Detroit

I'll be honest, Detroit isn't the nicest city in the world, but it works well with what its got. It's completely miserable in the winter time. My last winter visit had me in temps that were in the single digits and wind chills in the negative teens, much too cold for this southern boy. I couldn't even pump gas because my hands got too cold. I know you are thinking that I am a pansy, but you go out in that weather and tell me how you like it. On to the breweries. I've only visited one and that was on the 2nd baseball road trip of 2007. We visited Motor City Brewing Works in downtown near the new baseball stadium (Comerica). We sampled a few beers in our short time at the pub. Amongst the beers that we tried were the Nut Brown Ale and the Pale Ale, both of which I thought were pretty good beers. The food was your typical brewpub food. I had a burger and I think Russ had the nachos, both of which were pretty good. After leaving the Motor City, we made our way towards the stadium. Tickets were tough to come by with the Yankees in town, but after an inning or so, we were able to get some standing room only tickets for $20 each. The stadium itself is awesome. We didn't get to experience a wild crowd, because the Yankees crushed the Tigers that night. Once, inside, we realized that the Yankees weren't the only reason the tickets were hard to get, as the stadium only seats just over 40,000. The only stadiums smaller than Comerica are Oakland and Boston. We didn't get to see much of the game, because there really isn't a whole lot of standing room available for those with Standing room only tickets. My suggestion, make sure you have tickets in some seats before you go to one of the bigger games. Outside of Comerica and Ford Field (Home of the Lions), there isn't a whole lot else to see or do in Detroit. If you are in the area, I recommend a daytrip to Sanusky, OH. It's home to the greatest amusement park ever, Cedar Point. When we visited in June and August of last year, we were like 7 year olds at Disney World for the first time. This park is mainly a roller coaster park and is not for the Seth Thompson's of the world (Seth is a mangina when it comes to Roller Coasters), but now that I think about it, Seth Wilcher doesn't like them either. Maybe its just a Seth thing. Anways, they have two that are more than 300 feet tall, one of which is over 400. Top Thrill, the 400 footer, takes you up to speeds of more than 120 mph in less than 3 seconds. Millenium Force, Russ's favorite is the 300+ footer that is also awesome. They have a total of 17 coasters, the best of which is Maverick, small, quick coaster that shoots you out like a cannon. They also offer the water rides and several other thrill adventures including Power Tower, a ride similar to the one at Six Flags in Kentucky that cut someones feet off. You should probably not think about that while on the ride or else, you might react like Seth does, and not get on it. Basically, Cedar Point is Six Flags on Steroids or HGH.

Chicago

The Windy City is quite miserable in the winter time. The wind coming off of Lake Michigan is brutal. I once got a minor case of frost bite on my legs from the snow sticking to my pants while the wind was blowing extremely hard. It was alright though, I was tough and fought through it. The city itself is very clean, much more so than NYC. The subway/El makes it easy to get around the city. St. Patricks is a great time to spend in the city. There are numerous Irish Pubs around the city and they dye the Chicago River green. The pizza up there is some of the best around. Pizzeria Uno, Lou Malnati's and Gino's East are some of the better Chicago originals. I have a difficult time eating the sauce because of the chunky tomatoes that all offer, but the toppings and crust are awesome. Each of the pizza joints have several locations around town. Chicago pizza is good, but I am more of a fan of New York Pizza. Other local favorites include the Weiner Circle, where they will yell obscenities at you, Portillo's, which has AMAZING hot dogs (Many Illinois locations) and a cool local restaurant, Harry Carrey's. It's an Italian restaurant located off of Kinzie Street just north of the Chicago River. The only brewpub that I have visited in Chicago is Goose Island in the Lincoln Park area. They have another location in Wrigleyville. The beers were good and the food was tasty as well. I think the entire group ordered burgers and there were definitely no complaints. The beers of choice were the India Pale Ale and the Nut Brown Ale. They have almost 15 beers on draft including several specials throughout the year. Wrigley Field is simply amazing. The Cubs can be terrible and they will still sell out every game. I have only attended one game and it wasn't until the 4th inning that Russ and I found tickets cheap enough to get in. The stadium is very cool and has one of the best baseball atmospheres that I have experienced. The two St. Patrick's days that I have spent up there have been spent at Rush and Division, a small little nightlife area north of downtown. They have several different bars in the area, all of which try to offer up something different. Mother's and Mother's Too were where we spent most of our nights. Across the street at a bar that I can't think of the name, there is a dance club upstairs, which I don't necessarily like, BUT they have a camera up there and you can watch everyone make fools of themselves on the TV's downstairs. They also offer up 22 oz Fat Tires. I know its very sad, but when I found out that Chicago had Fat Tire during St. Patty's day last year, it was one of the highlights of the trip. For sightseeing, check out Sear's Tower and Navy Pier. Chicago ranks up there as one of my favorite cities in the states, however, the winter cold is what knocks it down a few pegs.

