Last Friday was my birthday, black friday.  Kind of a pain.  I had to go to Rural King for dog food around noon and was surprised by the number of people still there.  Since going to a lot of places were out of the question Lisa offered a number of tempting choices but I finally decided on Bottoms Up to redeem my last trip there.
Me and Lisa decided to split half a chicken all white and each got a salad.  Mike as always ordered chips for the table.  The salads really hit the spot and were just big enough without filling me up.  For some reason the chips tasted even better than normal and were well seasoned.  The chicken is always great and this was no exception.
We decided on a stop at Brews Brothers.  While driving there some guy almost t boned me going down spruce st.  I don't know how we didn't wreck.  After one at Brews we headed to Da Nite for a couple before heading home.
Lisa really stepped up on the weekend by fixing smoked sausage, potatoes and carrots that I really like and then chicken and dumplings on Sunday to official redeem her dressing failure on Thanksgiving.

We had an interesting start to Thanksgiving day.  Lisa had gotten a lot of the prep out the way before thanksgiving.  She also decided to the turkey how I've been wanting her to for a while.  Everything was going great but....
The dressing ran over into the bottom of the oven and it started smoking.  In fact the smoking was so bad we couldn't be in the same room for a while.  Lisa managed to turn off the oven and we finally were able to get the turkey out.  By this time it temped perfect so now it just had to stay warm for a while. 
I started up the smoker and we had to finish the dressing in it.  I also melted the marshmellows on top of the sweet potatoes and cook the rolls.  It looked like everything was back on track on going good, not great.
That is until it everyone was eating.  The turkey was probably the best she's done.  Really moist and tasty.  The sweet potatoes were also really good.  The dressing was another story.  Something was wrong and she makes really good dressing.  It could have been prepreping early but must likely was the bad smoke from the oven.
It was bad enough that our smart ass nephew Josh said he didn't know gasoline was part of the dressing recipe.  Epic fail.
With the exception of the dressing it was a good day and Lisa is anxious for redemption with the dressing.

Yesterday was Debbies birthday so we gave her a lot of places to choose from.  She chose the Dew Drop Inn in Bloomsdale Mo.  It's really a nice drive up route 3 then across the bride before turning on route H.  From there its a turn onto route 61 and straight to the Bloomsdale and the Dew Drop.  Bloomsdale is a town of 639 and it takes a little over an hour to get there.
It's confusing as there are two or three places in the same building.  There was a nice lunch crowd there for a town that size but I imagine they draw from a large area.  They have an impressive 16 taps.
I chose a big spicy cuban with a side of onion rings while Lisa got a single smash burger with a cup of chili.  Mike went with his standard pulled pork sandwich.  Sadly I don't remember what the birthday girl got.  We also ordered pretzel sticks and fried mushrooms as appetizers.
The pretzel sticks were really good and I managed to snag the one with the most salt.  The mushrooms were great and very big.  So big cutting them in half was the way to go.  The breading held really well and they were fully coated. 
My cuban was on point and not overly spicy also a very good size.  I could only eat half.  The onions rings were awesome, well breaded and very tasty.  None of them had the onion pull out leaving only the breading.  Lisa liked her burger and her chili but it needed to be hotter.  Mike said his BBQ was really good.  Everyone liked the shoestring potatoes sides that Mike and Debbie got.
Really great place and hopefully it won't be several years before we go back.

A lazy day yesterday so a trip to Carbondelis was the call.  We both customized our own sandwiches.  I went with a 12" knowing I'd have leftovers.  I got their regular bun with pepperoni, salami, pastrami, ham with provolone.  For toppings I got red wine vinegar, olive oil, cucumbers, lettuce and red onions.  I also had it toasted.
They were having an issue wrapping the whole sandwich soI told them to wrap the two halves separate.  Much easier to wrap and better for me since I only planed on eating half.
The sandwich was great but too big, hard to get it in my mouth (I know surprising).  Lisa said hers was good too.
Really good sandwich but should have got less meat.

