I have been traveling this country as a full time comic now for several years.  When I am on the road, I eat, play golf, get lost in and generally get to know the citys and towns I am working. By doing that I have found some of the most interesting places, best food, coolest shops, fun golf courses, and just about any thing interesting in most of the places I have been.  So what I am going to do here is tell you about them, and give you specifics so if you are traveling by yourself, with you buddies, or your family you don’t have to hunt around and waste your time finding them. You will know right where to go and get on with you travels.

  Now I am not an expert at any one thing, ie restaurants, golf courses, hiking trails , but I am an experienced road dog so I may not speak in technical terms or in the langauge of the elite, but I do know what I am talking about.  So enjoy and travel well.

it is about time I tell you about my home town, I have been eating and doing stuff here for 40 years and it is safe to say I know a few of the good spots. I am not going to get into much detail on each one of the places since there will be many of them, I may have a few stories but I won’t get all crazy here, just a few lines about each. I will say though anyplace I put in here has been well tested, well visited, and is a favorite of mine in some way or another:

 Pizza: a trip up to north county ( parker and old halls ferry to be exact to my absolute favorite pizza in the world ( I dont want to hear from you chicago/new york pizza people, blah blah blah we have the greatest blah blah blah)  Angelo’s Pizzaria is my choice day or night. I have been going for as long as I can remember. A year ago I had my family there and ordered the spagetti for my son, and had a bit my self. Then realized that I have been going there for over 3 decades ( and 2 of those decades we would go there at least 4 times a month) and I had never had anything but the pizza. They have a ton of other stuff, and on occasion, I would have and Italian Hamburger, but for as long as I have been going I had really never had anything else.  it is small so if you have a big group call ahead, they do carry outs, but eat in and enjoy the show

Angelos 4814 Parker rd st. louis /314-355-3242

if you out in st. charles, specifally O’Fallon, and don’t want to make the trip, try Nolls, on veterens parkway in o’fallon , he does a st. louis thin crust style along the lines of Angelo’s that is very good itself, while you are there try the spedini , a homemade stuffing, rolled in thin beef, spiced just right and grilled with olive oil. Every family has a different recipe and every families is the best,  I love the Spedini  here, and the owner Rob cuts his own steaks and they are best I have found this side of the river, melt in your mouth tasty .Eat on the fancy pants side /drink on the bar side not cheap but reasonable for a family 

Nolls,  between Hwy k and Bryan Road on Veterans Memorial parkway in O’Fallon 

Italian in general,

 if you want the old world Italian, small shops filled with salami , fresh breads , olives,  restaurants on every corner,  go down the The Hill, it is famous and you can finds lots of info on the net I am sure,  there are a few dozen restaurants in a 20 square block neighbor hood and every single one of them is great. Most specialize in something or a another, some are just deli’s but you cannot go wrong in any of them unless you go on a Monday none of them will be open then. Some of my favorites down there are Riggazzi’s,Evola’s and Modesto. Stop by and get some meat at the world famous Volpi Salami shop. Plan on leaving full anywhere you go

 and try the toasted ravioli  don’t ask just try it is st. louis landmark most restaurants will have it , lots have a commercially produced generic one, Riggazzis, Angelo’s,Yacavellis, have the best but most are pretty damn good

Clayton,

 if you are town on business or have to go to court there is  good chance you will be in Clayton at some time, Clayton is the ” hey look how cool I am I live in Clayton” capitol of st. louis,” There are lots of places that cater to these folks and the folks that like to be around these folks,  I don’t go to those places.  I go to Carondolet Grill, great place to watch a game of anysort, not self absorbed, there are snooty people there but they are not allowed to be snooty when they are there. Cheaper than most every sit down place in Clayton, and the food is damn tasty, I mean damn tasty, my favorite is the Buffalo Chicken wrap, but I know a dozen people with a dozen different favorites

Carondolet Grill 8000 Carondolet Clayton Mo ( search it and you will find all kinds of reviews on this place )