Chattanooga

Chattanooga is pretty much the town that I grew up in. Actually I grew up in Spring City, a small town about 45 minutes north of Chattanooga, but Chattanooga is what I had to tell people so that they would at least have some idea of what part of the country I was from. I guess as soon as I opened my mouth, people would probably be able to get an idea due to my southern accent. Anyway, I have spent a whole lot of time up there and really enjoy the downtown area. The downtown area has seen considerable renovations over the last several years. The area is great during the summertime, as it sits along the bank of the Tennessee River. They do a music festival in June called Riverbend (quite possibly the most redneck music festival on the planet) as well as fireworks and other things throughout the warmer months. My restaurant and brewery of choice is Big River. Its located on Broad Street in downtown. They offer up some fantastic food (pizza and chicken fried chicken are my faves) and some good beer. My beer of choice is the 375 IPA. On my most recent visit, I had the special, which was a Scottish Ale, definitely not one of my favorites. It had a distinct butterscotch smell and taste to it, a taste that I am not very fond of. Big River has several pool tables and flat screens to watch major sports events. Its attached to one of the more popular music venues in the area, Rhythm and Brews. Just down the street from Big River is Taco Mac, a chain restaurant that you can find in most major cities. The major appeal of Taco Mac is the Passport Club. They offer up 326 beers from around the world, including more than 50 on draft. I have just recently joined the club, but plan on trying to make my way through the entire list. The only downside to offering that many beers, is that they are typically out of some, a lot on my most recent trip. Beers are moderately priced in the $4-$5 range, but can get as high as $9 for some of the 22 oz bottles. They offer up several Rogue beers on draft, one of my favorite brewers. Hair of the Dog is a bar that sits close to both Big River and Taco Mac. Its a cool place that stays open late and offers your typical beers. They even have $2.75 PBR 16 ounce cans, very classy. Its a good place to hit up late night before calling it a night. I typically only stay at one hotel in the area, one of the oldest and nicest in all of Chattanooga, The Read House. It was bought out by Starwood Hotels Group a couple of years back, but still has the boutique style hotel feel to it. Room rates are usually pretty reasonable. The only drawback is its location at the opposite end of downtown from the bars and waterfront area. A tourist hangout in the area is the Tennessee Aquarium, located along the waterfront in downtown. It has been many years since I have visited, but I am sure that it's just as good if not better than it was when I was kid. Its smaller in size than the Georgia Aquarium, but has a different layout. They have recently added a saltwater exhibit, one that I have not yet had the opportunity to visit. The minor league ballpark downtown (Bellsouth Park), is very nice and conveniently located in the downtown area. Tickets are cheap and the games are fun before a night out on the town. Overall, Chattanooga is a very fun place to spend a weekend. The days can be spent on the river and nights can be spent downtown.

