Every city has its tourist attractions (which suck), and since you're probably a little smart you're gonna ask the someone at your hotel "where do the locals hang out?" And they're gonna give you some canned answer about a restaurant half-packed with tourists whom they already sent. If you're going to San Antonio, eat at Las Palapas. Get the dos equis margarita (ask for dos equis amber), which is served in a glass (pitcher?) and is wider than your head unless you have downs. Order one of their burritos, which is the size of a pre-me baby. You'll spend maybe $12 on the combo, and when you finish, not only will you have joyously eaten enough calories for a grown man for three days, but you'll have a very cheap buzz that's going to carry you throughout the night. Then go hang out at Conroys, located in Leon Springs and just north of SA. It's the type place I imagine toytoy still playing at. The bartenders pour heavy because they anticipate you tip them right, the human jukebox bands who play there will take the drinks you give them so you can get the band fucked up real quick and watch funny happen. And, while there is a prodigious display of cigars in a humidor right past the entrance, they are only reserved for the perpetually-drunk owner. Make him laugh or show him tits, and you may get to enjoy one of them with him. Focus: Your town. If someone was new and they had a day or two, where would you send them and why? Alt. Focus: What parts of your town or area are not worth seeing or should be avoided at all costs?
There a few things that people always do when they visit Boston: -Walk the freedom trail -Visit Quincy Market / Fanueil Hall -Hit up the North End Having lived here for about 1.5 years now, heres what you should do if you visit: Food Forget about Quincy Market. Its stuff you can find anywhere, its just condensed into one long hallway. Walk through back bay and hit up Chinatown. While it might not be as well-known as the Chinatowns of New York or San Francisco, theres many fantastic hole-in-the-wall dumping and sushi places that are worth checking out. For sushi, head to Irashai Sushi and Teryaki. Its a small place with a tiny sign and all they have is a counter and 1 or two basic tables. You just sit there as they make you a roll right in front of you, not stock stuff they yank out of a fridge. Its cheap, delicious, and the staff are hilarious. If its Italian you want, still hit up the North End, but go deep into the North End off the beaten tourist path of Hanover Street. Theres a few places worth checking out. One is Al Dente. Its standard Italian fare, but fantastically prepared with generous portions, fresh made food and pasta, and delicious wine. Ive never had a bad meal there. As touristy and popular as it is, I highly recommend getting a cannoli at Mikes Pastry. Theres a reason theres constantly a line out the door. Best, freshly filled cannolis Ive ever had, with a ton of variety, and open until 1AM on Fridays and Saturdays for the drunk crowd stumbling out of the Fanueil Hall area looking for late night food. For Seafood, Im partial to Legal Harborside, Floor 2. Its pricey, but the fresh catches are totally worth it. Drinks I already mentioned my favorite spot in the other thread, but some other notable ones are: Grotto in Beacon Hill. Its in the ritzy part of the city, but this is a great place for dinner or a great glass of wine. Another good spot is Bin 26 Enoteca also in Beacon Hill. If you want to do wine with American-style tapas, this is the place to go. They have a great staff including a few Sommeliers. They have fantastic food, expansive menu, and a great vibe. This place can easily run two people $100-150 in one sitting though. A more typical bar spot is way out in South Boston known as Local 49. Its an old union meeting house turned bar. They have some awesome food and big international beer menu. Sights Spend half a day doing touristy stuff, but spend the other half going to the Arboretum, the Christian Science Center, Harvard Square. Most good places to see are within walking distance and just walking around youll be bound to run into something weird and cool. Oh, and bump.
Chicago is such a polarizing city when it comes to this cause some of the tourist stuff is fucking awful, some of it is totally worth it, and everyone has their own opinions. DON'T DO: Fuck the Bean. Its kind of a cool piece based on size, but unless you are down in that area of the lakefront, its not worth your time. Don't bother with the Sears Tower. Its cool, but you'll pay $20 to crowd around with slack jawed mouthbreathers from North Dakota who have never seen a skyscraper before, better alternative is listed below. Don't go to Navy Pier. Sweet mother of god don't go to Navy Pier. I can't think of anything redemptive about that place. The boat tours are overpriced and lame. The Ferris Wheel is meh, but from the location, you don't even get a good view. All you will get is hoards of aforementioned tourist idiots eating at Billy Goat Tavern (this biggest scam in the city) or crammed into the massive McDonalds. All of that being said, there is some tremendously cool shit in Chicago, especially during the summer. DO: Go to the Hancock and go up to the 95th Floor and the Signature Lounge. You will pay $10-$12 for a cocktail, which I'm sure will cause a few on this board to have a coronary, but the view is incredible, its a really nice bar, and you'll catch a buzz instead of tourist BO. Its also a panty dropper if that's in your gameplan at all. Go to any of the Museums. The Field Museum is fantastic, the Art Institute on Michigan Ave is really quality and has a good set of touring exhibits, the Shedd Aquarium is my favorite place in the city, and if you go a bit further south, the Museum of Science and Industry (the last remaining big structure from the 1893 World's Fair, BAM!) is a place you can spend an entire day being amazed and entertained. Go to the Lincoln Park Zoo. Its a free zoo that is actually really solid. Right on the lake, beautiful area and views of downtown, and you can stroll around day drinking if you like. Go on an Architectural Boat Tour. Chicago is a city with a long and profound history of architecture, these tours nail that. As for food, you can find pretty much anything you want here. Avoid Pizzeria Uno or Due for shitty Chicago style Deep Dish and go to Giordanos or Lou Malnatis instead. Or just skip the Pizza all together if you don't want to feel terrible. Any other more specific food ideas, PM me and I can give you suggestions. To go out to bars, depends what you're into. Chicago is a city of neighborhoods so there are plenty of bar districts that are all pretty unique in some way. Downtown/River North is flashier and a bit more upscale with clubs, nicer lounges, and lots of short ass dresses. Lincoln Park is a more laid back, post college bar scene. Wicker Park and Bucktown are a bit more eclectic like a Brooklyn or Silver Lake, Wrigleyville is a frat bro shitfest but really fun if you want the full Cubs game drinking experience, otherwise avoid it like the plague. And above all else, don't go to the Far South Side. Its basically an episode of the Wire with more violence. Its really sad, but its like a difference city.
