Stop #49: Meijer Drive, Fort Wayne (#315)

Stop #49 ended up being one of my first impromptu stops.


I was in Fort Wayne for the weekend and had plans to hang out with a couple friends from high school. Sadly, one bailed, which threw off plans for the evening a bit, but happily resulted in our group collectively deciding to go to a Steak 'n Shake I hadn't yet it hit.

After we arrived, the server stopped by to take our order. Since this was an unplanned stop, I didn't have my crayon stash with me, and followed up my food order with a request for crayons.

"Not as part of my actual food order, but could I have some crayons?"

The server helpfully responded with, "Sure! But they are non-toxic, so if you did want to eat them, you could."

Oh no.
This can't end well.


My crayons arrived with the shakes. I was super-excited, though I was restricted to only blue and red using crayons, so I busted out my pens as well (just for artwork and signage's sake).


When faced with a red-pill-blue-pill option, I decided to follow in Neo's footsteps and choose the red. Because I wanted to know the truth about the Matrix.


And that's the face of someone who has regrets. Not the regret of selecting the red pill over the blue pill. The regret of eating a crayon. Because that is going directly to my hips.


When my actual food finally arrived, Sean forced me to put the crayon on my plate, as it was now officially a part of my Guac-Burger, fries, and Chocomazing milkshake order.

For the record, I did not eat any more of that crayon. What you see there was left on the plate with a few stray fries and some renegade guac.

Despite the fact that we decided to go to Steak 'n Shake in part because one of our party members bailed for the night, Sean decided to make him present at Steak 'n Shake all the same.


Yup, the Ben you know and love from stops #46 and #47 was the one who bailed.

This'll learn 'im.

It was a pleasant stop, and as we left, I realized I'd want to come back to this Steak 'n Shake, so I can play their crane game, and win ...


... the actual Steak 'n Shake characters! We have both "Goldie" (the fries) and "Shaker" (the milkshake). The only one I don't see is "Sizzle," the hamburger.

And yes, those really are the names of their characters.

Thus ended Stop #49. Thanks much to Sean and Jody (and Paper Ben) for talking me into this impromptu stop!

Stop #48: North Meridian, Carmel (#224)

In late December, I decided to hit up yet another Steak 'n Shake.


In part because it was on my way to paying that pesky speeding ticket I earned on my way to completing Stops #40 and #41. And in part because, progress!

Also in part because I finally wanted to see what a Steak 'n Shake breakfast was like.


It's true! I've now had a Steak 'n Shake breakfast. But we'll get to that in a minute.

Jen joined me for this stop because she was free, and she too wanted breakfast.

Before making the stop, I invested in some new crayons, since Bloomington stole mine.


As you can see, they were exciting. And even more exciting once you opened the box to discover ...


... GelFX crayons AND Metallic crayons! And by Metallic crayons, I don't mean your standard gold, silver, and bronze. I mean those pictured above: Big Dip O' Ruby, Cyber Grape, Sheen Green, and Steel Blue (not in that order).

And how do they look?


... well, not super-different from normal crayons. Especially those GelFX once. Gel effects, my ass. Looks just like a regular blue crayon to me. The Metallic ones really did have a bit of a sparkle to them, so they were okay.

I also noticed that the placemats that weren't advertising the breakfast deals (namely, all-you-can-eat pancakes) were advertising special shakes for the then-upcoming Valentine's Day.

Oh Steak 'n Shake, you do know how to steal a girl's heart!

My husband only wishes I would express such love for him.

Thankfully, breakfast arrived before I could get much more physical with my placemat.


Breakfast, and a lot a lot A LOT of syrup.

So how is a Steak 'n Shake breakfast?

Well, the bacon is tasty.

The eggs are all right.

And the pancakes were delicious. Which surprised me -- I normally don't like pancakes, unless they're the Dadly Dude's blueberry pancakes made at a campground. If I liked pancakes, you'd be reading a blog about visiting all the IHOPs in Indiana, not Steak 'n Shakes.

But these pancakes (I should probably note, they did contain chocolate chips) were delicious. I could have eaten more.