Memphis

The home of the famous Beale Street, is much more than I had originally anticipated. From what I had heard from folks that had been there or lived there was not to expect much, so I came in with low expectations and was pleasantly surprised. My first trip to Memphis was for 311 Day in 2006. We grabbed a cheap hotel just north of Beale Street and across the street from "The Pyramid", which is now the country's largest Bass Pro Shop. After arriving in Memphis, we went down to Beale Street and had a few Hurricane's at Pat O' Briens. After about 4 of those and a couple of beers, I was well on my way to being trashed. Alcohol was served at the concert as well and 311 played for more than 5 hours. I actually ended up passing out with about 30 minutes left in the show. On our return to trip to Memphis for my brothers bachelor party, we were able to sample out more bars and restaurants. We spent some more time at Pat O Brien's, as well as Coyote Ugly (Terrible Idea), Silky O' Sullivans and B.B. Kings. Silky's offers up something that I have never seen before, Drinking Goats. I am not kidding around here. There are two goats that sit in a fenced in area on their patio and they will turn up a bottle of beer until its gone. It's really amazing. Between the group, we spent a decent amount of money on trying to get the goats drunk. They then have to walk up a spiral walkway to get to his little castle. Silky's also offers up a drink called a Diver bucket. Its a mixture of beer and many other liquors and is actually quite tasty. Just ask my friend Frank, he drank nearly a bucket by himself. At $20, they are pricey, but its enough for a group of 10 to drink. They also have dueling pianos on Friday and Saturday night. Coyote Ugly is just like it is in the movie without the hot bartenders. They still dance, which is completely unnecessary and wear skimply clothing, which is even more unnecessary. Make sure your beer goggles are on when you hit up this spot. B.B. Kings is a pretty cool place with your usual beer offerings and live music. If you are in town during the baseball season (April to September), hit up Autozone Park, the nicest minor league stadium I have ever been to. It is located a couple blocks north of Beale Street. They offer up Barbeque Nachos, a must have for those that haven't tried them. After the baseball game, a stop by Rendevous is required. It sits in an alley just to the west of the stadium. The ribs were good, but the Barbeque Nachos are simply amazing. For one of the best burgers in town, I recommend Huey's with several locations around town. I was too hungover to drink on the day that we stopped in, but they appeared to have a good selection available. I have heard that once you get outside the downtown area, that its not the safest place to be, especially at night. My recommendation is find a hotel downtown, go out on Beale Street, catch a ballgame and grab some food at Rendevous or Huey's. It's a great place to spend a weekend.

New Orleans

I have made numerous trips down to the Crescent City, most of which have involved either the Sugar Bowl or Mardi Gras. I made my first trip down to New Orleans for the 2003 Sugar Bowl. I was in college and didn't have a whole lot of money so I spent most of my time drinking free drinks at Harrah's casino while playing nickel slots. I didn't get out of the French Quarter much on that trip and was drunk about 98% of the time. All in all, it was good trip. I made my second trip down for Mardi Gras that same year. It was then that I got my first experience of what New Orleans really has to offer. My buddies Russ and Scooter took the trip down to New Orleans with me and we met up with a college friend of mine. Her parents had a place in the Garden District of New Orleans. Our first meal of the trip took place at Frankie and Johnny's, a local place that serves up some mean crawfish and po'boys. After devouring a couple of lbs. of crawfish, a shrimp po'boy and several drinks, it was off to the parades, a must see for anyone making their first Mardi Gras trip. We watched the parade uptown near Tulane and had a blast. Most of the men and women in New Orleans leave their inhabitions at home for Mardi Gras, which can make for a really good time if you are single. The three of us, all single, did indeed have a very good time. It's no lie that you will see breasts and just about every other part of the female body if your beads are good enough. After seeing many female bodies and drinking plenty of beers from our backpack aka our cooler, we headed to a couple of the bars uptown. We first hit up Fat Harry's and then we went to "The Boot". Both are good places for college aged kids during Mardi Gras. After sleeping in our car the first night, we had our first experience of Bourbon Street during Mardi Gras and it was every bit as crazy as we had heard, so there is no need to go into any detail as to what we encountered. There was very little eating done on the trip, but we became regulars of both Pat O' Briens and Tropical Isle while down there. Pat O' Briens is world famous for their Hurricanes, a little expensive, but they will most certainly do the trick. Tropical Isle is known for the Hand Grenades, my personal favorite. The drink is patented, therefore, it is unknown what is included in the green colored concoction. What I do know is that it is a very powerful drink and you can go from sober to drunk in one drink. The drinks are typically $7-$8, however, if you throw a couple of extra bucks in, you can get them to leave the ice out of the handle increasing the amount of alcohol you get per drink. It's highly recommended for those looking to get stupid drunk. After you have done your drinking in the French Quarter, Fiorella's is a great place to grab a bite to eat. It is located near the French Market. Favorite dishes at this place include the Fried Chicken, Gumbo and the Cajun Burger. The food is inexpenive and very tasteful. The only things that Fiorella's lacks is an extensive beer list and customer service (rude servers, but part of the experience). You will find your typical Millers, Budweisers and such, but not much else. Brew Pubs in or around the French Quarter include Crescent City Brew and Gordon Biersch. Crescent City didn't impress me at all. The food was marginal and with only 5 beer offerings, it left something to be desired. There was only one small tv located at the bar, so for those wanting to watch some sports while enjoying your brew, that is pretty much out of the question. The beers that they did have were average. Overall, Crescent City is considered a stop only for those that are desperate. Gordon Biersch, while not a local brew pub, does offer up good food and good beer. My beer of choice while visiting Gordon Biersch is the Winter Bock, a dark beer with a 7.5% alcohol by volume. Restaurants that need to be on your list while visiting New Orleans Franky and Johnny's, Fiorellas and Mothers, a locally owned New Orleans style Country restaurant. The po'boys are the best in New Orleans, at least in my opinion. The other food is fantastic and they even have a bar next door called Mother's Next Door. Very Clever huh? I made my first New Orleans trip post Katrina for the Sugar Bowl 2008 and I must say, that not much has changed in the tourist areas. I have heard that if you want the real experience though, that you should take a trip down to the 9th Ward to see the true devastation left behind by the Hurricane. That is on my itinerary for my next trip which is currently scheduled for October 2008.