Lisa had another follow up appointment in St Louis yesterday and got some good news.  She doesn't have to go back for a year.  It was a lot easier trip than last times monsoon trip.
We've been coming back route 4 most of the time lately mainly to get off the interstate sooner.  This time I decided to just head on back to 13 and come home that way mainly so we could stop at Jules Joint in Nashville.  Not a lot of options on Monday.
I was tempted by some other things but I stayed with the plan and got a cheeseburger with a side of house made chips.  Lisa surprised me by ordering a cod sandwich with a side salad.  The burger is hand pattied and the chips are made in house.
The burger was just okay but nothing special, for some reason I expected better.  The chips were very crisp but with very little seasoning.  Salt helped but still underwhelming.  Lisa's fish was really good.  The bun was great and the fish done very well.  Her salad was stems and twigs otherwise known as spring mix so I wasn't impressed.
It was a welcome stop on the way home but disappointing for me.  We'll be back though.

We almost just stayed home yesterday but finally decided on a little Jeep ride around Hutchins Creek.  It's become one of our favorite places mainly because there's a couple creeks that are easy to cross.  We went through them one way and then turned around and came back the same way until I went down a rode I don't think I've ever been on that took us to 127.
We stopped in Havisham in Alto Pass on the way back for a couple drinks.  It's a really nice place but expensive, Mike and Debbie said California prices.  They had Smithwicks on draft so that's what I had, everyone else had blackberry lemonade.  While we were sitting there the place really filled up.  After a couple rounds we decided to go grab a bite to eat and finally decided on Sergios Cantina.
I backed off my normal seafood del mar and went with two street tacos, one steak one chicken, and some rice.  Mike got street tacos while Debbie got enchiladas while Lisa got birria tacos. 
The street tacos were very good and Mike said they were the best he's had.  I liked the chicken better than the steak which really surprised me.  Lisa's birria looked great and I'll probably try next time we're there.  Debbie seemed to like her enchilada.  The rice was good but I probably should have passed on it, very filling.

On Thursday we went to Ashleys to check out some deals and were debating on going to Smokin K's in Marion but finally decided to go to Chilis instead and get the $10 special.  Lisa had a coupon for free chips and salsa so we opted for a different special.
I went for a side salad and smash burger and they let me get corn on the cob instead of fries.  Lisa got a smash burger with mac & cheese but don't remember what else.
I didn't realize the side salad was a spring mix I think.  To me this just a bunch of stems and I don't really care for it.  The corn was okay but nothing special.  This time the burger didn't taste near as good, it seemed like it had too much thousand island on it.
This morning we went to Ashleys again and ordered some much needed furniture.  On the way home we stopped by Bunmakers.  Lisa had a $25 gift certificate.  She got B&G with scrambled eggs with cheese on top.  I got some sort of combo with a biscuit, sausage patty, hash browns and scrambled eggs. 
The biscuit was good but would probably be more suited to B&G then stand alone.  The sausage patty was pretty routine.  The eggs and the has browns were really good.  I had a taste of Lisa's B&G and really liked that.  She also got two small cinnamon rolls that were big.  I took a taste of one and it was great but sweet.

I had three things I've been wanting lately: Gumbo, chicken and dumplings and fried chicken.  No idea why.  Lisa took care of the gumbo "hankering" this past week with a pot of her yummy chicken and shrimp gumbo.  Normally we have smoked sausage instead of chicken and it really tasted good.  Apparently there's some unwritten rule about mixing seafood and meat in gumbo but that's probably traditionalist which I'm not.
With Lisa in St Louis shopping we went down to Bottoms Up yesterday to take care of my fried chicken desire.  I wanted to be back in time to watch the Red Devils so it was a quick trip.  I ordered a 1/4 chicken with a salad and steamed veggies.  I requested some extra seasoning on the veggies and they said they would but they didn't have  much left.  Mike and Debbie went with 1/2 fried chicken with tons of chips.
I had a few chips while we were waiting and they were really good.  My salad was good but plain since I'd ordered no tomatoes or cheese. Just as the food was coming out I mentioned that I thought I'd forgot to order all white.  I'd forgot so the meal was disappointing from the start.  The leg and thigh I got were okay but small and just not as good as the breast and wing.  The veggies were okay too but not to much you can do to jazz up frozen veggies.
We got back a little after the game was on and the Devils were already down 14-0 but played better the rest of the first half.
Overall a rare disappointment from one of my favorite places but that's my fault.