For Diner and a show, or Breakfast and show, or lunch and a show, or a mid mounring baby your hangover with great food and show, or late night need to eat or I will die and show, go to the  South City Dinner. It has been around for a bunch of years, and remodeled a few years ago but still has that 50 feel to it. Breakfast is packed on the weekend and durring the week too, the neighborhood and the clients run the gamit of life so there is not a normal anything here. You may be sitting next to city aldermen on a business lunch or a band that just got done playing at Pop’s until 6:00 am.  You will see lots of peircings mostly on the staff. The staff is great though, they can be moody, in rush, sometimes they forget stuff, and can be grumpy, but for my money they are best around. they can also be very funny, extremely sweet, and very helpfull.  The food hear is great, Biscuits and Gravy are a favorite for me along with the burger, very tasty, grilled bun, fresh cut fries , now I am hungry, thank you very much. My wife loves the meatloaf or the meatloaf omelet. The neighbor hood is a city neighbor hood, so if you are from out of town, pay attention, it is safe, we use to walk there a few times a week, ( we have moved since) and there are lots of other restaurants along South Grand , so there are people all over, and many things going on. but if you are not used to it, there may be a bit of a getting used to it factor. Also down there on South Grand there are two other places we went all the time ( at least once a week )  the King and I (thai) and Me Kong( Vietnamese) both very very good, and you can smell them for blocks (dont worry that is  good thing) one of the only reasone we did frequent the other dozen or so restaurants on South Grand that were in walking distance to our house was that Me Kong was the first one we would pass and the smell would not let us go any further. while you are there mix the chili sauce and the soy sauce that is on the table to dip what every you are eating in ( I got the 68 , chicken )

South Grand area ( near south side of city, Grand and Arsenal …. South city Dinner/Me Kong/the King and I

other south city places

    Gus’s Pretzles ( www.guspretzles.com)   to hard to explain, long stick pretzles, also come with salicizza/bratwurst/hotdogs  in them     cheap eats so &*#&&* tasty I can’t stand it right now.  Long lines that move quick at lunch time, and break time for the brewery. you can buy one you can buy one hundred. no place to sit and eat inside, can sit on the curb out side, but not suggested , swing by pick some up eat them on the way, bring some for freinds   this place is right on hwy 55 just as you get into the city so if you are driving through town it is an easy on off, get off on Arsenal head away from the Brewery ( if you have to ask which one just keep on driving) it will be on the left.

Hodak’s    (www.hodaks.com)

  Best fried chicken, don’t start with me on this either, it is voted the best every year hands down I am sure you have the best where you are too. but that is for you to put on your blog.  Very crowded at lunch and dinner, expect a wait, go around 2:00 if you don’t want to wait but I can’t say for sure you won’t have to wait a bit. They have  a full menu but really that is just for show.  get you chicken dinner ( the biggest half a chicken around) some slaw and frys for around $6.00  and cheap cold beer, you cannot go wrong here.

Rochecster MN,

  I don’t like driving in snow, I know that not many people do, but I have a pananoid fear of it and go into panic attacks when I have have to. So when I got the email to work Rochester MN in Dec , I had to think about it for a while, and by think about it I mean banging my head on the wall for about 10 minutes until I talked myself into it. My thought was, maybe they won’t have snow in Dec, in Minnesota. They did, but I am glad I went and it has nothing to do with the snow. 

