A Tale of Three Piggies

This past weekend included a lot of this (including three costume changes):
And some of this:

And a WHOLE lot of this:

Our trip to Nags Head this weekend was relaxing all the way around - except for the traffic. It took us eight hours to get down there on Friday (thank you, DC) and seven, including stops, to get home on Sunday.

That's OK, though, because Sunday brought me multiple Mother's Day treats, in pig form. First, when we hit the North Carolina-Virginia border, we stopped at Border Station, a gas station that spans both states. Cooper thinks it's cool because you can buy lottery from both states there. I think it's cool because it's got a mile-long aisle of nothing but condiments. And I love condiments.

Also, near the back, there's a refrigerator case full of barbecue. This, obviously, makes me happy. While I was browsing the sauces, Cooper picked up a couple of different types of pulled pork to take home with us. Both were NC-style - in a vinegar-based sauce - but they were definitely different versions of the same animal.

We ate them both for dinner that night, hosting a little throwdown in our kitchen. The one pictured above, Nixon's, was good, if a little mild ("creamy," Cooper called it), while the other, Griffin's, had a little more vinegary bite to it. It was fantastic.

But those were only two of the three piggies. See, on our way home, we got hungry around Williamsburg. While my first choice for lunch would've been The Cheese Shop, because house dressing is one of my favorite things ever (and I wouldn't have minded a roll by the school anyway), we were in Cooper's big truck, towing an even bigger trailer. So somehow, Colonial Williamsburg seemed daunting.

No matter, though, because a second-best option is just off the highway. Pierce's Pitt Bar-B-Que is a little out of the way for college kids to visit on a daily basis, but it's good enough to warrant the trek. Cooper and I both had pulled pork sandwiches (Dixon ate some of mine PLUS his own hot dog). Pierce's is saucy and sweet - definitely not Carolina-style - but fantastic in its own way.

So there it was - two consecutive meals, three pigs. We actually had leftover Nixon's BBQ for dinner last night, too. And tonight...chicken. Because I just looked at the fat content on the Griffin's container. Ouch. Worth it, but ouch.