Top Road Trips for the Midwestern Man

Watching the Derby this weekend made me wish I was in Louisville sipping Mint Juleps and wearing a pimptastic fedora. From that, I got to thinking about how much fun it would be to road trip down to the derby, which of course lead me to think about some all time fun road trips within a stones throw of home...I wrote a blurb about them all...make sure you tell me what you think!!!


10. Kansas City, MO --- 3 great sporting venues are in or close to KC. Any baseball enthusiast should find their way to Kaufman stadium for a game or two. Baseball fans would also be interested to know the Negro League Hall of Fame is located in downtown KC. Arrowhead Stadium provides one of the rowdiest and exciting football environments outside(for tailgate) and inside. 40 minutes west of KC is Lawerence, KS, home of Phogg Allen Field House. College basketball fans, this is your Yankee Stadium. YOU NEED TO SEE A GAME HERE...While the bar scene is lacking for a big city, make your way to Arthur Bryants BBQ in downtown KC. Get the brisquette. All orders at AB's comes with Wonder bread. Ask for extra bread, as the servings are HUGE. At night, live blues are playing here...and yes, they sell beer. KC also has a Harrah's Casino on the water...It's crazy busy at night but wonderfully calm during the morning and early afternoon.


9. Frankenmuth, MI - Frankenmuth makes the list because I used to live there and I'm ridiculously biased. Many would argue, however, that Frankenmuth makes the list on it's own merit. The town is known as "Little Bavaria." Everything is German. Come to the Muth during the summer time when they are having one of their MANY beer related festivals. There's not much to do here if there is no festival going on, and even then, the only thing to do is drink...So if you like Bratwurst, German Beer, and Polkas...Check out the muth! http://www.frankenmuthfestivals.com/



8. Indianapolis, IN - Catch a Colts game and see Peyton Manning's laser-rocket arm live at one of the nicest football venues you will ever find. Indy also has a great NBA venue in Conseco Field House. While Indy has all the amenities of a big city, you dont feel as small in this town as you might in a Chicago or New York. No cab ride will cost more than 10 dollars in the city. Downtown Indy is littered with great restaurants and fun bars. Come during a big sporting event i.e. Indy 500, Final 4, Big Ten Tournament, and they rename the streets after the event participants and assign bars and restaurants to each team playing. In the mood for a great steak? Check out St. Elmo's. Brent Musberger can not go an entire broadcast in Indy without mentioning the wonderful food @ St. Elmo's.

7. Milwaukee, WI - One of the best baseball venues out there, Miller Park offers great seats in every section of the park, huge, fresh glasses of beer, and the world famous sausage races (I was fortunate to be in attendance the night Chorizo made his grand debut in the races). Downtown area has numerous bars and restaurants. My personal favorite is Have a Nice Day Cafe, where you can purchase a fishbowl filled with a "jungle juice" type drink. Also check out SpyBar, a bar that might have been created by the spawn of James Bond and Maxwell Smart(gadgets and trapdoors galore!). At the end of your night, find your way to the Dueling Piano bar...always a fun, live music environment. Make sure you check out the Miller Brewery while in MIL. The tour takes you through their giant giant fridge, which is roughly 3 football fields size and filled with cases of cold Miller beer. The hospitality room at the end gives you 4 pints of 4 different types of Miller Beer, well worth the 5 buck admission.

6. Memphis, TN - Live music, public intoxication, and BBQ...Memphis has it all. Beale St, a road in the mold of Bourbon St or the Vegas Strip, is closed to traffic, and open for drunks. Take your drink from one establishment to another in a "Go" cup without fear of getting into trouble. BB King has a place on Beale and he has excellent Ribs. But when talking about Memphis ribs, there is one place to go. Make sure you get to Rendezvous, the best dry rub BBQ you will ever have. During the day, go check out Graceland, home of the King...

5. Nashville, TN - NFL football and NHL hockey can be found in this gem of the south. D-1 football(sort of) and basketball can be found a couple miles from downtown on the campus of Vanderbilt University. Known for it's music rich history, Nashville does NOT disappoint. Any bar on the main drag will have a live band playing nightly. Make your way to the Bluebird cafe. This place is known for the famous person pop in. The only time I have been there, Alaynna Miles, fresh off her #1 hit "Black Velvet" appeared and played a set. Even if you are not a country music fan, you will appreciate the lively atmosphere. Great example for you...the last time I was there, BonJovi was set to play on a Wednesday, however, they arrived the weekend before to enjoy the local "dive bar music" scene. Nashville is an awesome weekend trip!

4. Toronto, ON - Get your passports out and head north to the New York of the Great White North eh! Catch a Leafs game(NHL), or head to the Rogers Centre and watch the BlueJays play baseball. Take advantage of our neighbors to the north and get yourself a Cuban Cigar. The city is lousy with amazing restaurants, bars, and clubs. Beer drinkers, take a tour of the Labbatt factory and tell someone to take off eh...there literally is too much to do in this city to list in 1 paragraph.

