TGFG… Thank God for Groupon! That’s how I found out about the West Coast BBQ Classic which for $12 came with entrance to the BBQ classic and the Queen Mary in Long Beach, CA.

West Coast BBQ Classic

I’m a BBQ girl! When I was younger, I used to put BBQ sauce on EVERYTHING! It didn’t help that I watch BBQ Pit Masters on TLC and have always dreamt of being a BBQ competition judge… So when I saw this deal, it was a must-do!

Turned out that at these competitions, they use BBQ Bucks which get you samples at each BBQ stand. The up-front line for tickets was an hour wait! Luckily, my friend had scoped the place and knew the ticket tent in the back had a lot less folks. So once we got our BBQ Bucks we set out to try as many BBQ stands as possible.

Our first challenge was to find last year’s BBQ classic winners (figured they would have the best BBQ). That wasn’t hard considering their lines were either hella long or they were sold out of food… The next challenge was to find chicken… yup chicken at a BBQ classic… cause my friend doesn’t eat beef or pork *side-eye*.

$20 worth of tickets got me about four BBQ samples, a lemonade and some Cotton Candy which was enough for me because I was stuffed!

The best part of the day, aside from BBQ of course, was the peach cobbler and watermelon eating contest. I’d never seen one of these up close so it was kinda awesome to witness. It was also a genius marketing stunt for the peach cobbler guy who’s line was 10x longer post-contest. I took pics of the competition and the winner (check ‘em out).

The Queen Mary

After a long hot day at the BBQ contest, we headed to the Queen Mary to check it out. Apparently it’s a pretty interesting tour and is great for firework shows but just going to walk around was pretty boring. I’m sure there’s a lot of great history and the fact that Princess Di is on the front must mean something too but ummm… didn’t get that this trip… Guess I’ll have to go back for one of their Haunted tours or something…

Pros: BBQ Galore; Other festival foods (corn, cobbler, cotton candy); Pie/watermelon eating contest; Live Band

Cons: Ticket line; should add more umbrellas and chairs; Queen Mary walk-through wasn’t too informative (AKA kinda lame)

Queens Highway, Long Beach, CA – May 2013