I titled this entry in the order of the things most important to me. Most of my "fun money" is spent dining out. Next is spent on things like the theater, live music, enrichment programs, museums, and stuff like that. I attend sporting events only rarely, but they are a fun treat, and a lot of my friends like them, so it's something to do. Plus, I get to sample the cuisine at sports arenas!
In the end, not all of this research will be of equal importance to my decision-making, But I'm posting it along with everything else for the most complete picture possible of the cities I'm researching. Enjoy!
Dining: A Sample
I did something different while researching dining options. First, of course, I went out to eat in all of the cities on my list. Some places I know more than others either because I lived there or I've been there more than once. But dining out is important to me, so I made sure to try different things everywhere I went, despite the dent it put in my travel budget.
Second, looking up and documenting every single restaurant in a city would have taken forever and been very dull. So instead I looked up a few of my favorite cuisines to discover if the places I'm looking at have those restaurants. In some cases I needn't have bothered (every place has thai, and these days every place of at least moderate size has sushi). But there was a bit of variety among the other categories.
Third: One note about the vegetarian column. Most cities had a few vegetarian or vegan-only restaurants. But a few cities had a lot, so I marked those cities with extra check-marks.
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| Dining and night life at the Modern Hotel in Boise. |
Dining: A Sample
I did something different while researching dining options. First, of course, I went out to eat in all of the cities on my list. Some places I know more than others either because I lived there or I've been there more than once. But dining out is important to me, so I made sure to try different things everywhere I went, despite the dent it put in my travel budget.
Second, looking up and documenting every single restaurant in a city would have taken forever and been very dull. So instead I looked up a few of my favorite cuisines to discover if the places I'm looking at have those restaurants. In some cases I needn't have bothered (every place has thai, and these days every place of at least moderate size has sushi). But there was a bit of variety among the other categories.
√ means the city has that cuisine; X means it does not.
| Indonesia | Seafood | Sri Lanka | Sushi | Thai | Turkish | Veggie | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| LA | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √ | √√√ |
| Chicago | X | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | √√√ |
| Philly | √ | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | √√ |
| Columbus | X | √ | grocery | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| DC | √ | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | √√ |
| Denver | X | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| Portland | foodcart | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | √√√ |
| Raleigh | X | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | X |
| Cleveland | X | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | √ |
| Des Moines | X | √ | X | √ | √ | X | X |
| Asheville | X | √ | X | √ | √ | √ | √ |
Los Angeles is the clear winner in this category, having both an Indonesian and a Sri Lankan restaurant! Des Moines, sad to say, comes in last in terms of variety. Although I did eat out several times while there, so I know that Des Moines is not a complete culinary waste land. And it has at least one classy bar that knows how to keep its mixed drinks cold:
Attractions:
In researching stuff to do in every city, I again relied on some not-very-scientific methods. Namely, to find out what there is to do in each city and what it's nightlife has to offer, I relied on my absolute favorite travel website, Trip Advisor. I used this site everywhere when I travel overseas, and many places in North America, and it never steered me wrong. If a "thing to do" appeared near the top of the reviewers' marks, it always turned out to be worth the stop. So I used it to get a sense, if not a complete survey of, the entertainment options in each city.
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| This is Asheville's idea of fun! And pest control. |
I listed the two most popular attractions per city, and a short list of the most common things to do in each.
Los Angeles: 343 total. #1 The Getty, #2 Griffith Observatory. Theaters, museums, movies, parks, sports.
Chicago: 313 total. #1 Shakespeare Theater, #2 Art Institute. Outdoors & neighborhoods, shopping, theater, architecture, music, sports venues.
Philadelphia: 252 total, #1 Museum of Art, #2 the football stadium. Historical sites, museums, music.
Columbus: 61 total, #1 OSU Stadium, #2 is a mall. Parks, theater, shopping, museums, arenas.
DC: 210 total, #1 National Gallery of Art, #2 Smithsonian. Memorials, museums, open spaces, historic sites, neighborhoods, theater.
Denver: 117 total, #1 is a mountain, #2 is a road. Museums, theater, sports venues.
Portland: 293 total, #1 is the Gorge drive, #2 is a rose garden. Lots of parks, gardens and breweries. Museums, theaters. There's a lot to do, relative to the size of the city.
Raleigh: 42 total, #1 Museum of Art, #2 Kids Museum. Lots of parks, museums, historical sites, an arena.
Cleveland: 92 total, #1 Cleveland Art Museum, #2 Cleveland Orchestra. Parks, museums, theaters, concert venues, sports.
Des Moines: 37 total, #1 State Fairgrounds, #2 Capitol Building. Parks, museums, golf. So Brian will come to visit.
Asheville: 66 total, #1 Blue Ridge Parkway, #2 an arthouse movie theater. Mix of art centers, community theater, outdoors, small museums, spiritual arts, one ballpark.
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| The world's smallest park (really) in Portland, Oregon. |
Nightlife:
I'm not a big "nightlife" person, unless you count things like dining out, the theater, the orchestra and the ballet. Which Trip Advisor does. So I researched this category too, and list the most common types of nightlife.
Los Angeles: 126 total, theater, concerts, music, movies, bars.
Chicago: 184 total, theater, music, comedy, blues clubs.
Philadelphia: 73 total, performing arts, music, bars, theater.
Columbus: 19 total, mostly theaters and bars/clubs.
DC: 69 total, theaters, music, music bars.
Denver: 35 total, theater, performing arts centers, bars.
Portland: 50 total, lots of theater, bars, comedy, drag bars. [And rumor is, one of Portland's most popular nightlife options is a passel of non-sleazy strip clubs.]
Raleigh: 6 total, mostly bars, theater, symphony.
Cleveland: 21 total, mostly music and theater, some bars and clubs.
Des Moines: 4 total, bars, symphony, theater, the High Life Lounge. Home of the world-famous Asserole.
Asheville: 15 total, mostly bars & theaters.
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| Des Moines might be short on nightlife, but they sure know how to sing the blues. |
Sports Teams:
As noted above, sports are not super important to me, but it's nice to know what the options are. And it could be fun living in a college town during football season, and joining other fans at a bar or something.
Los Angeles: Baseball, basketball, soccer. Other smaller teams. USC, UCLA & other colleges for college sports.
Chicago: Baseball, football, basketball, hockey. Minor league baseballs, several other small teams. Northwestern football & other colleges for other sports.
Philadelphia: Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer. Other smaller teams. Colleges for sports, including football & basketball.
Columbus: Hockey, soccer. Minor league baseball. Ohio State in all sports.
DC: Baseball, basketball, football, hockey, soccer. Several colleges for college sports.
Denver: Baseball, basketball, football, soccer, hockey. Other smaller sports. U of Denver for college sports. CU nearby for college football.
Portland: Basketball, soccer, hockey. Minor league baseball. Colleges for college sports.
Raleigh: Hockey. 3 minor league baseball teams in the area. NC State, other colleges for sports.
Cleveland: Baseball, basketball, football, hockey. Cleveland State for college sports.
Des Moines: Minor league baseball teams, some smaller sports. Drake U for college sports. Iowa State nearby for football.
Asheville: Minor league baseball. UNC Asheville for college sports.
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| Watch a movie while you get your teeth cleaned in Nebraska! |
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