Richmond IN - on the Border...

Alright, so recently I spent some time in the city of Richmond IN.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with the city...it is on I-70, right as you cross into Indiana from Ohio.  This city is an interesting little city, filled with a ton of Indy Colts and Green Bay Packers fans.  I was stuck there for about four days in total, and with no transportation, which in this case, now looking back at it, is all for the better because it just adds to the story. 

The city, for being as small as it is, is actually spread out.  Unlike my home town, where one can walk almost anywhere they want to in a matter of minutes, Richmond seems more spread out.  However, the drivers there seem a little more people friendly than what one would expect.  The Taxi service is a good one, even though I can't remember the one that the hotel recommended.  But between the smoking redneck and the old circus run away (yes, this guy was born in the circus and left it...usually little kids want it the other way around right? At least that is what I thought) who know some interesting bits and pieces of the city, such as the old train depot and the old district that used to be the downtown area.

It is an interesting "downtown" district, with something that looks like it could go through and have history behind it, but I was actually really disappointed when I was told that it is no longer the "downtown district".  I didn't see the "current" downtown district, but if it was that much different than the old one, then I don't want to see it.  The old downtown is really amazing, filled with lots of little stores, bistros bars, art galleries, theatres, and much more.  It is a very people friendly area and a place that I could see myself personally visiting a lot.  There is several commercially successful chain restaurants like Cracker Barrel, McDonalds, Bob Evans, Stake and Shake and others, but if you want to get down to a city, one of course has to visit the little places, the local places.  So, instead, I went down to what was said to me the best and classiest bar in town, Smiley's Pub and Beer Garden.


I first found the bar online, and it is the only bar I found in the city.  But the photo on the main web page of the made me feel like it is something that you would find a happy little "Cheerish" crowd...so I was a little hesitant going in at first being the outside crowd. However, when I walked in with a buddy of mine, the bar felt like any one I would visit back at home.  Josh, the bar keep wasn't as helpful as what I would have hoped for, but he was friendly enough to make a good impression.  However, after that first beer, he tended to remain down with the locals.  I don't believe that my buddy and I saw him down at our end of the bar for the remaining part of his shift.  However, when the three other bar keeps came on, they were able to talk with the locals and still be able to serve us.  The kitchen closes at 9, but after our first beer, my friend and I went through and got hungry, it was 9:15, but Paige, the cook, was amazing and allowed us to get anything that we wanted to as long as it could be deep fried.  That is perfect for bar food.  So we got on it with peppers and cheese sticks and a couple more drinks.  The bar was really amazing, with three total rooms, one filled with a couple of pool tables, one with your classic Irish pub setting, and then the room devoted to a dance club.  It was interesting, and at 11pm, the bar changes from a pub to a dance club where the locals come out and listen to the oddest things, from Rod Stewart ballads to the top 40 club mixes of the day to Bon Jovi.  We went in on a Saturday night and left when the bar switched over to a night club, they are not open Sunday and Mondays.

The next day, Sunday, was one of the last football days of the years, two games left...the Bears vs. Packers and Jets vs. Steelers.  Another friend of mine and I went out to a bar that one of the bar keeps at Smiley's told me about the night before, Sheridan Pub.  They have a couple of new TVs and had some good food as well.  Outside of all of the betting that was going on there for the games, and the cheep beer (it was like 32oz for $2.75 that day of either Bud or Bud Light), the pub was good.  It reminded me of a lot of local dives I've been to, so it was rather comfortable sitting down at the bar and have the two drinks I had.  The one thing I will say though that threw me a little was that smoking is still allowed in public places, which can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on how you look at it. 

The one time I did eat not at a major chain restaurant while I was there is when I ordered out from Pizza King. I was told by the hotel clerk that they were really good, what I wasn't told is that it is a SMALLER chain restaurant.  The food was okay, not the best I've ever had by far.  It was nothing compared to my favorite local sub or pizza place (I was told to go through and get a sub from Pizza King because they are "really good" from there).  If I where to put it up against something like Yellow Sub or Pizza Shuttle locally, I would hands down give it to my locally guys.  For one thing, it says no where on there on the menu that you have to order a certain dollar amount before they will deliver. It is understandable, but a little bit of a shocker when going through and it is not said anywhere. 

All in all, I was pleased with my stay in Richmond IN.  It is a city that I might take a night's stay at or go through and spend one more day, just so I can go back to Smiley's and have another drink, but I would have to take my own car this time and might have to stay at a different hotel, but we'll see when the time comes around.

Legally Blonde - The Musical travels Pt. 3

Okay, I'm going to try and sum it all up right now.  Lowell Mass was amazing little city.  Their downtown area is amazing.  There is a little Irish pub there that has some amazing beer and even better food.  I went there with a couple of guys from Legally  Blonde the Musical and we had a great time.  Our waitress was rather attractive as well, which is a very nice bonus.  The Theater there is a very beautiful building that I would love to personally revisit and photograph.  I would also like to go through and say that regardless if Boston is the city that is full of Toll Booths and Tunnels, it is a beautiful city.  I didn't have hardly as long of time in there as I wanted to have, but when I have the chance to go back, I really really really want to go through and photograph it properly and do a proper posting of the city. 

Pittsburgh PA is a beautiful city as well.  Most of my time in the city was done at night and when I was tired, but from what I remember, it is a city that I wouldn't mind coming back to sometime soon.  The problem that I really kind of had was in I-70 at night in PA.  I am sure that the drive is a beautiful one, but when you are driving by yourself, through there for the first time, it's at night, snowing, ice is on the roads, it can put one on edge.  I would really love to go back through there during the day time, in the summer (when I went through was on Dec. 19th 2010) but I am sure that it a beautiful sight going through there. 

Columbus Oh is an interesting city to say the least.  I ended up spending most of my next day in the city, and if you don't get off of I-70, you will think that the city is nothing but an industrial city, which from my observation is mostly right, but the airport is a rather nice one, better than MCI (Kansas City International Airport) by far.  However, I will give a personal endorsement real quick.  If you are ever stranded there in the West side of Columbus and you need a taxi, call up Paul Devitt, the owner of Hilliard Hometown Taxi.  he is amazing.  The cab fair is cheap (I used him three times in the 12 hours I was there, and the most that i had to pay was $30 when I had to go across town to get from the hotel I was staying at to the Airport).  He is a very friendly guy and knows a lot about the city.  He is a great guy and will come to get you basically any time of the day, for cheap.

New York City, the little bit of the city that I was able to go through, was more or less what I had pictured it to be in my mind.  A little grit, a little bit of the old city feeling going through the Bronx and Queens.  I know that it is saturated with "artist" but really, that is another city that I really want to go through and photograph to an extent.  I know it will be hard to go through and actually get a shot or two that maybe no one else has, but I believe that I should be able to get SOMETHING that would be at least a little different.  But then again I know I need to go through and just do a long road trip and take my camera and redo this trip.

Alas, that might be all that I can write about right now for the Legally Blonde travels, but more and other cities and places will be coming very soon.