The Quest for BBQ Fun!

One of the reasons we've been so excited for summer to get here is that Brian and I are finally ready to get our first REAL grill!

Rest in peace tiny charcoal Weber...we know charcoal is the best, but your 2 hamburger maximum is just not cutting it. And frankly, I don't want to spend so much quality time with you waiting for the coals to be ready... I'm hungry now! Bon chance.

So after scouring home stores and the internet trying to decipher grill lingo, we selected this beauty by Kenmore from Sears (picture is also from Sears.com):

Originally $350, down to $279. It has over 100 good reviews, and was the size we wanted and everything. We waited for a while to buy it, had to put it in the purchase queue... well it's a good thing we did! It's apparently being discontinued for a newer model, and when we bought it, it was about to go on sale even farther, and they gave us the extra sale price even though it hadn't started yet! So for $250 dollars, we will be grilling fiends this summer! We also picked up a cover and a nice grill set with skewers, a cleaning brush, spatula, etc.

Brian and I both have grown up grilling often in the summer, and I can't wait to continue the eating outside goodness!

We ordered it for in-store pickup as to avoid the ridiculous shipping costs associated with mailing something so large. But of course, there is where we hit snag numero-uno. This grill is sold out at every store within 50 miles of us. So we decided to check the Sears by my parents house an hour away, they had them! In the event that we had trouble getting there, my parents could always snag it for us. So we placed the order.

Monday, we got very gung-ho about grilling and decided we didn't want to wait anymore, so after Brian got home from class we hopped in the car and drove up. After driving to multiple entrances at opposite sides of the store, and fighting with the order-pickup machine, we sat down to wait for our item. About 5 minutes later they wheeled out... a fully assembled grill. Crap.

Brian drives a 2004 Chevy Malibu, there is no way this was going to fit. Also we did not order it assembled. 30 minutes, 1 manager and multiple declarations of 'there are no more boxed ones' later, the jerkface guy went to check. Low and behold, they found one. Aaaaand it was even bigger than the fully assembled version (how is that possible???). After seeing if it would fit (not a chance) we got in the car to drive all the way back empty handed. I was pouting.

Then I said to Brian 'what if they just detached the actual grill part from the base? Then they'd fit'. He ran inside and came out with the only non-jerkface guy that was working in this Sears, and we had it loaded in seconds! We did have to go buy a bungee cord to hold the lid of the trunk closed though.

And so, the simple act of picking up a grill had turned into a massive quest which finally culminated in our successful acquisition of our new mostly-assembled toy!