The Cheesecake Factory (Riverside, CA)

The Macaroni and Cheese burger ($11.50, with an upgrade to sweet potato fries for an additional $1).

A charbroiled burger topped with a fried macaroni and cheese patty and covered in cheddar cheese sauce.

The Cheesecake Factory calls their hamburgers "glamburgers" and in the case of the macaroni and cheese burger, that's pretty accurate.  S. split this burger with guest blogger C.C. and both agreed afterward that was a wise decision.  This burger is rich and decadent and they're not quite sure it would be possible to eat an entire one solo.  Plus, sharing the burger also left room for them to share a slice of cheesecake so that is win-win!  S. always orders her burgers well done and between the macaroni and cheese and cheddar cheese sauce, the burger still tasted moist (which is not easy to do with a well-done burger!).

Hash House a Go Go (Las Vegas, NV)

The Apple Smoked Bacon and Mashed Potato Burger with side of Macaroni and Cheese.  The burger itself is $8.95 and sides are an additional $2.95.  Rather than just offering the standard fries with a burger, Hash House a Go Go has many options for sides: crispy fries, salad with cucumber dressing, mac & cheese, or au gratin potatoes.

Two half-pound patties of ground beef with a hefty dollop of mashed potatoes in between.  Genius idea.

It was so good,  S. said, "I kind of wish I could take a nap here in the booth and then finish the rest of this burger."  The portions at Hash House a Go Go are crazy-big.

The Fresh Mushroom and Swiss Burger.  Guest blogger C.C. loved how the cheese and mushrooms were just oozing out of the burger.

You could easily share one of these burgers and then order an appetizer or dessert (or both!) to share as well.

Katie Mullen's (Denver, Colorado)

The Cashel Burger is made with Cashel bleu cheese and smoked bacon.  It also comes with lettuce, tomato, and red onion but S. opted out of having the onions.  All of the burgers at Katie Mullen's are made of 8 ounces of USDA Choice ground sirloin or chuck and comes with your choice of house salad or fries.  Sweet potato fries (shown above) are $1 extra.  S. thought this was a great burger.  She always prefers crumbly bleu cheese on a burger over bleu cheese dressing.

A close-up of the Cashel Burger, which costs $11.95.

The Irish Cowboy Burger ($10.95).  Guest Blogger J. thought the sweet potato  fries were delicious.

V. opted for the basic cheeseburger ($9.95) with bleu cheese.  As always, he said it was, "good."

Yard House (Denver, Colorado)

The Surf and Turf Burger with an upgrade to sweet potato fries ($10.85, with regular fries).

This burger comes with lobster, asparagus, and spinach.  It also had Swiss cheese and a tomato Bearnaise sauce.  This burger was great, a something different about having lobster on a burger but it was so tall, I had to deconstruct it and eat it with a fork so it made it difficult to get all the flavors in one bite.

Lost Coast Brewery (Eureka, California)

Red's Diner (Crescent City, Calfornia)

Fort Bragg, California

Marriott at San Francisco Airport

Cambridge, MA

Mr. Bartley's Burger Cottage (Cambridge, Mass.)

Mr. Bartley's Burgers has been in business near Harvard Yard since 1960.  They are world-famous, having been featured on Food Network, The Travel Channel, and in the New York Times and USA Today.  Which means, we had to check them out for ourselves.

The dining room is very eclectic.  There aren't many seats and what seats they do have are very close to one another.  There was one long communal table in the center and if you sat there, you would likely be sitting by strangers.  They have an extensive menu of burger choices, many of them named after celebrity diners, or you can order off the chalkboard.

For an appetizer, we chose the "Very Famous Sweet Potato Fries" ($4.99 for a large) and they were delicious.  It was hard not to fill up on them before our burgers were delivered.

S. had her perennial favorite: the blue cheese burger.  It was an excellent burger, although a little messy with all the blue cheese dressing.  Just as she was finishing, S. lamented that she could use a wet wipe; before the words were even out of her mouth, the server arrived with wet wipes.  Apparently, they are necessary for many of the burgers at Mr. Bartley's.

A close-up of the blue cheese burger.  That's a pretty thick patty; and it was cooked perfectly to order (which would be well done for S.).  All of their burgers are made from seven ounces of choice beef, ground fresh daily.  No frozen discs of meat here.  Most of the burgers range in price from $8 - $11 and come with chips or fries.  We chose chips with our burgers because we had already ordered the sweet potato fries as an appetizer.  If you get the burgers that come with chips, they are less expensive.

S. was joined on this outing by her mom, who had the pizza burger.  Her mom remembers ordering pizza burgers when she was a teenager/young adult but that she hadn't had one in ages, so it would be a little bit of nostalgia to have one now.  She said this was different than any other pizza burger she'd had previously, she still that it was amazing.  She especially liked that you could taste the quality of the beef patty and that it wasn't overshadowed by the condiments.

Cafe on the Route (Baxter Springs, KS)

The Kansas Plains burger (served plain, of course) at the Cafe on the Route in Baxter Springs, KS.  This $7 burger is served with your choice of potato, soup or salad, and a corn roll.  It was so much food, S. couldn't even finish it.  The burger was delicious!  The restaurant is located in an old, red brick building that used to house a bank.  There is a gold plaque outside that claims that said bank was once robbed by Jesse James and Cole Younger (oh, the excitement!).  It's located right near the Historic Route 66, hence the name.  Cafe on the Route was featured in a 2007 episode of The Food Network TV show, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives.

For her potato, S. chose the fried potato salad because that is something she had never heard of before.  It was surprisingly good but V. wondered what isn't good fried?

And just a few miles away from Baxter Springs is this little gem of a photo opportunity.  This is S., standing in three states at once.

Lee's Tavern (Mesquite, NV)

Lee's Tavern is next door to Lee's Discount Liquor and the restaurant also has a casino/bar.  The restaurant portion is non-smoking but the casino/bar area allows smoking.  There are doors between the two areas to maintain a smoke-free restaurant but on the day we were there, the doors were propped open.  It's hard to find a non-smoking restaurant in Mesquite, so this is as close as it gets.  The food was good and inexpensive and the people were really nice.

Painted Pony Restaurant (St. George, UT)

The Painted Pony is a restaurant in St. George that has received many stellar reviews so we decided to check it out.  And who doesn't love those pewter goblets?  They got really cold once ice water was poured into them.

A close-up of the Grilled Tenderloin Burger ($10).  It has melted bleu cheese, tomatoes (of the heirloom variety, grown in the restaurant's own garden, I might add), lettuce, pickled onions (which S. promptly picked off), and poblano aioli.  It was amazing.  Those stellar reviews are well deserved.

Regina, SK, Canada

A burger with potato chips and cole slaw.  Why can't I remember the name of this restaurant?

Willow on Wascana (Regina, SK, Canada)

The Loaded Burger ($17) with the Land Chowder.  The burger is made of Highland beef and has bleu cheese, charred mushrooms, bacon, and wilted greens.  The land chowder is their signature soup and is made with a confit of ham hock and is served with a herb-infused potato chip and fresh herb oil on the top.  Both the burger and the soup were amazing.  S. wished she could have had two servings of the soup; it was that good.

A close-up of the burger.

The restaurant is located near the marina parking lot at the lake in Wascana Centre and it is hard to find but so worth it.