  As I drove into town I spotted a place called McGoons Pub. Now we all know me and I tend to favor places with the term “Pub” in the name, so my first thought was, ” if that is close to the hotel that is where I will have lunch” It was close, lunch was on. I walked over from my hotel in what has been some of the coldest air I have been in, I think they have it brought down from Canada for some reason.  I shook off the cold, more like broke it off, and walked in.  I ordered the special of the day, Cajun chicken sandwich and homemade chips. Now being the picky eater I am I only really like my cajun chicken seasoned, I am not a big fan of the peppers/onions that show up on cajun food most of the time, so that is how I had mine. I have to tell you it was tasty! with a capitol T . I guess I should have put that capitol t on the word tasty oh well. Savory would be another word to describe it, great buns too! A lot of times restaurants use a  hard crust roll on their sandwichs , and that is ok but it make the food more trouble than it is worth sometime, this bun was nice. Now for the chips, I have grown up on some severly great “Irish Chips” from a place here in st. louis, so I hold others up to a high standard,  and these were great, not to thick but not so thin that they were like bag chips, and nicely done each time I had them, and I had them 4 times over a two day period. The other times I ate there I had the boneless buffalo wings, huge, hot and tasty. I have been described that way my self.  and I had the philly cheese steak also. I have never been to Philly( and have no plans on doing so) so I have never had an official, from the street, made by some guy named Guy Philly cheese steak so I can not hold it up to those. But I do know this , on a regular basis , restaurants screw up philly cheese steak sandwiches. Most of the time they just use the same roast beef they have for the , well for the roast beef. They put it on a roll that is to small and everything spills out , the cheese is not right or to thick so it does not melt.  So when a place does one of these right, that is a big deal, and I will not go into detail but it is safe to say that they did it right, I had two of them .

  On the non food side of this story is the place itself the owner  Mark and his wife, Jasimine  have set up a great place here with lots of family history, which goes hand and hand with Rochester history.  So if are visiting Rochester or have to go there because of the Mayo Clinic, give yourself a break and check out McGoons

 Now for full disclosure, I don’t usally review the clubs that I work when they have food unless so as not to be charged with favortism or pandering. but this place was too good to pass up.  The club is called Goonies, more family history, and is right upstairs, and is a great room, agin if you are in town or visiting the Mayo Clinic doyourself a favor and get some good food and great laughs at Goonies/McGoons 

Rochester is very cool too, I did not see much of it due to 2 reasons, it was snowing and most of downtown is connected togehether by a series of skywalks and pedestrian subways.  They all are connected to the Mayo clinic, and branch off to banks, city hall, the civic center, hotels, docors buildings and of course hotels. They have all kinds of shops, stores restaurants, medical supply stores, book stores, services and just about anything you need while you are there. I stayed the the Kahler Grand, a very fancy pants place that is right across the streeet from the clinic and has a great history itself 

 The Gist 

 Eat at

 McGoons Taxi company, Entertainment Pub and Restaurant         www.mcoonstaxi.com

7 second st sw , rochester MN

for comedy   Goonies Comedy club   www.gooniescomedy.com

 and stay at the

 The Kahler Grand

Yes the puns are gettting worse but the restaurants are getting better.  When I am on stage talking about this feature on my website, I tell folks  to let me know about any places that they may like and if I am able to I will go and check them out. Some guys told me about such a place the last time I was in the Duke City. So me and my buddy Greg, set out to find said place. We did not. We did though find a parade, we drove along side that for a few hours then wandered the city looking for some chow. We made is almost back to the condo when I spied a place I had seen many times a I exited the highway so we decided to check it out . It was around 11:00, right between breakfast and lunch, when we walked into Wecks, on Osuna.There was still a ten minute wait, always a good sign.  It was a fairly plain place, pretty non descript, it was at the end of small strip mall, kind of big room, with some of it partitioned off for smoking or big parties , not really sure. honestly the decor was just sort of there. No problem, once we got a look at the menu and the food it really did not matter if we were Taj Mahal.  After searching the extensive menu, I made it all the way to the end and opted for my old favorite the Belly busting biscuits and gravy. Now for those of you have have seen me in person, the thought of a meal that would be big enough to qualify as a”belly buster”for me should send a shudder down your spine.  Greg went with a “Full Belly omelette”  and he is a skinny fucker so I have no idea what he was thinking.  After we ordered, I started checking out the food that was coming out to the other tables, I am honestly surprised that one waitress could carry any one plate much less the two or three they were carring. Portions were huge, giant breakfast burritos, a house favorite called  ” papas” covered with bacon, ham and sausage, stacks of pancakes  came flying out of the kitchen. When my order came out I had conflicting feeling of glee and fear all at the same time. ” this is all for little ole me? Ladies and gentlemen, this is one of the only time I can remeber that I was not able to finish a meal. I was ashamed and proud at the same time. This was a very emotional meal apparently. I was only able to stop by here once, so that was only thing I had to eat. Greg said it was one of the best omelettes he has had, I really do not do eggs so I will take his word for it. He was a bit set off at first though when he got his food, upon tearing into the eggs he discoverd “sprouts” in there. It is that way on the menu but he did not see them. He had never come across such a ingrediant in an omelettel, but since he a fairly healthy eating kind of guy he was game. He ended up liking them in there and was impressed.  Every thing I saw on other peoples tables looked amazing, so I would guess that most of the food in there was on par with mine.  One thing about eating in New Mexico, and this place is no different, they love their chilis. You get them either red or green, from what I understand red and green ones are the same chili, it just depends on when you harvest them that makes them red or green. If you cannot decide you can get Christmas style, which means both. I am going to tell you now I am not a chili eater, so there is a whole other page on eating chilis that I have no expirence in what so ever. Just know that when you are in New Mexico, the chilis come one just about anything. 