It appears another Octoberfest season has come and is closing fast.  As mentioned previously I really like most Octoberfest and have tried so many I had to start keeping track of what I've tried so I know which ones I like the best.
Here is a list of what I tried this year:

Sam Adams - still my favorite and first out this year
shiner - not as good as last year
Boulavard Bob's 47  - a new one and I really can't decide on
Leinenkugel - really good this year, probably second favorite
Hand of Fate Octoberfate - not bad
Urban Chestnut O-Katz - okay but nothing really special
Riggs - don't remember it
Big Muddy - really good
Half Acre - don't really remember
St Nicholas - good
Molly's Pint - had a quick taste so really not much to go on
Schlafly - better than I remember but had it on tap
Blue Jay - new brewery, really enjoyed it.

Here is a list of what I've tried before:
Sam Adams - first I saw this year and still at the top
Shiner - second out this year and seemed better than in the past
Leinenkugel - One of top 3 or 4
Sun King - probably my least favorite I tried this year
Desthil - okay but didn't really make an impression
Civil Life - good
Breckenridge - really good
Salukioctoberfest - very disappointing
St Nicholas - probably my new favorite among local breweries
O'fallon - nice tasting beer I had at Big Muddy Brewing, come on Chuck brew one of your own.

top tier
Sam Adams - easy to get and really good on draft.
Leinenkugel - another easy to get and it's close to Sam Adams
First two are bottles but these two are cans
Founders - a surprising find from last year
Alesmith - first year having it but it's right up there
Flying Dog - real good but more expensive (bottle)

Next tier - good but not as good as the top tier
Revolution - very good especially on tap
Tighthead - would be top tier but comes in a 4 pack of 16oz
Civil Life - just misses out on top tier
Brooklyn - a touch behind Civil Life
Odells - same as Brooklyn

Just misses out on top two tiers:
Bells - good at first then goes a little downhill
Shiner - Good and normally the first one out
Schlafly - Haven't tried this year
LeftHand - really had to get a handle on this one.
Sierra Nevada - a little hoppy but not bad, haven't tried this year

Middle of the road tier
Staghorm - surprisingly mediocre
4204 - ok but nowhere close to top tiers
Old Nation - barely in the middle tier and it comes in a 4 pack of 16oz cans
Sierra Nevada - a little hoppy but not bad
Great Lakes - has a different aftertaste, just ahead of the bottom tier

Bottom tier
Paulander - good but only comes in 11.2 oz bottles
Spaten - ok but nothing stands out
Hschorr- Pschorr - like Spaten nothing really stands out

Least favorites
Capitol - surprising close to Von Jakob
Von Jakob - couldn't drink a whole glass
Hofbrau - light taste and only comes in 11.2 oz bottles

With a kid free day yesterday we decided to bring New Kahala home and relax.  I had a dermatologist appointment at 12:45 so I told Lisa what I wanted and then sent her a text when I was close to being done.  I still got there early but no big deal.
I ordered beef rice noodle with extra sauce and veggies with some egg drop soup.  Lisa ordered twice cooked chicken with extra sauce and an egg roll.
Mine just didn't seem to have much flavor or extra sauce.  Both are very unusual for New Kahala.  Lisa's tasted good but had a little too much spice for me.  The egg drop soup tasted really good.
New Kahala is a long time favorite but is just didn't hit the spot this time.