3. Chicago, IL - My home base road trip city...Chi-town has it all. Music, food, drink, sports, theatre, and touristy crap. You can take a bus around the city and tour old gangster (Dillenger,Capone) haunts. You can also rent a trolley to take you around the city..not cool enough for ya? you can drink on the trolley! I thought you might like that...If you are local I would recommend a Sox game because the food, drink, and overall viewing experience is great. If you are from out of town, hop on the Red Line El-Train and go to Wrigley. It's a "gotta do it once" type event, despite the fact that the bathroom lines wrap around the concourse, the food is awful, and the beer is stale. What Wrigley lacks in accomodations, it makes up with ambiance. At some point while at Wrigley, you will forget you are at a baseball game and think you are at a giant beer garden...it truly is alway a party on the north side. I would also highly recommend checking out Joe's Bar on Weed Street. It's an amazingly awesome bar that always has great live music. Buddy Guy's legends on Wabash is the best place to grab a bite and a beer and listen to classic Delta Blues.

2. Kentucky Derby - Big hats and Mint Juleps...Need I say anything more? For the simular price of a baseball ticket, you can watch the most exciting 2 minutes in all of sports live. The race is on Saturday, and not more than 8 hours away from most midwestern towns. I recommend arriving in Louisville, KY Thursday night. Get up Friday and hit the little white ball around for 18 or 36, check out the town, and keep it low key so you are good to go Saturday. The actual race is not until late Saturday afternoon, but tailgating festivities begin early. There are several other horse races early on during the day for your gambling pleasures. Assuming there is not a clear cut favorite to win, put a sawbuck or five on the best named horse. Keep an eye open for a Seinfeld named horse i.e. "Hello-Newman, Fusili-Jerry, Spare-A-Square." Last but not least, Do it RV style...Weekend rental is about 80 bucks a person. This obviously, is a LOT cheaper than hotel rates. Keep several coolers and a grill on board for your dining and drinking pleasures. Overall, a lot of bang for a minimal buck...http://www.cruiseamerica.com/

1. New Orleans - A bit further than all the other listed trips, but the extra windshield time is absolutely worth it. Eat Begniets and have a cafe ole' at Cafe Dumonde for breakfast. Grab a little jambalaya and wash it down with a Hurricane at Pat O'Briens for lunch. Find yourself some Crawfish for dinner...pretty much anyplace in the French Quarter will have them if they are in season. Try Gator bites while you are in town just to say you have tried them. Make sure you drink local while in town. Ask your bartender for Abita Restoration Ale. Not only is it local, they donate a portion of every sale to city Reconstruction. Obviously, the place to be in New Orleans is the French Quarter. Come nightfall, cars are not allowed anywhere on the quarter's streets. Worried about safety? I wasnt. Every street corner had 2 cops and 1 cop horse. Truth be told, I felt safter in the French Quarter than I did in most other big cities. You can not find better jazz/blues than in New Orleans, and you can not find a better atmosphere than the French Quarter.

NCAA Championship 4/5/2010

April 5th, 2010. NCAA Men's Basketball Championship. Indianapolis, Indiana. The Hated Duke Blue Devils...The beloved underdog Butler Bulldogs. Duke is filled with future NBA players and a Hall of Fame coach. Most people assume Jimmy Chitwood and Gene Hackman are on Butler's roster. With 4 Championship tickets in hand, the KMan hopped in the jeep, picked up his buddy Verbal, and hit the highway to Indy. A quick 3 hour drive went by in no time, partially in thanks to opening day baseball on the radio.

Before the game, Verbal and I went to Scotty's Brewhouse for a burger and a beer. Unfortunately, the brewhouse was packed to the brim and it became clear that getting a table and a waitress would be impossible. Directly across the street was an Irish Pub called O'Reilly's. O'Reilly's, like every other bar in downtown Indy, was crowded, but there was enough room to comfortably stand and drink. The KMan roots for the MSU Spartans, and was happy to see many other people wearing green and white around town. Numerous teams were represented by their respective fans in Indy. The Kman and Verbal struck up a conversation with a pair of Syracuse fans. They, like so many others, expected their team to be playing that night. Other teams represented were West Virginia, Kentucky, Kansas, Purdue, and one confused Michigan fan. The Michigan fan explained to me that he thought he had traveled back to 1990 in a hot tub time machine. He was not happy when I told him it was 2010. While walking to Lucas Oil Stadium, KMan and Verbal tried to unload the extra two tickets for face value. Once we got in front of the stadium we were joined by approximately 500 other people trying to get rid of extra tickets. After about 20 minutes of unsuccessful bartering, KMan and Verbal decided that they now had two expensive souveniers.

