I’m not normally much of a brand fanboy and often miss or tune out popular culture happenings, so it may seem strange to you that I’m writing about the opening of a new fast food joint in Connecticut, but here goes.

Yesterday, Sonic opened its first drive-in in Connecticut. I rarely eat fast food, but I did stop at a Sonic in Texas back about 2005, and I remember that they have good lime-aid. They’ve also been doing a good job with their social media campaign, so I thought I would trek over and check it out.

They had posted a message on a mailing list a while ago about a give-away that they were having that I had gone to and run into a social media buddy. I picked up a Sonic CT T-shirt and wore that.

My first stop was to pick up my daughter at camp. As I walked in a couple of the counselors saw my T-shirt and comment, “Oh, I forgot, Sonic is opening today.” I don’t think they were going to try and make the trip to Wallingford for a burger, however. As we walked out, one of the mother’s picking up her kids saw the T-shirt and commented about how she wished she were younger and could strap on roller skates and work at Sonic.

As we drove up, I told Fiona that it might be a bit of a wait. A lot of people might be stopping by to check out the new Sonic. As we waited in line to get into the parking lot, I asked Fiona how important it was to her to pull up at one of the drive-in spots and have someone deliver our food on rollerskates, or if drive-thru would be okay.

When we were told that the wait for a drive-in spot was around two-hours, she agreed that drive-thru would be fine. Yet even the drive-thru had a long wait and the guy directing traffic suggested we come back in about half an hour. I explained that we lived about half an hour drive away and that didn’t really make sense, so he waved us through.

As we sat in the car, waiting to order our food, Fiona and I talked about the events of the day. Her Nanna had gotten her a new T-shirt. It said KISS on it. Fiona had seen KISS on American Idol. She didn’t really like their makeup, but she thought their music was okay, and any shirt that Nanna got her is special.

We talked about camp, and swimming, and when Kim would be home from work. A Sonic employee came out with Slush samples for people waiting in line. Fiona took a shot of the Green Apple Slush. I had the Orange Slush. We both agreed that the Green Apple Slush was much better than the Orange Slush.

Finally, we got our chance to drive up and order. I had a cheeseburger with the works, onion rings, and a large cherry lime-aid. Fiona tried her first corn-dog, along with fries and a Watermelon Slush.

The burger was better than most fast food. The onion rings were very good, and the large Cherry Lime-Aid was very large. It was also very good. Fiona was pleased to have her first corn dog, but she didn’t really like it that much. The Watermelon Slush was good, but she prefers the Green Apple Slush. She had a bite of my burger which she enjoyed and discovered that she does like mustard on burgers afterall.

As we drove home, I reflected to myself, “Was it really worth the drive and the wait?” If I were just stopping to get fast food, it would not have been worth it. Yet the whole experience was about much more than that. It was about spending time with my daughter doing something fun and a little bit out of the ordinary. That is worth it, whether it be waiting for Sonic not so fast food on the day they opened, or many other quirky things that make life a little more interesting.

Fiona doing a Sonic green apple slushie shot, originally uploaded by Aldon.