What about the Weiners Circle? I've seen stuff on youtube about it and Triumph the insult comic dog went there and it was hilarious. People go there for the insane verbal abuse from the staff but it all seems pretty funny. Thoughts?
I went to the Wiener's Circle at 1 in the morning the last time I was in Chicago and I was too early to see the chaos. I suppose you have to go after the bars close to get the full experience. The hot dogs were awesome. The cheese fries were terrible. Cincinnati I'm moving back to Cincinnati this weekend. It will be my third time living there.... DOs Check out the revitalized Over The Rhine. There are still parts of the neighborhood that are notoriously dangerous, but a huge section near Music Hall has undergone a massive transformation in recent years. There are lots of sexy new restaurants and hip craft cocktail bars like Japs and Neons Unplugged. Plus, Cincinnati's brewery tradition has come back strong with brewery's such as Christian Moerlein and Rhinegeist opening huge public beer halls in OTR. Reds games are fun, though certainly not fitting "parts unknown". Cincinnati is a professional baseball city through and through. The team is perfectly mediocre this year, but the entertainment value is very high compared to the rest of MLB. DON'T Skip Newport on the Levee unless you want to see a comedy show. The Funny Bone consistently books some respected names in stand-up, but the rest of the Levee is an overcrowded and underwhelming mall, chain restaurants, an AMC, and an expensive aquarium (which is pretty solid in its own right, but you'll pay a pretty penny). The only reasons I would go into Kentucky from Cincinnati would be for the Funny Bone, Southgate House (live music venue across from the Levee with multiple rooms playing indie bands concurrently) or Mainstrausse Village (big bar district).
If you're going to Over the Rhine you just need to stay south of Liberty. I can be a little sketchy in some stretches south of that, but if you're paying attention you should be fine. My favorite bar there is MOTR Pub. They always have good live music and there's never a cover. There's pinball and some old arcade games in the basement too. If you like sushi and asian food then you should try Kaze. They have these pork buns that are one of the best tasting things I've ever eaten. I second the brewerys, there's a lot of good beer being made in Cincinnati now. I like both the ones you mentioned, but my favorite is Mad Tree up in Pleasant Ridge.
I mean, it is what it is. For the show, it was funny. When you are trying to get food, its kind of fucking annoying. And the food is awful. If shabamon loved the hot dogs, I question what hot dogs he's been eating. Then again, he's probably had a bunch of Cincinnati coneys which barely qualify as food. Some of the workers are funny, some are just fucking assholes who use the reputation of the place as a carte blanche for being obnoxious. Whats worse is the drunk idiots who try to go toe to toe with them and make everyone's experience worse. Its not my favorite spot, but some people love it, including Vince Vaughn (at least before he had a kid).
Alt. Focus: In San Antonio, avoid visiting the Alamo at all costs. I get what it "stands for" historically. So maybe pass by it and take a picture or something. An actual visit inside of it though, much less a guided tour, will make you want to drown your sorrows in a Dosarita or seven. I've had more fun pissing out kidney stones. Also don't go visit SeaWorld either, because fuck that place.
Some people love the shit out of San Antonio. I don't get it. I found that outside the riverwalk, there really wasn't a whole lot going on except for the fattest people I've ever seen and multitudes of trashy strip clubs. But it is really close to all the rivers and close enough to Austin.