Yesterday Lisa had a follow up from her surgery in St Louis.  I dislike driving on interstates but sometimes you have to do it.  Yesterday was awful.  Rain was coming down and the visibility was way lower than normal.  I was still able to drive a decent speed but it became obvious we were cutting it close.  The rain finally let up as we got to the river and we were able to get to the appointment on time.
On the way home we got out of St Louis but on the Illinois side the rain came down even harder than before.  Visibility was way down and of course there were still people going way to fast for conditions.  I finally got behind a semi with it's hazards on and followed it until I could get off the interstate on route 4.  The rain once again let up as we got a little south and the rest of the ride wasn't bad except for some hydroplaning and missing a turn.
Only hillbilly moment was when we were exiting the parking garage and missed the exit and had to make another run through the building.
Overall a rough trip there and back.

Lisa asked where you taking me so that meant she's not cooking.  We had to be back by 3 so that limited the places we could go.  We finally decided on Emily's Eatery mainly because their Thursday special is normally blacked ribeye and that's been sounding really good.
They don't have draft beer but but they had Modelo Negra so we got those.  I was very tempted by the handbreaded catfish sandwich but in the end stayed with the blackened ribeye with a salad and a baked potato.  I first ordered their excellent onion rings but changed to baked potato.  Lisa went with a club sandwich with a salad. 
As we sat there a guy came in who asked it I was Joe Melvin, turns out his name is Jeff and we worked together 45+ years ago at the student center bookstore.  We'd only ran into each other a couple times in the time since we worked together. 
Anyway the food arrived and my steak was very thin.  It surprised me.  I didn't think they could get it medium but it was close.  The flavor was okay but it wasn't the best ribeye I've had.  I'd have rather paid more and got a thicker steak.  The baked potato was a baked potato, nothing special stood out.  The salad was good especially the french dressing and you gave you more than enough dressing.  A lot of places don't give you enough.  Oh and once again their garlic bread was outstanding.  Lisa really liked her sandwich and it was plenty big.  She got the house dressing on her salad and the bite I had was really good.
Tale of two meals, mine was mediocre hers was good.

Part 2 of the hillbillies go to the big city.  Read part one here.
After Maggies we went back to the hotel to leave the left overs then went to Schlafly's Taphouse.  We followed the gps and went right out of the hotel then left then right again, After walking 5-6 blocks we finally got to Schlaflys I looked over and it the hotel was only a couple blocks away.  I guess the gps assumed we were driving and there were some one way streets.  We walked in and sat at a really nice small bar with a couple people who appeared to be regulars.  We each ordered an Octoberfest which is much better on tap than in the bottle.  The bartender asked where we were from and then he started talking about Quatros.  He said he'll drive two hours one way to bring one home.  Of course we mentioned we were there the previous weekend and that our grandkids were featured on their facebook group.  The people at the bar told us about a new place a few blocks away so off we went.
We got to the Blue Jay Brewery and the entrance we used went through their beer vats which led to another small bar.  We each got an Octoberfest that was really good.  While we were the owner said there was another new brewery a few blocks away but the sun was starting to go down so we left out the other side of the brewery and there was a really nice outdoor area and there may have been some more inside room.  Wish we'd have seen that first.
We got back to the room and I decided to get some popcorn so I went back down the elevator which I'd now figured out.  When I got back to the room I struggled getting the door card out of my wallet as a result I dropped the popcorn and about 1/3 went on the floor.  I finished off the rest and went downstairs for more popcorn and a beer.  When I got back to the room I reached into my pocket for the room key and spilled some of the beer in the popcorn bag, wasn't the best popcorn I've had.
When it was time to got to sleep I ploped in bed only to have the bed reject me.  I'd never had a bed do that before but after making sure everything was okay I managed to get in bed.  After we finally got done laughing we tried to go to sleep but it didn't really come for me.  I kept worrying that my bed would reject me again, not really just couldn't sleep until the wee hours of the morning only to have the alarm go off at 5am.
We got to the hospital around 6am and Lisa's procedure went smooth so we were out of there a little after 10am and so concludes the hillbillies in the big city however there were other stories left out.

