We met up with fellow eating fan, Valerie, who managed to get in the press area and was able to take some amazing pictures. Before the contest began, we were able to talk to Juliet Lee who is as lovely in person as she is in pictures. It was pretty exciting because she knew who we were even before we introduced ourselves.
Right before the contest began, there were some PETA protesters right outside of the gate yelling stuff about Ringling Brothers and how they treat their animals. Coming from small-town North Carolina, we had never seen any PETA protesters before in real life, so that was interesting. Anyway, the humans put up a good fight against the elephants, cramming as many buns as possible in their mouths, but the gentle giants prevailed in the end. It was actually pretty cute watching the elephants eat because sometimes one bun would fall on the ground and they would reach down and grab that single bun instead of a big bunch of buns on the table. In the end, the humans ate a combined 147 buns and the elephants ate a total of 505.
After watching mass bun consumption, it was time for us to do some eating of our own. Carrie, Jamie, Valerie, and I made our way over to Nathan's Famous on the corner of Surf and Stillwell to experience the glory of a Nathan's Hot dog--well they did, I had chili cheese fries instead. I am not a hot dog eater--at all--but I did taste a bite of Carrie's chili dog just to say that I had eaten one, and it was pretty good (for a hot dog).
We made our way over to the Coney Island Cyclone which was a pretty big damn deal for us because of our past roller coaster obsession. Any coaster enthusiast knows that the Coney Island Cyclone is the ride everyone must take at least once in their lives, and riding it was amazing! We each sat in our own seat and were tossed around on every turn and were lifted out of our seats, experiencing maximum airtime. The Cyclone is officially the best wooden coaster in the world!
Leaving Coney Island, we found our way through Brooklyn to Junior's restaurant for a slice of cheesecake. The slices were huge, and still being full from Nathan's, we decided to split a piece of devil's food cheesecake. Excellent choice on our part, because the cream cheese mixed with the dark chocolate was a tasty combination.
After consuming thousands of calories between Nathan's and Junior's we decided that it would be a good idea to walk back to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge. Walking the bridge was probably one of my favorite parts of the trip because we were able to see great views of the city without being rushed.
Other things we did on our day of being tourists:
-Saw Wall Street/New York Stock Exchange
-Visited Canal Street and bought knock offs (Carrie got a purse, I got a watch. Both broke within 24 hours.)
-Found the outside shot of the Cosby Show house
-Saw the Dakota, where John Lennon was shot
-Went to Strawberry Fields
-Walked around Times Square at night
-Ate at the Magnolia Bakery (I had a brownie with cream cheese icing/toffee/pecans. DELICIOUS!)
Overall, our touristy day in New York was busy and awesome. Next post: 4th of July!
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