Pete's Famous Hot Dogs

My dad and I went here one day in the late 60's. I recall this as one of the memorable taste experiences of my life. We tried many times back in Bloomington to recreate the proper combination of sauerkraut, chili sauce, and mustard, without success.   On this trip, John had a 'naked dog' and reported it to be pretty spicy. Was that the secret? Anyway, the owner of this six foot wide hole in the wall reckoned that if I was there 30 years ago, he must have served me then too. For some reason, a gruff attitude lightened up when Tricia turned out to be from Georgia. Remember this trick if you need a break!

Within half a block of this feast is the science discovery McWane Center. Our favorite exhibit is free: this George Rhoads 'audiokinetic sculpture', an intricate pinball roller coaster. Black hole death spirals, xylophones, teeter-totters, and a hammer-tapping Vulcan enhance the progress of the pinball barrage.   Tad Mayer at Inclined Designs provided me with additional background on this piece. 'The name is Vulcan's Dream and it was installed in April, 1998. It was fabricated by Rock Stream Studios in Ithaca, NY (which builds all of George's sculptures) and it was tested for 1,000 hours before installation. It is a good representation of the 150 audiokinetic sculptures that George has around the world. You can see more examples at at http://www.georgerhoads.com, George's web site.'

	Written by Pete Hughes after our visit on April 12, 1999. If you too have strong memories of these scenes, please mail me at