And yes, it's officially spelled like that. I looked it up.
Drive thru's are all about saving time, so why not shorten the spelling to save a few milliseconds?
How do you feel about Drive Thru's?
Love them? Hate them?
I live in a house divided.
Me? I'm on the loving side. (I'm a lover. What can I say?)
I use them all the time. Because we constantly look like this.
My husband hates drive- thru's with a passion.
It's because a French drive- thru tromped all over his psyche. Again and again.
I should explain myself.
France has NO DRIVE THRU's. At least our part of France didn't when we were there. Except for two. In Clermont there was one at a McDonald's and one at Quick, a McDonald's wannabe. Now before you go judging me (YOU LIVED IN FRANCE AND YOU ATE AT MCDONALDS?) you should know that we hardly ever ate there. I don't really care for McDonalds (except now with their Asian salads) and I love French food!
But we did have three kids, we lived there four years, I got tired of cooking all the time, and no, you really don't take children to a French restaurant.
Dogs, yes. Children, no.
Not often anyway.
So occasionally we'd go to McDo's (pronounced mc dough's--the French nickname for Mickey D's) and pick up some Om-buh-guhs. My dear husband always got stuck ordering at the drive thru and they could NEVER understand him. And he spoke French! It was a little more than teensy bit frustrating, and every time he would tell us THAT IS THE LAST TIME I EVER COME HERE. EVER!
So he still carries a little bit of that drive thru hatred with him to this day.
What got me thinking about drive thru's?
We went to see Wall-E over vacation. Have you seen it? We loved it!
In the movie, humans never walk anywhere. They ride around in hover chairs and drink drinks called cupcakes in a cup (Starbucks?) and watch the screens attached to their chairs. It started me thinking about what my life is like since I moved home from France.
We returned to South Carolina pledging to walk more in our everyday lives. But I'm afraid I slipped right into my old drive thru habits. It's just that I LOVE convenience! I use drive thru's to pick up prescriptions from the pharmacy, for my dry cleaning, and of course, to get a diet cherry limeade from Sonic.
And to do my banking.
Hey, there's a horse in that drive thru!
If you've read French By Heart, you can guess why I love banking by drive thru. I had one of my most crazy French moments in a French bank.
But I don't think I've ever bought corn at one.
I believe I'd remember that.
And I didn't get married that way.
I've never used one to buy beer. Something about a beer drive thru seems wrong.
And I'm not sure what I think of this.
Although I do enjoy a drive thru zoo.
Who doesn't love a llama?
We have Hollywild in upstate South Carolina. It's where animal movie stars go to retire.
Pippy Longstocking's spotted horse is there, cavorting with all sorts of animal celebrities. I'll have to do a post on it one day.
And we went here in 2006.
It was kind of like a drive thru zoo.
Except the buffaloes belonged there more than we did! I guess we were a zoo on wheels for them!
Of all the drive thru's I found pictures for, this might be my favorite.
It won't give you drugs or laundry, but it's definitely a wonder!
Now tell me people, what do you think of drive thru's? Love them? Hate them?
I'd LOVE to hear your bizarre-o drive thru stories!
And you've got to watch this rap-order at a drive thru. I wonder what the French McDo folks would say to that?
And if you have plenty of time to waste, watch this. It's Weird Al's parody of R. Kelly's "Trapped in the Closet," called "Trapped in the Drive Thru." Sam loves it.
Thanks to my flickr friends for making their photos public: (in order) riel sb, M Barkley, Cunning Stunt, purpletwinkie, Rmwhittaker1012000, Cunning Stunt, RS Joe, tbirdshockeyfan, mike.senn, and EOD MAN.
And have a Wonder-full Tuesday!
Love, Becky
26 comments:
I'm a newcomer to your blog and I'm addicted. We lived in Europe for 6 years in Italy and Germany. It does change the way you see things. I admit we did go to MacDonalds in France while touring the Loire Valley and in Paris. We had small children and it had to be done. I don't even feel weird about it. If you haven't traveled in Europe with a three year old, you just don't know. Oddly, I found Italy less kid-friendly than France. We got more nasty looks. Maybe it depends on where you are in the country. We took our nuts everywhere. People were astonished that we took a 3 year old and a five year old to the Louvre, but it was great. It was take the nuts or stay home. I was not staying home. I do love my drive thrus, but not for food, only for meds and whatnot. Europe changed the way I see food. Our fast food commercials gross me out. Love the blog.
Wendy
Rebecca,
As usual I'm loving your post.
I'm not too much of a drive thru girl, only In-N-Out Burger. They are the best,but it's usually as my husband say, In and Wait Burger.
I guess in Las Vegas you can get married in a drive thru wedding.
Have a great day!!
Rosemary
Hi Wendy! Welcome to the blog! We took our kids everywhere too. Except we tried to minimize the LONG French dinners for them. Kind of tough on a baby. It's great to meet you!
And Rosemary, according to Wikipedia, the In-N-Out folks are the ones that started the drive thru craze! I've heard that they're wonderful and hope to try one one day.
Since I dont know how to drive I would say i hardly ever go to drive thru's. They dont seem very relaxing though how about walk thrus.
You are so fabulously creative!!! Love it!
I like a pharmacy drive-thru. When I'm sick, I like the convenience of not having to get out of the car -- and expose others to my germs.
Sherry @ www.blondesherry.blogspot.com
LOL! Oh Rebecca you make me laugh.