Waitress:  ” Hi sir, what you like to drink?”

 Me ” Ice Tea”

 Waitress: “ Would you like red or green on that?”

Me: “red or green………what?”

Waitress: ” red or green chilis sir”

Me: Oh I am sorry, I do not want any chilis on my

      Iced tea”

Waitress: “Pussy!”

Me: ” I am sory , what was that you said”

Waitress: “That will be right up sir.:

  Now this conversation did not happen in real  life but I am sure it could have.

  So if you have a big appetite or a think you do and want some really great food check out one of the Wecks 

the Gist 

 Wecks

4500 Osuna NE suite 100    881-0116

www.wecksinc.com

there are other locations around town I am sure they are on the website

  Now let me preface this by saying I have not had a lot of burgers in Wichita, but of the ones I have had , this one by far was the best 

     I was out and about in “Air capital of the World”, they call it that because, because,  I guess there is a lot of air there, I did not notice any extra around but I am not in charge of nicknames.  Sometimes  I will go walk about around town to find something to eat, not out forageing for squirrels or muskrats, but some place I have not been before, sometimes this works some times it does not. I am talking to you Muskrat hut ! So on a late Saturday in lets say August I found my self driving down Douglas ave in Wichita,  “The Muskrat Hut capital of the World”. Not much going on same as a bunch of places I have been, until I happened on a small stretch almost smack dab in the middle of town. Maybe not smack dab but dab close. Right around Douglas and Seneca, the first thing I saw was a hat store, and not a goofy baseball cap store like you see in the mall, but a hat store that sells real hats to real men who wear said hats. I did not go in but that was the impression I got.  The rest of the area was interesting too. old brownstones with shops on the first floors, and as I was checking out the shops I noticed what I was looking for.  TJs Burger House, I did not know that is what I was looking for but there I was. It was a pretty cool place, 20 foot ceilings, basic tables, long old building. Not a fancy pants place, as a matter of fact if it was not for all of the familes there I would barely say it was a pants place at all.” Excuse me miss, but the sign says no shirt no shoes no service, it does not say anything about pants”  It is a very low key place is all I am saying, you should wear pants. The menu matches the decor, tasty and basic, normal run of appetizers ,  a few salads and stews,  two chicken sandwiches and hotdogs, but you don’t go to a place with ” burger house ” in the name and not try the burgers on your first time. Now a lot of places that specialize in burgers go a bit crazy on their burger creations,   ” we have taco burgers, garbonzo bean burgers, tofu burgers, salmon with crouton burgers, chief justice warren burgers” . TJs’ again keeps it simple, burger, bacon burger, mushroom, jalapeno  , and  few burger platters , open face with chili , philly swiss, and the jumbo baked potatos looked pretty good too.  But I like my burgers with just a bit of mayo, a great burger can handle the pressure of being the star of the bun and needs no entourage. So if was once again my old freind, the double burger and fries. When I ordered the burger my hardworking waitress asked if I wanted half order or full order of fries. Now class all together” full order please”  Man was this a great burger, tasty, juicey and other words describe good food. I have a bad habit of eating fast and not enjoying what I am eating, so I really had to stop and smell the roses on this one, It was very good. and big too. Speaking of big, the full order of fries was enough to feed two, if one of them is not me. But if you are not big fry eaters two or more can fill up on them. The place was a nice place, I would have gone there more on that trip but found it on my last day in town, I will go back again though. One thing I noticed there, it seamed like there was a bunch of families there, not just mom dad and the 2.4 kids but extended families, and multi generational groups too. There is a great vibe in this place It ,made me withmy wife and boy would have been there with me there.

