Dark and early Saturday morning, the Husband and I woke up, checked out of our SLC hotel and headed to the airport to head  to the second half of our vacation in Nags Head, North Carolina!  (Packing for snowy mountains and warmish/cool beaches was tough!) We were scheduled to fly through O’Hare and had a shortish layover so we  I was pretty stressed about (a) missing our connection and/or (b) our bags not making it.  As we waited in SLC, we learned that we were delayed due to aircraft maintenance.  Luckily, the maintenance was faster than expected and due to tailwinds we were able to pick up speed a bit to get to Chicago.  When we landed, though, we had to go from F to C terminals and the Husband and I started running (a la Home Alone’s running scene which oddly enough I couldn’t find an image of via Google). 

Luckily, we made it to a shuttle and made the cut-off to get on the first one we made it to and we made it to our plane with a few minutes to spare!

Our bags did not, though.  

And we had a 3 hour drive ahead of us!

Luckily, we had planned to have dinner in Richmond before driving to Nags Head so I convinced the Husband that if our bags were on the next flight, we could wait for them (otherwise, who knows when we’d see them again).  We attempted to make a claim with the airline but they decided to hold off until after the next flight which would arrive 3 hours later.  Off we went to dinner!

When the Husband and I met, he didn’t like sushi.  It was so sad.  Luckily, though, on our drive down to Charlotte to look for a place to live (way back in the day) involved a stop in Richmond to see his friends from college.  Those friends, who are awesome, introduced us to Sticky Rice… and turned the Husband into a sushi convert! Our first experience left such an impression on us that when we learned that they opened a location in Washington DC, we tried to check them out during one of our visits. Unfortunately, that was not meant to be (tiny restaurant, very long wait for a table).  Ever since, we’ve been wanting to go to the Richmond location, but when are we ever in Richmond?!?!? As soon as we booked our flight to the east coast though, dinner in town was at the top of the list.

Once we got our rental car, we headed straight there.  Luckily, since we landed mid-afternoon, we were able to get a table as soon as we arrived.

We were seated in a sunny corner which gave me a decent view of the whole restaurant and sushi bar.

First thing I knew we’d have was the Bucket of Tots.  Tater tots are the best, especially with chopsticks and secret tater tot sauce.

While the Husband picked out our sushi, I ordered our beers.  They have quite a list of bottled beers and a short list of drafts. 

The drafts were exactly what we wanted though – Sam Adams Oktoberfest and Fat Tire.  Yum!

As he picked out the sushi, I noticed that they’ve also opened a location in Baltimore.  Hopefully it’s a bit bigger than the DC one so I can take my Maryland fans to it without a reservation way in advance

I also photographed their “to-go” location StickyToGoGo which is right across the street.

After enjoying our tots and beer for a bit, our sushi arrived. 

From left, clockwise to the bottom right, we had the Fantabulous Amazing Roll – A spicy inside-out roll with lump crab meat, cream cheese, and cucumbers topped with tuna sashimi; the Goochland Roll – Smoked salmon, goat cheese, scallions, and sesame seeds; Unagi (eel – the Husband’s favorite); and Sticky Balls – Tuna, crab and sriracha rice in an inari pocket tempura-fried and topped with tobiko, scallions, wasabi mayo, eel sauce, and sesame seeds.  All were delish and left us quite full.

Overall, the food lived up to our hyped up memory and we looked forward to eating here again and finally trying the DC and Baltimore locations one day.  The service, however, was a bit lacking.  Our waitress was a bit standoffish but since we had what we needed in terms of food and beer and we weren’t rushed out, we enjoyed our food and took our time. 

Toward the end of the meal, I called the airline and confirmed that our luggage did indeed make the next flight out so we had a little bit of time to kill.  With our stomachs full, and having spent the last two days in cars and planes (except for our quick run through ORD), a walk was in order.  The weather was perfect for it and since I hadn’t walked through Carytown before, we headed that direction.  Carytown has a reputation as being a trendy part of midtown Richmond, somewhat like Georgetown in DC but uniquely different as well.

I snapped photos of some of the scenery as we walked…

As we wound down our walk, we stopped for some homemade ice cream at Bev’s.  While the ice cream was good, I couldn’t get past the fact that its neighbor is a nail salon and the fumes were wafting in.  It was nauseating and took away from my ice cream enjoying experience

When we made it to the airport, our bags were just coming off the carousel! We grabbed them and headed on our way to the Outer Banks! No traffic made for a super smooth and quick drive.  See you from the beach!