Drive thru's are annoying in a sense because they have scratchy - low quality - order taker hearer thingy's and they never get your order right. A friend from work always order's a cream cheee bagel. Do you know what they gave her when she attempted drive thru? A MELTED CHEDDAR CHEESE BAGEL! The horror. It ruined her half hour retail lunch. And trust me when you work in retail that half hour is everything. You text and call mates, you scarf down your food, you hide away from annoyingly irrate customers, you chill. All of this before facing the music of working cash once again!
Very funny, Becky! I love this one. Most men I know share your husband's intense dislike of the drive-thru. LOL! I'll spare you the stories...
I hate drive thru's, and will only drive through them if my kids will lean over me and place the order themselves!
I do, however, love the library drive thru. I order my books on line, click on Central Library drive thru, and..... drive thru! Sweet.
Even I could understand the guy's Youtube rap order, but I can understand why the woman taking the order couldn't figure it out, because I never know what she is saying either.
Happy, sunny wonder to you, Becky. Thanks for the chuckle.
That is too funny! My husband hates drive thrus. I love them but rarely go through one as waiting with an autistic child is not fun. LOL
Tara
I love drive thrus, but for all the wrong reasons. Well, I only love them if I'm with my mom.
She has perfect hearing but a deep distrust of technology. And so she SCREAMS...HER...ORDER...VERY...SLOWLY...and I can't stop laughing. I just picture the poor employee inside with shattered eardrums!
When I was a kid, I loved the drive-thru car wash. It was like a short amusement park ride.
But mostly I prefer to walk! (Though not thru a car wash.)
Jenn H.
I saw the link to your site on Nathan Bransford's page and thought I'd mosey by. I agree you've got an impressive blog!
I rarely used drive-thrus, but since I'm not involved with someone who eats too much fast food I've encountered them more in the past 8 months than probably the whole four years before that. . . I was a walker even before the year of living in Italy. I DO wonder if maybe I would have used a drive through had I had access to a car while abroad. . . Do they stay open late night like here or is it like most places in Europe that close early?
Suzie, a walk thru sounds good to me. Though I do see people walking occasionally through drive thru's.
Sherry, good point. I knew there was another good reason to use the pharmacy drive thru.
Adaora, I hate that scratchy order taker thingy. Sometimes I just skip it and drive on to the window. They don't like it when I do that, but it beats having me yell into that thing over and over.
Tattingchic, I think you're right! I think it is a male thing.
Qugrainne, I've done that too! And that's what Todd ended up doing our last year in France. People were always surprised to see him once we got to the window. And a library drive thru where they have your books waiting for you? What a FANTASTIC idea! I want one of those!
Hey Tara, I can imagine. Waiting is hard any way.
May, that is TOO FUNNY! I've seen folks like that, and I've caught myself doing it too. And it's always funny when you're inside the restaurant and you hear people yelling into the drive thru.
Jenn, you're funny. And you're right! I still think the car wash is thrilling. I need to get out more.
Hey Nancy! Welcome to the blog.
I'm not sure. I can't remember, but I'm guessing they probably closed early. But I could be wrong. Glad to meet you! Ciao!
(I hope I spelled that correctly!)
I really don't care for drive-thrus because they involve a couple of my least favorite things--being in a car, messing about with food. However, they are a live saver with my little one, who is not easy to transition in and out of places!
P.S.-- I meant "life saver" not "live saver."
And now I want some Lifesavers.
Susan, I do see what you mean. And I hope the lifesavers were yummy.
And Susan, I see what you mean (in your post about Wall-E.) I did feel a little preached at, but I didn't mind so much since I agreed with the preaching. Instead I decided to focus on the cute robot. But I get what you're saying.
I had the same reaction the first time I heard about drive-thru liquor stores, which was during a visit to Wyoming in January. Then I decided I wanted a bottle of wine, and it was 0 degrees with 35 mph winds...a true "a-HA" moment.
I see your point! That could come in handy in the heat as well. 0 degrees and 35 mph winds...wow.
I guess I was picturing somebody yelling woo hoo, finishing a bottle and starting another, taking big swigs and motoring down the highway toward my driving daughter.
(Ever since my big kids started driving, I'm a little paranoid.)
Love this post, too! When we lived in Europe, it was a HUGE treat for the kids to go to McDonalds. HUGE!
My European husband hates drive thru's, although he makes an exception for In-n-Out. Hope you are having a happy day.
xo Lidy
I agreed with the sermon, too. I just wasn't dressed for church!
Yep. I get it.
Awesome post!!!!!! I mostly hate drive through because I don't really eat fast food. But I've become a convert for drive through coffee!
Hi, I came over from Tattingchic,s blog. I really enjoyed reading your view of things.
20 years of living in France bringing up my children means I saw with trepidation the arrival of McDo's and have used, on occasions, their drive-through service.
http://wosny.livejournal.com/125892.html
I am not sure if this link will work, but it's my description of the experience.
Cc, drive thru coffee is such a luxury!
And Snowy, nice to meet you! And your link did work. I enjoyed your view--and all the photos! Do you remember a few years ago when the French fishermen dumped truckloads of fish at McDo's all over France? For using Canadian fish instead of French ones?
Oh, the french are great at insisting oh the provenence of food stuffs. I remember the farmers burning lorries of live sheep from the UK...in those days it was scary to admit to being english!
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