The Gist:

TJs Burger House

1003 Douglas Ave/ Wichita KS 316-269-3770

The club I work there is a great time too, they do bring in very funny comics all the time and some pretty good food themselves 

 The Loony Bin

www.loonnybincomedy.com

 Travel fun

 Johnny

Should you find your self in the middle of southern, central, western Illinois, or to be more exact, around Quincy,Springfield,Lincoln,Bloomington or Peoria, do yourself a favor and stop into Mason City, on Il 10  about 22 miles west of Lincoln. Now like I said city may be pushing it, I believe the entire downtown consist of 2 blocks going one way and 2 blocks going the other, but don’t let that stop you. There is not a lot that I saw in those 4 square blocks that would make you need to stop there, 2 bars, one called Stupids, I guess that would make me go there, you have to check out any place called Stupids. There is a dentist office,

a knick knack shop of some sort, don’t know exactly because I have never been there when it was open, and then many empy buildings. So why would I tell you to go there my wandering freinds? For a throw back classic night of having  Dinner and a show. I don’t have the complet history but a few years back veteran stand up comic and guitarist Dr. Gonzo moved back to his old stomping grounds and opened up a small pizza place called PJ’s Then not long after that he expanded to the building next door and opened up a small steakhouse  Jack and Joes, I think tha is the name, I only ever heard of refered to as Gonzo’s

 Which if you ask me ( and for the record they did not) I think Gonzo’s would be a great name for a steak house. Anyway it is very nice little place. The building is at least a hundred years old but once in side you would never know. There is interesting artwork on the walls and every table is appointed nicely. Not sure what that means but sounds good. The food is amazing. over the course of being able to eat there seveal times I have had many of dishes, sausage ravioli, Cannaloni , steak, steak sandwich, and several pizzas. All of which were great. the pizza is thin with lots of toppings, the steaks are huge they are as big as a cow. Well a big chunk of a cow anyway. Dr Gonzo and his wife Peggy are there most all the time durring serving hours greeting and seating, taking orders, bussing tables, running food, bartending, they should really hire somebody. No, they have a very eager staff many of which live miles away in other towns and come in a ways just to work for them, and if yo have ever working in the food service  you know that is a big deal.  Now what brough me to Mason City in the first place, well that brings us to the show part. Not long after Gonzo got the steak house up and running fellow road comic Chris Speyers decided to move into to town also and bought the building next to the steakhouse and make it a comedy club. Generally I don’t write up the clubs I work in the section, I mention them and give you details about them but that is about it, but I will make an exception here. Mason City Limits the work of the aformentioned comic Chris Speyers, a very funny funny guy originally from Ohio. He set this club up exactly like a comic would set up a room, everybody pointing twords the stage, bathrooms in back , great sound system, curtain in the rear of the stage for entering said stage. It is not a huge room, maybe 90 tops would fit in, but that is getting to be the norm for the shows. Chris has a lot of freinds in the comedy business, many of which are top stars and veteran headliners, regulars on the Tonight show, Bob and Tom and stars of their own comedy specials. Not many clubs of this size would be able to attract the comics Chris has coming into this room. The feature acts all are awesome also. Chris usally opens the show him self with a few minutes of his own show and then brings on the heat. I will put on a link to his club so you can see for your self who will be coming up there big names really. So if you are in the area do your self a favor and stop in the Mason City for a big night in a small town. 