Los Angeles and surrounding areas

I have not spent a whole lot of time in the L.A. area, however, what time I have spent there, has not been very enjoyable. I worked in the Pasadena area for a week or so and the only highlights that I experienced in that short time were a couple of trips to In-N-Out burger, a glimpse of the Rose Bowl and a trip out to Santa Monica for some seafood. Los Angeles reminds me a lot of Atlanta in how it is laid out. It is very spread out and seems to take forever to get from one place to the other due to the miserable traffic. Most of the people seem to be pretentious as hell. I have not had the privelage of visiting any brew pubs in the L.A. area, so I will take this opportunity to tell you a few places that I visited and what was enjoyable or not enjoyable about each. My first trip through L.A. involved only the airport as I spent the night at LAX, making it my least favorite airport in the states. My second trip through L.A. involved a stay at the LAX Hilton on my way to Australia. The hotel was nice and convenient to the airport, so no complaints. Due to the fact that I was trying to conserve funds for Australia, I had a pizza delivered from Pizza Hut. It tasted very similar to every other pizza from Pizza Hut that I have ever had, therefore, nothing to complain or praise about. One of my more memorable trips (not only to L.A. but in my life) involved a trip to Dodger Stadium, what I considered at the time, to be one of can't miss stadiums in our country, at least until I was kicked out. I took the trip over from Vegas with some friends of mine (Seth and Holly) and it was very scenic with no problems along the way. We made a little detour to check out the "Hollywood" sign (much smaller than what I had pictured in my mind) and then made our way to Chavez Ravine. We arrived at the stadium not having tickets so we ended up getting Right Field Bleacher seats for $25 each, a great deal considering those are the "All you can eat seats". Included with the tickets are Dodger Dogs, popcorn, non-alcoholic beverages, peanuts and many other things to fill you up. After several Dodger Dogs and several of the $10 beers (they are 24 oz at least), we were having a great time. Our seats were first row right behind Ken Griffey Jr. and right up next to the Reds' Bullpen. After about 6 innings or so, a guy from across the bullpen yelled at me asking for a Dodger Dog, I had an extra one, therefore, being the nice guy that I am, I tossed it over to him. I mean, I didn't want the poor guy to go hungry or anything and I knew that a Dodger Dog would hit the spot for him. About 15 seconds after the infamous toss, I was being escorted out by Dodger Security. Apparently it's illegal to throw things in the stands, even a hot dog. The security guys were pricks, but what do you expect, they have to live in L.A., and I understand that now. Seth and Holly met me outside, where Holly threw in her 2 cents about what had happened (I think she was more upset than I was), and after a quick pee in the parking lot, we drove back to Vegas with one of the more memorable experiences of my life. I am probably being a little harsh on L.A. having not experienced most of what the city has to offer, but it just doesn't appeal to me all that much. Santa Monica was very nice when I was out there in November. I had some spectacular seafood at Ocean Avenue Seafood along with some friends of mine. We then took a walk down to the Santa Monica Pier and hit up a couple of bars including O'Briens Irish Pub. They have Fat Tire on Draft, which made me very happy, as did Ocean Avenue Seafood. My advice, skip out on L.A. and head south to San Diego, which from what I hear, is simply spectacular. The traffic in L.A., the security at Dodger Stadium, the Committee at the Rose Bowl and my layover at LAX have all added to my displeasure for the city of L.A. On a side note, we did get to see a celebrity (in Santa Monica), Diane Keaton, not high on my list, but a celeb nonetheless.