Also from a small town in the rust belt. If you ever find yourself in Pittsburgh with a free day and want to get out of the city I recommend Ohiopyle. Some of the best whitewater on the east coast, bike trails, & hiking trails. It's not exactly hidden and it's busy in the summer and during peak foliage. Frank Lloyd Wright's Falling Water and Kentuck Knob are also nearby. http://www.dcnr.state.pa.us/stateparks/findapark/ohiopyle/ http://www.fallingwater.org/ http://kentuckknob.com/?page_id=92 After traveling through numerous National Parks and living in the DC metro area, I've decided that unless you're going for a specific event or aesthetic reason and forced to deal with a crowd, do anything touristy during the off season. The yearly Cherry Blossom Festival here in DC is packed from before sunup until well after sundown. I'm not saying don't go but if you want to see the blossoms be prepared to fight the crowd. If you want to see DC museums go during the week in the fall/winter. Year round they're packed every weekend and everyday during the summer vacation months.
Yuma, Arizona I can hear you laughing from here. From a cultural perspective, there is very little here. There's the Yuma Territorial Prison, if you're interested in the very beginnings of incarceration in the United States. Other than that, there's nothing here but fields and dunes. Both of my parents have driven through here; I took my mom to a movie and my dad to an Italian restaurant in "historic downtown Yuma." On the bright side, restaurants and bars are cheap as hell. They're mostly shitholes, but there are a few that aren't too bad. They just get old after you've been going to them for three years.
If you're ever in Atlanta or the surrounding suburbs, Spoiler check out one of our breweries. Do yourself a favor and avoid Sweetwater. Instead, visit Red Brick, Monday Night (the Serrano pepper IPA is only available at the brewery), Wild Heaven, Cherry Street Co-Op (excellent coconut porter year round), Jekyll, Burnt Hickory, Red Hare, Blue Tarp, or Three Taverns... Just to name a few. Almost all of them are a good, cheap buzz. It's usually $10 for the glass + four generous pours, and most of them will continue pouring for you even after you're out of drink tickets unless a Department of Revenue employee is lurking. If you visit Red Brick, follow up your drinking with a meal at Hankook Taqueria around the corner. It's a hole in the wall Korean BBQ taqueria with $2 tacos, $6 mega burritos, and other cheap street snacks. For food inside Atlanta, the Vortex is my go to. OTP, I go to Johnnie MacCracken's on the Marietta Square. It's a pub in what was the first fire station in Marietta, and it has excellent, cheap food (the Dublin lawyer is a massive Reuben with homemade sauerkraut, and the pimento mac and cheese is tits), a comfy atmosphere, and a nice fire pit on the back patio. Both the Vortex and the Crack have extensive booze menus and support the local breweries. Also, a lot of movies are being filmed in Atlanta thanks to the tax breaks. I watched the battle scene for Anchorman 2 film in Woodruff Park, and Oprah and Brad Pitt are filming their Selma movie on the Marietta Square. The Georgia Aquarium is fun if it's not crowded with student groups, and is one of the largest in the world. If you're visiting on a weekend, especially during the summer, you should go to one of the beer festivals. Sometimes the stars align and Atlanta Underground Market is on the same Saturday as a beer festival, so you can get awesome homemade food for ~$2-3 per serving. Siaopao from Sarap is amazing. DO NOT confuse AUM with Underground Atlanta. And don't go to Underground Atlanta. It's seedy and sad. Same goes for Six Flags. I guess I don't do much except eat and drink. We have parks and whatnot if you're into that sort of thing. Kennesaw Mountain is a lovely morning walk, and we have Civil War reenactments. The Square has a lot of free concerts. Every town has a food and crafts festival. My friends really like going to Braves games. My sister's boyfriend recommends Fat Matt's for BBQ and blues music. For bar hopping, I like the Virginia Highlands area (especially Limericks and the Dark Horse Tavern). Little Five Points is a cool little district with a lot of interesting shops and a mixture of hippies and hipsters. And I'm spent. Forever I love Atlanta.
I know that Scranton doesn't seem like that much of a tourist destination, but we do have quite a few tourist traps. One thing I would recommend if you come here in the summer is the coal mine tour. On particularly hot days, people go there because the mine is always the same temperature so it gives you a chance to cool off while seeing something vaguely interesting. One place I have actually taken people who come to visit is the iron furnaces. They're these huge furnaces that used to be used by the iron and coal company. While they are not in commission anymore, it is a weird, cool thing to see. If you aren't into entertaining yourself by looking at stuff, I wouldn't do this one because there is no tour or anything. It's just a cool thing to look at. We also have a museum dedicated entirely to Harry Houdini for some reason that no one can remember. It cost $20 to get in and the people who run it are out of their minds. I wouldn't go unless you have kids or are into seeing antique magic contraptions. As far a bars go, pick a place like Backyard Ale House or Kildare's. Don't go to anything that thinks it's a club, because they are awful and every time I go to the place next door to Backyard Ale house (the name changes every couple of years), someone I am with gets relieved of their wallet. Also, don't come here to see strippers. Our strip clubs are depressing. I'm not saying that because I'm a woman, I know because everyone says they are awful.