 The Gist

 Mason City Illinois 

 Mason City Limits          www.mclimits.com

 PJ’ Pizza  and Jack and Joe’s Steak house 

On my first trip to Tucson one of the other comics and my self were hanging out a bar at noon on Thursday. Sure this job has no actual benfits like insurance or 401ks, but I have to say being able to hang out at a bar at noon on a Thursday is possitively a benefit. At somepoint he got hungry and asked bartender where we could find some Mexican food. Before she could answer, I helped out. “Dude we can drive to Mexico in an hour, there all the food is Mexican”. We opted for something closer, it did have a bullet hole in the window though. Later on after a few shows and many beers a local comic brought us to a great all night Mexican take out place.  Los Betos.  To give you an idea of how authentic this place is, while were there an honest to God Mariacci band showed up, and not even to place they were there to eat. This places rocks! Or Mariaccis’  I don’t like a  lot of crap in my food, no little dice up peppers or onions or any thing like that but I like spice and flavor.  This place had some great tacos I am pretty sure that is what I ate, it was crunchy, meating, cheesy and sour creammy. Not oniony, peppery, or crappy.  Very Tasty. So much that we ate there everynight after the shows the rest of the week, which reminds me that it is open all night long. They have a drive through and a few tables and at the time mostly filled with others that were in the same condition as my freinds and I. Now I have to be honest I was only there at night never durring the day so it may be a completly different vibe but I am sure the food is great just the same.

   I also got to play some golf there, now this town is set up for fancy pants golf, resorts championship courses etc,  Yeah I did not play at any of them. I am not that good and do not belong on a course some other guy paid hundred bucks to play, but instead of hanging with his buddies he is too busy wrapping his nine iron around my neck after I hit into him from three holes away.  The one I play the most is at Reid park, very nice mountains to look at, people walking the path around the outside, a zoo some where near by. It is a bit of a challenge lots of trees so you have hit strait. I can be busy too, you would think that the people of that town get sick of perfect weather all year and would maybe want to go to mall every once in a while instead of clog up a golf course. Maybe they get to much sun.  I was playing one day at a par 3 course, I knew it was a par 3 course but I did not know it was on the grounds of a retirement community. I ended up playing with this very nice elderly German lady, as we were teeing off on the 18th I pulled out my driver and and drove the green, yeah that is right I cleared all 127 yards of fairway. When I putted the ball rolled around the cup and came back my way, rolling down the slope and past where I stared from. With that this sweet little old lady said in her slight accent ” Oh, und you sought you were going  to finish vit dignity”

 The other place I go every time is The Old Town Artisans. Unique  artist shops surround a courtyard restaurant in this historic ’ old town” set up. Built in the 1800’s it was a bit of a fort and a distillery amoung other things. Now you can find amazing pottery, one of a kind jewelry and clothes, artwork, and who knows what else. Our house is loaded with stuff from here, Go there and have lunch too, the food is fine, I don’t remember much of it I know it does not suck, but the cool part is sitting in the courtyard munching on your turky club and soaking up the history and unique spot you have found, don’t tell any body about this place though thanks

 The Gist:

  Eat late night mexican food at Los Betos ( several locations but the one I was at is on Campbell between Speedway and Broadway ) 

