Hotdogs, Stewart's Hotdogs and some I've never heard of but they have hotdogs.  They also have antique cars on view and several contests including a wiener dog race which is really something to see and another one that I think is a dog looks like owner contest.  Or maybe owner looks like dog?  Which way is that supposed to work?  Anyway, people come from all around.  In fact this year's wiener dog race winner was a returning champion who has won the last three years and he's from Virginia!!  And, of course, there are various musical groups that play throughout the day, other treats to eat (funnel cakes being a big favorite - unfortunately they don't sit well with me anymore), fresh lemonade, and other goodies.  I was kind of late getting down to Pullman Square so missed the race, but enjoyed my hotdog.  I must have timed it right cause this year I got to get mine from Hillbilly Hotdogs without waiting in a loooonnnng line.  There's always a good large turnout (which my photos don't properly show - I couldn't find a good vantage point) and everyone seems to have a great time.

A family settles in to chow down.  I wanted to get a better picture of the little sweetie in the white hat but she turned her back on me just at the last minute.

The next three were taken from the second level of Pullman Square - there are two restaurants up there, both with an area to eat outside, so that was the best spot I could find.

Looking straight out...

To the left - that's the pottery painting place in the building with the white roof...

To the right...can you see the giant red shoe?  That's the entrance to a funky shoe store.

And, then as long as I was up there, I took a picture which shows the top of my building which is one block up from Pullman Square:

The scalloped looking top is where the roof garden is and you can see the top 6 floors in this picture.  My windows aren't on this side of the building.

Next on the agenda was this past weekend when Huntington hosted the annual Rib and Music Festival.  The name pretty much explains this one and it is a pretty big deal.  Bar-b-q-ers come from all around the country to compete for best ribs.  I didn't go this year cause it was SO hot, so crowded, and plus which, the admission fee is now up to $8.00, then you get in there and have to try and decide which ribs to try and by the time you're done paying for some ribs, a drink, maybe cornbread or potato salad, you've managed to rack up a fairly expensive, nowhere-to-eat-it, my-gosh-it's-hot, meal.  But fortunately for the event, that didn't deter too many people!  Since I wasn't going in, I had to get these three pictures from outside the flood wall...

This is the entrance at the floodwall gates with a strangely turquoise sky.  I took these pics with my I-phone so maybe that's the problem... And, since it's through the floodwall, that means it takes place on the banks of the Ohio which is a great location for it.

Looking in you can see the Rib King's stand.  These folks come in three or four days prior to the event cause it's a real job getting everything set up and then doing the long, slow cooking. 

And then this one is just pointing in the other direction - there are vendors here too but this side is where the stage is set up for the concerts.

While I was out that evening to get these pictures I also took the following pictures of two new businesses:

This is going to be another cooking store but I'm hopeful this one will get along better than our first one.  This shop is being opened by a woman who already has a shop called "Mug and Pia" across from Pullman Square.  It's been opened at least one year and has done very well, so hopefully, she will have the right touch with her new store "Whisk".  I certainly like the name!  She's hoping to open September 1...

And this is "Thai House", a new restaurant that has opened right beside Starbucks.  I haven't tried it yet but it has been pretty busy any evening I've happened past and I've heard good things about it.

Well, once again, I amaze myself with my own verbosity!  I've a little bit more "out and about" to share, but I also did some cooking last night that's inspired me to add a couple of recipes to my collection, so I'm going to end this post, get to work on that, and will back in touch in a couple of days.