Thanks, Steak 'n Shake, for that now-tempting All-You-Can-Eat pancake breakfast. Need I remind you I'm trying to lose weight?

Following our tasty, tasty breakfast, we asked Ron, a server passing by, to take our picture.


Which Ron did, then followed by professing HIS love for Steak 'n Shake, also. Ron really loves his Steak 'n Shake. If I were to find a true replacement for Brett to finish out this quest, by God, it should be someone with a passion like Ron's.

Unfortunately, I caught neither last name nor number, so my friends and acquaintances will just have to continue to suffer for my sake.

Stop #47: Liberty, Bloomington (#242)

After the College stop in Bloomington, Ben and I moved on to the Liberty location ...


... where we would finally get our milkshakes.


And isn't it glorious? That, of course, is my eggnog milkshake.

Ben, once again, decided to make his own sign as we enjoyed the milkshakes.


Those are, of course, snakes. I don't know why; I have never seen any snakes at Steak 'n Shake. Maybe on a plane, but never in my beloved SnS.

With no snakes, the stop proved to be relatively uneventful. Ben and I were in and out pretty quickly, even if we didn't notice until a little too late that our water glasses obscured our signs as we took the requisite group picture.


Though I did realize, after the fact, that I left behind my stash of coupons. Which means that Bloomington made off with two of my valuable possessions for Steak 'n Shake questing: my crayons, at the College location, and my coupons, at Liberty.

Dear Bloomington,
This means war.
Or, well, small battle. Which I plan to win.
Sincerely, Marcy

Stop #46: College, Bloomington (#222)

As Christmas drew near, I realized I needed to make my way back to Bloomington to knock out the remaining Steak 'n Shakes with my high school buddy, Ben, before he left town. Considering he graduated in December, I found myself really cutting it short with my mid-month visit.

Our first stop was the location on College.

Ben made his own sign ...


... very much influenced by the fact that we were reminiscing a bit about high school while we were out. Because, high school.

While we reminisced, and talked about not-high-school a bit (Ben's upcoming interviews, my new married life), we enjoyed quality Steak 'n' Shake: chicken tenders and fries for me, and for Ben ...

that, plus a Frisco Melt platter. Ben was actually a bit surprised by the salad, as it looked much different from the last time he had had a salad at Steak 'n Shake.

It's true, they've gotten much better since the my obsession with Steak 'n Shake began. My first Steak 'n Shake salad was lettuce, sliced tomatoes, and sliced cucumbers. Then, at one point, it turned to lettuce, diced tomatoes, and diced cucumbers. And now, that rainbow of veggies. Much tastier. Probably also healthier. A-plus, Steak 'n Shake. A-plus.

We held off on the milkshakes at this stop, though, knowing we'd be hitting another Steak 'n Shake within the hour.

On the way out, we noticed a crane machine in desperate need of a player, given how close this stuffed animal was to falling out. We could've used the help of my college buddy, Kobi, who was probably the best crane machine player I've ever met.


Unfortunately, in my excitement over the crane machine, I neglected to notice that I'd left my box of crayons on the table. I didn't notice, in fact, until we got to the next Steak 'n Shake.

And so ended stop #46.

Stop #45: Portage (#456)

Our Black Friday trip continued on to the Steak 'n Shake in Portage.


But not before we had the chance to make the stop that was the whole reason Jen came on this trip:


Yes, I had to bribe Jen to join me on this excursion with a trip to the Bath & Body Works outlet store. But, clearly, we both made out like bandits, so it wasn't the worst bribe in the world.

Once we got to the Steak 'n Shake, we again decided to leave a gift for our server, because it was still technically Black Friday.


And so, Dallas too received some gifts and a Thank-You card for working on what is normally not the most happy day to work.

Meanwhile, we enjoyed some milkshakes (also cheese fries, for me). Strangely, between the three of us, we covered all the bases of the holiday milkshakes that Steak 'n Shake had to offer: White Chocolate for Jen, Eggnog for me, and Peppermint for Liz.


Then we decided we'd make an excellent advertisement for the Steak 'n Shake company, what with our smiling and happy faces over the holiday specialness. Obviously.

And thus ended Stop #45. Thanks, Portage! I never have to go to the Region again!