 Buy art and eat lunch at The old town artisians    www.oldtownartisans.com

Travel Fun

 johnny

One of my favorite citys to go and hang out is Sioux Falls S.D. So if you ever find you self just passing through, and why wouldn’t you it is on the way to everything. Well on the way to something called a Corn Palace, had that first letter been a P and not a C I may have actually made it all the way to the Palace. I assume it is a palace of some sorts made out of corn, if not I have been greatly misslead. Any way back to the Falls. The club put you up in a condo so I don’t go out to eat very much, but now that I am writting these articles I will start, but for now it is mostly about hanging out in town. You can park you car and pretty much get around on foot once you hit downtown. And if you ever needed a really cool pen, something to write on or a unique gift there are tw places to check out. Zambros Variety is one They have a  little bit of a lot of stuff. Grown up music, fine writting implements,games for smart kids,books, and many other interesting cool things are all over this place. I am sure they have games for dumb kids too, but why put undue pressure on them with rules and game pieces when a stick or some dirt will do just as fine? Now I am sure you can find some of this stuff in other stores but one thing you won’t find in many other stores is an authentic soda Jerk. I don’t mean some prick who slurps his diet coke, but working old time soda foutain, where they add the soda flavored  syrup and then fire the carbonated water in , mix it up and viola ! When I went in the place the first time I had been hooffing around town and popped in, ( I think it is actaully illegal to use “hooffing” and popped in the same sentence on the internet but oh well ) I wanted a soda but was expecting the old trigger happy soda gun treatment. When I ordered my soda and saw them start to mix it up I was a bit uneasy and not sure if I was going to like it, but like it I did. So stop in buy you a pen and journal and order a soda get started on you own travel story.

   I know what you are thinking, great I have my soda, my pen and my journal but now where I am going to get a picture frame made out of bog moss from Ireland? Well you have to look no farther than a few doors down the street. Stop in and see Mr. Murphy at Mrs Murphy’s Irish shop. I stumbled in the place for the first time a few years ago, it took me several hours to get out, and every time I go back I step in and it feel like I have never left. A comment like that is generally left for Irish Pubs but this time it fits. Mr. Murphy can take care of all of your Irish needs weather it is an authentic Irish wool sweater, claddagh rings, family crest or a bit of Blarney and in July they are one of the chief sponsers of the Citys Irish Festival so if you in that neck of the woods in mid July ( maybe going to a corn palace, carrot temple, broccolli mansion or some other structure made out of vegtable ) and you are in the mood for fresh Coke or some Irish music  stop by.

   Now when I am in a town I try to do the things there you can’t do in other towns. and this one has something pretty cool to check out. Just outside of downtown, you can drive or get on the walking path by the statue of David ( yes that David)  and follow the walking/bike path a mile or so and see the towns name sake. They have a park built around the falls that powered the first mills of the town and settlers to area. It is pretty cool , there is a perch that goes out over the water a bit so you can watch the Falls come stairt at you then drop away. Now I am going to tell you these are not huge and from what I hear sometime they are less than spectacular but I have been inpressed every time I have been there .

The Gist:

   Visit Zambros Variety

   Mrs. Murphys Irish shop

   The Falls Park

Travel Fun

 johnny

No I am not from Des Moines, I will get to the Dome in a minute. When you are in Des Moines, you are most likely not really in Des Moines, You are in Urbandale, or Clive, or West Des Moines,  I am not sure there really even is a Des Moines, I think these other smaller towns just converged on one another became ” Des Moines”  So when I talke about Des Moines, I am really speaking mostly about Urbandale. 

 I am very picky when it comes to my bisquits and gravy, they have to contain at least two things,  one bisquits and the other gravy, chunks of sausage make the whole thing complete.  Also it is very easy to screw up B&G, pasty gravy,hard bisquits, no chunks! Because of this I rarely order them on the road, I should not be eating them that often so when I do I want them to be right.  So let me steer you to a place they are right,  in Urbandale on Douglas road next to the HyVee( i think that is how it is spelled, the spell checker exploded when I tried to check it) you can hit the Urbandale Diner, no expense has been paid to the marketing, but that will not matter. Get you some Bisquits and Gravy,  you may need to go early, I have been there and gotten the last order of the day, of course that may have been at two o’clock. I have not had any thing else there so I can not speak to the rest of the menu, but I am guessing this no frills, place does nothing but a great job on the rest of the stuff.  There is counter service and old booths, I have to guess the boothes them selver are older than the restaurant.

 Now if you are not a B & G kind of person, and shame on you if you are not, Maybe you would enjoy a tasty burger, a very tasty burger, a very, very tasty burger, drive though one of the B Bops around town, the one i did was in guess where, Urbandale! It is one of those island drive through places where you can drive through either side, and did you know what , when they say ” drive through” they don’t really mean drive through, no they me drive right up next too, not through” When I find something I like at a place I tend to get only that, especially if I am on the road and don’t have the tiem or extra money to be guessing if I am going to like something. 