Vegas, Reno and Tahoe

There is much more to Vegas than gambling. With that said, make sure you hit up the casinos while you are there, not necessarily to gamble, but to see the different themes of the many casinos along the strip. One can spend several days walking up and down the strip in and out of the many casinos. My personal favorites are the Venetian and New York, New York. The Venetian sits at the north end of the strip and offers Gondola rides throughout the hotel and shopping area. The casino is upscale and very elegantly designed. New York sits more towards the south end of the strip. There are several good restaurants and the theme inside and outside is very cool. There is a replica Statue of Liberty, as well as a roller coaster and replica Brooklyn Bridge located on the exterior of the hotel and casino. There is a nice little Irish Pub located inside with killer fish n' chips. Just north of New York, New York is the Planet Hollywood Casino, under construction when I was out there in May of 2007. The hotel and casino are very nice and have become a hot spot in recent months for celebs. My favorite part of Planet Hollywood is the small brewery located in its shopping area. Sin City Brewery offers up some great beers and are some of the cheapest drinks you will find in Vegas if you are not gambling. It's legal to walk the streets in Vegas with Alcohol, therefore, its easy to take a beer to go while you are touring the different hotels and casinos. My beer of Choice was Say Hello to Amber. Other places of interest that I like to hit up while I'm in town include Bobby Flay's Mesa Grill, located inside Caesar's Palace, the pool at the Tropicana for great drink specials and the little Irish casino across from the Bellagio. They have a small little Leprechaun person that stands on the bar and pours shots down people's throat for $1. Beers are also very cheap and they have $5 blackjack tables. There are also a couple of In-N-Out burgers within walking distance of the strip. If you like comedy, check out Bobby Slayton at the Hooters Casino, the man is simply hilarious.

I haven't spent much time in Reno, however, its where I fly into to get to Tahoe. They do have an In-N-Out Burger, which is definitely considered a plus and many casinos.

Lake Tahoe, CA/NV is one of the most beautiful places I have ever visited. I have been out there several times on snowboarding trips. My favorite mountains to board are Squaw and Sierra. Heavenly, probably the most popular, has too much flat ground for boarders, but is the favorite of my dad and step-mom (skiers, aka losers). Heavenly does offer up the best views of the lake. Even for those that don't ski or board, the Gondola will take you up for lunch and the view and bring you back down. After a day on the slopes, Cecil's Steak and Brew in South Lake Tahoe is a great place to stop in for a beer and some kickass food. The crab legs and ribeye are outstanding and are reasonably priced. For those that like to gamble, I recommend Harrahs and Harveys, both of which are nice casinos. I like to spend my time at the Sportsbook in Harveys. For a late night party, hit up Cabo Wabo, hands down the most popular place in Tahoe to party. The age range varies from early 20's to mid 40's. Its located near the tunnel from Harvey's to Harrah's.