The game itself was very exciting. Our seats were in the club level, just above the lower bowl and just below the sky box seats. In our row, several West Virginia fans sat to the right of us. When asked who they are cheering for, they stated "anybody but Duke." While scanning Lucas Oil Field, a familiar face was spotted. In the skybox directly behind and to the left of KMan, was Peyton Manning. Peyton took time to shake hands and wave to fans. Several people approached him for an autograph. To my surprise, Peyton reached into his right khaki pocket and pulled out a Sharpie and began signing autographs. The KMan believes Peyton Manning is the best football player in the world, and thought it was great that he carries a pen around with him to sign autographs. In another skybox behind and to the right of us sat Hall of Famer Bill Walton. At halftime, the NCAA honored the 2010 basketball Hall of Fame inductees including Karl Malone, Scottie Pippen, and the 1992 Dream Team (represented by Larry Bird). While running to the bathroom prior to the start of the 2nd half, another familiar face was recognized. Johhny Spirit was in the house. For those non Spartans out there, Johnny Spirit is a guy who goes full body paint in MSU green and has a giant Block "S" painted on his chest. Johnny Spirit attends every home MSU sporting event and sometimes can be seen at big road games. The game stayed close in score for all 40 minutes and the home town Bulldogs came up just 2 points short. A crowd of 70,000 fans (approx 60,000 rooting for butler/against Duke) left disappointed.



The game finished and the post game festivities ended around 12:30, which gave us a few hours of post game bar hopping. Our first stop was at the Wild Beaver Saloon. I know what you are thinking, and no, the Wild Beaver is NOT a strip club. It is, however, a more fun/trendy bar only version of hooters. All the wait staff were attractive females, and they all wore tight jeans with the ass cut out in the back. We stayed for a few beers and a few car bombs before we got the hunger pain. Right down the street was a Hard Rock Cafe. The Hard Rock recently upgraded their menu to include 2 pages of gourmet burgers. The Kman got a Red, White, and Blue Burger, which included blue cheese, buffalo wing sauce, and an onion ring topper. After our pit stop, we hopped over to the Hard Rock Bar, where KMan had a cold Miller Lite and Verbal sipped on a White Russian. We made it back to our hotel at about 3:30 AM, and were back on the road home 7 hours later.



Indianapolis is a great city. It has all the amenities of a big town with the midwestern small town feeling. The city assigns all the Final 4 schools their own personal bars so you can co-mingle with your fellow Spartans, Blue Devils, Bulldogs, or Mountaineers. The beer is cheep, the streets are clean, and the people are friendly. I'm always excited to spend time in Indy, and always bummed when I have to leave.

Wild Beaver Saloon Website
http://www.wildbeaversaloon.com/gen4/index.htm

Orlando, FL - 3/29/10- 4/1/10

Occupational obligations lead me to Orlando, FL for meetings the last Monday of March. Traveling from a small Illinois town is never fun. There are no such things as direct flights. My only option when flying south is stopping in Atlanta, GA. I hate the Atlanta Airport. My flights are rarely on time, almost never at the correct gate, and the amount of people per square foot leaves little to the imagination for a claustrophobic like myself. Laying over in Atlanta leaves you with minimal options for food; fast food, fast food, and fast food. With less than an hour to find my gate, eat, and grab a bathroom break, I chose the shortest line (Checker's) and grabbed a burger. To their credit, the burger tasted fresh and went down smooth with an ice cold coca-cola. All coke products bottled or fountain taste better in Atlanta (the home of coca-cola).

Upon arrival in Orlando, I utilized a tip I picked up in my 5 years of business travel. When leaving the terminal, check out the security for the flight back home. This way you will have a good idea what kind of time you will need to allow yourself in order to clear security with time time get to your gate. As one can imagine, security in Orlando looks similar to the lines in the Magic Kingdom; long, reeking of body odor, and donning mouse ears.

The reason for my travel to Orlando was for 3 days of meetings. The meetings were held at The Walt Disney World Dolphin Resort, which conveniently happened to be the same hotel/resort in which I was staying. The resort was located within walking distance of Epcot and Disney's Wide World of Sports Complex. The Atlanta Braves have their Spring Training facilities located at the Disney Wide World of Sports Complex. If you are tired of theme parks and looking for something to do, check out a Spring Training game. It's a great opportunity to get up close to your favorite ballplayers for a photo or an autograph. Prices are not nearly as steep as regular season tickets. Nightly, fireworks are shot off over Epcot Center and are viewable from the outdoor resort bars. Having a nice cigar, a frozen concoction, and a good seat for fireworks is a great way to end your day. Meat lovers also need to check out Shula's Steakhouse while staying at or near the Dolphin Resort. While the prices are what I would consider to be astronomical, I was amazed to discover that the 24 Oz. Porterhouse steak I ordered was the best steak I ever . Tremendous service, family style side dishes, and a comfortable atmosphere provide for a wonderful dinner experience. While there are more bars and restaurants at the Dolphin than I can mention, I recommend wandering around the resort and having a drink or grabbing a bite at as many as possible. Every spot offers unique dishes and tasty beverages.



Returning home I gave myself 3 hours to check in at the airport, get through security (I picked the line with the fewest Mickey Ears), and grab a lunch. By getting to the airport early, I was able to request an emergency exit seat on my return flight. Being 6'4" I need all the leg room I can get. As my plane was taxiing into the terminal back in IL, my phone rang. It was a ticket vendor informing me he had a pair of NCAA championship tickets that he was overnighting to my house. Now I had to wait to find out if my beloved MSU Spartans would get by Butler on Saturday night....

Link to Walt Disney Dolphin Resort
http://www.swandolphin.com/home.html