__________ is/are overrated.

[1995hoo]

Heh. I remember one year when I was in college when my mother's mother came down for Thanksgiving. She was starting to suffer from the early stages of Alzheimer's, although we didn't yet know that at the time, and she got so nasty that I finally said I'd had enough and I just left and headed back to Charlottesville on Saturday. But my parents weren't home when I did that—they had gone shopping for something or other. So I left a note (our younger forum members probably can't envision that there were no mobile phones or text messages in the early 1990s).

and pretty much no parents took their kids out of school to leave early.

The fact that people do this still shocks me.  Maybe that's why I was surprised that Columbus Day traffic was so high in New England last year - the idea that a holiday during the school year could be a major travel weekend was foreign to me.

My mother commented last night that the practice of parents taking their kids out of school started to take off around here in the mid-1990s (several years after my brother and I had both graduated from high school) and that the school system initially responded by making Wednesday a half-day because so many people were leaving early. Apparently they now close all day on Wednesday.

[webny99]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Rochester-area schools are also closed on Wednesday, perhaps contributing to pre-holiday travel peaking on Tuesday afternoon.
 

I'd suggest that the Sunday after Thanksgiving is the worst day. People spread out their departures over the days before the holiday, but the majority of them all come home on the same day to return to work or school on Monday.

That's been my experience.  And for the summer holidays, Memorial Day, Labor Day, and whatever day is the end of a natural long weekend for July 4 (assuming it has one) are the worse days.  But the media never talks about them - only the days leading up.

I certainly agree but I don't find this too surprising. The holiday is the "shiny object", but the news cycle usually slows down once the holiday arrives and moves on quickly once it's past.

[vdeane]

I certainly agree but I don't find this too surprising. The holiday is the "shiny object", but the news cycle usually slows down once the holiday arrives and moves on quickly once it's past.

There's no reason they couldn't bundle them into the articles running before the holidays.  On or after would be too late to give traffic tips anyways.

[kkt]

Normals people love their stories about miserable traffic on normal people roads, what else is new?

Which are the abnormal people roads?

Those would be the mountain goat tracks that Max likes to drive over

[kphoger]

S'mores are overrated.

[Molandfreak]

S'mores are overrated.

I get the appeal of a perfectly-toasted marshmallow, but I like using my pie iron to toast a grilled cheese sandwich far more.

[Max Rockatansky]

S'mores are overrated.

I get the appeal of a perfectly-toasted marshmallow, but I like using my pie iron to toast a grilled cheese sandwich far more.

The problem is getting that perfect balance isn't exactly easy (at least for me).  Most of the time my S'mores come out too burnt or too close to a stock marshmallow.

[Rothman]

A good s'more is good.  A bad one is not good.

[kphoger]

Actually, now that I think about it...

Marshmallows are overrated.
Hershey's milk chocolate is overrated.

(But graham crackers are underrated.)

[Rothman]

Actually, now that I think about it...

Marshmallows are overrated.
Hershey's milk chocolate is overrated.

(But graham crackers are underrated.)

Graham crackers are overrated.  Marshmallows and Hershey's are about where they should be in public perception.

[GaryV]

the appeal of a perfectly-toasted marshmallow

One time my mother had some stale marshmallows for us. (I have no idea how they were kept around long enough to get stale.) You could toast those suckers 3 or 4 times. Each time you'd pull off the toasty outside, and you had a new smaller stale marshmallow still on your stick.

[Molandfreak]

Actually, now that I think about it...

Marshmallows are overrated.
Hershey's milk chocolate is overrated.

(But graham crackers are underrated.)

Graham crackers are overrated.  Marshmallows and Hershey's are about where they should be in public perception.

Step up your chocolate game

[Rothman]

Actually, now that I think about it...

Marshmallows are overrated.
Hershey's milk chocolate is overrated.

(But graham crackers are underrated.)

Graham crackers are overrated.  Marshmallows and Hershey's are about where they should be in public perception.

Step up your chocolate game

Oof.  Ghiradelli's gone downhill since the 1990s.

[formulanone]

Actually, now that I think about it...

Marshmallows are overrated.
Hershey's milk chocolate is overrated.

(But graham crackers are underrated.)

Graham crackers are overrated.  Marshmallows and Hershey's are about where they should be in public perception.

Step up your chocolate game

Oof.  Ghiradelli's gone downhill since the 1990s.

Pfft. You say this about all food.

[Molandfreak]

Actually, now that I think about it...

Marshmallows are overrated.
Hershey's milk chocolate is overrated.

(But graham crackers are underrated.)

Graham crackers are overrated.  Marshmallows and Hershey's are about where they should be in public perception.

Step up your chocolate game

Oof.  Ghiradelli's gone downhill since the 1990s.

Pfft. You say this about all food.

Except Five Guys.

[kkt]

Actually, now that I think about it...

Marshmallows are overrated.
Hershey's milk chocolate is overrated.

(But graham crackers are underrated.)

Graham crackers are overrated.  Marshmallows and Hershey's are about where they should be in public perception.

Step up your chocolate game

Oof.  Ghiradelli's gone downhill since the 1990s.

Pfft. You say this about all food.

Except Five Guys.

Five Guys was never uphill.

[Scott5114]

Five Guys was never uphill.

Their prices sure are—they're up to $14 now in Las Vegas. The only reason I've been there recently is because a friend of mine got a considerable settlement from a class-action lawsuit and felt like splurging.

[kkt]

Five Guys was never uphill.

Their prices sure are—they're up to $14 now in Las Vegas. The only reason I've been there recently is because a friend of mine got a considerable settlement from a class-action lawsuit and felt like splurging.

Above average prices for a good but not great burger.

[kphoger]

Oof.  Ghiradelli's gone downhill since the 1990s.

Pfft. You say this about all food.

I'm starting to wonder if he eats at all.  I mean, if you eliminate all the food he disparages, then what's even left?

[PColumbus73]

Oof.  Ghiradelli's gone downhill since the 1990s.

Pfft. You say this about all food.

I'm starting to wonder if he eats at all.  I mean, if you eliminate all the food he disparages, then what's even left?

Probably the instant ramen that's high in sodium

[formulanone]

Oof.  Ghiradelli's gone downhill since the 1990s.

Pfft. You say this about all food.

I'm starting to wonder if he eats at all.  I mean, if you eliminate all the food he disparages, then what's even left?

Anti-Olive Garden Diet

When you're here, it's a hunger strike!

[kphoger]

Probably the instant ramen that's high in sodium

blah blah blah not real Chinese blah blah blah much better options blah blah blah

[JayhawkCO]

Probably the instant ramen that's high in sodium

blah blah blah not real Chinese blah blah blah much better options blah blah blah

Ramen is Japanese.

[kphoger]

Ramen is Japanese.

Geez, did I really just do that?

[PNWRoadgeek]

Fish.