 Now to the Dome, I have played a lotof really fun golf in Des Moine, mostly practice though, right off the highway , I35/80, just west of 86th street, there is a big white dome, you can see it from the highway, and if it is winter time, or raining, or you are a really bad golfer and you don’t want anybody to see your swing, but by golly you want to hit some golf balls, then head for the dome, the indoor golf range,  you get a stall and pay by the hour/half hour, it is pretty cool. And yeah if you hit like John Daly, and I know you don’t because John Daly does not even hit like John Daly, you may test the limits of the dome. But for most of us there is plenty of room to let the big dog eat, just aim for the big squares on the back wall. If the weather is nice and you still would like to practice this is a great place also,  there is a  nice drivingrange, seperate chipping and pitching areas, and a putting green. I am sure they have lessons and such, So if Des Moines, or what they call Des Moines is your destination, or if you a cruising through town and have your clubs stop when when you see the dome and hit a few . Also I have been on 3 public courses and they are all very nice, I don’t remeber the names, one is the oldest course west of the Mississippi so it was pretty cool to play on that, so now I can say I sucked on the oldest golf course west of the Mississippi.

 The other thing I have done a bit of in Des Moines is riding bikes, Paul Lane the owner of the club is an avid rider, I wish he would just ride a bike like the rest of us, and he took me along a great path they stretched from the outer reaches of the burbs al the way downtown. We dropped in off of NW 66th ( north of I35/80)  and the Des Moines river, and followed the river all the way in. Nice path, smooth, some hills and a great view the whole time, bring your bike and check it out   

The Gist

Eat at:

  Urbandale Diner, cheap great Bisquits and Gravy, if you are by yourself, have a paper act lke you are reading, and listen to people around you very entertaining.  That is on Douglas and 86th

B-Bops .. there are a few around town, tasty burgers

Practice your golf at  LongView Golf center

ride the many bike trails around town they are all over the place 

 travel fun

 johnny

Sometimes I don’t get to  spend enough time in a town to find a lot of cool things. Sorry folks there is drinking to be done and I just don’t get around. Well the case in Richmond VA was not the drinking but the brevity of the gig, two nights. I have to say though they were two of the most comfortable nights I have ever stayed away. The one thing I can tell you about Richmond, and it is unfortunate I have only one thing because it is a city rich in history and other things I am sure, is to stay at the Commenweath ParkSuites hotel. It is right on capitol square, so amound other things in the near area is the state capitol of Virginia. Once again I am sure that is full of history on other stuff.  It is in a very old building, like most everything in Richmond because if the history and other stuff, a speak easy was once located there, and history has it they set up the hotel so drunk Virginains would not swerve home in the wagons.( Their story not mine so I don’t won’t a bunch of letters from drunk wagon swerving Virginains , and you know who you are.)  My main point is this is a very Fancy Pants Hotel, and if you are into fancy pants hotels and stay at them all the time, that is great and we love you for that. But if most of the hotels you stay in have a number in their name or insist on telling you what the color of their roof is, then do yourself a favor and stay in this place for a night or too. The staff treated me like a king, they beheaded me and ransacked my kingdom, no they did’nt now stop it.  But they really took care of me. The rooms though are incredable, two big ginormous rooms all for little ole me. The parlor or “sitting room” had and I sit you not,10 places to plop myself down. A desk chair, two wing back, a recliner, a couch, and a dinning  room table with seating for four. In those two days I sat in everyone of those chairs. It was like musical chairs, with out the music, or the annoying kids. The bath room had a towel warmer and a bidet, I was not sure which one was which, but a few beers and a couple of failed attempts and I was set on the right track. The huge four poster bed in the sleeping suite was great, along with the color tv and the view of the capitol. I decide to watch the tv, I did not want to get caught up in all the hisorty and stuff .

 the Gist

  in Richmonds spend a few bucks ( maybe 190.00 a night)  and splurge , get your favorite person and spend a great time at    the commonweath park suites

www.commonwealthparksuites.com