Better titled the hillbillies go to the big city.  Lisa had a procedure done at SLU hospital on Thursday morning and had to be there at 6am so we went up on Wednesday and spent the night.  That meant we had to check out some places within walking distance but first the comedy started.  We checked into the Peartree hotel and went into their parking garage.  You have to use your room key to get access to the garage and while figuring out how to worked it I dropped my room key on the ground.  I couldn't get my door open because it was too close to the control so I had to use Lisa's to get entrance then Lisa had to go back and get my key.
We got there early so there were plenty of spots.  Once we got back into the hotel I couldn't figure out what button to push to use the elevator, in my defense it's been a long time since I've stayed in a hotel.  Once in the room I realized I'd forgot to take and hoodie or long sleeve shirt, no big deal then but it would be the next day.  Luckily I keep an old hoodie in the Durango.
We finally decided on Maggie O'briens and made the short walk to get there.  We've been there many times in the past but it appeared to have a complete remodeling on the interior and the outside had been painted a different color.  It was mid afternoon and there weren't a lot of people there so we got a booth.  We both ordered the house red ale and it was very good.  I had a hard time deciding but finally went with a smoked corn beef with irish potatoes.  That was one thing Lisa was thinking about so she went with cuban with potato soup.
My corned beef was good but I probably should have gotten the rueben.  The sandwich seemed to miss something.  The potatoes were really good and right in my wheelhouse.  Lisa's cuban was lacking, it had bbq on it that seemed bland or something wasn't right about it.  Her potato soup was really good though.
Overall not as good a stop as I was expecting.
Stay tuned for part 2 of the hillbillies in the big city.

Yesterday we had all three grandkids so we promised them we would take them on a hike.  As we waited for it to warm up Greyson asked all kinds of questions about it.  He didn't really remember the one we went on last year but Brinley said she did.
When it finally got warm enough we headed to Giant City.  I had forgot it was vulturefest in Makanda and the town was really packed.  Looked like a great time but probably too crowded for me. 
We headed straight to Indian Creek Trail instead of taking the long way around the park.  I was very surprised when there was no one there, I mean no one.  Off we went around the trail with Dax and Greyson chattering the whole time.  They wanted to go in the creek bed and walk around so we crossed the same bridge twice, I think they really like going across the various bridges. 
We got back to the bluff part of the trail and they had a blast climbing on them, oh to be young again.  Of course Dax had to do everything the big kids did with a little help of course.  We got back on the trail and the home portion of the trail.  We finally met a man and kid on the very last part of the trail.
We stopped at a playground next to the road that leads to the trail and the played on the equipment for a while.  Dax kept going down the slide and giggling everytime.  Greyson and Brinkley were all over the place.
Everyone decided it was time to eat and wonder of wonder Brinley and Greyson agreed on Quatros.  When we got there the placed was packed.  We got a booth downstairs and ordered drinks and a salad for us.  The kids got croutons and cheese to snack on.  The pizza got there and it was a rare substandard pizza.  It tasted like it was rushed and needed a little more time.  Poor little Dax had a bad moment when Lisa pushed him over to a table full of people we know and everyone was laughing at least until Dax put his head down and really started crying, poor guy.
We were going to the park with their bicycles but by the time we got back it was too late.
In spite of the pizza it was a great day.

Yesterday Lisa asked me "where you taking me for lunch" so I started investigating places to take her.  We were limited on how far we could go since Dooter would be here 3-3:30.  I generally check to see what specials each place have but nothing was really jumping out at me when I stumbled across Champs Bar and Grill in Herrin.  I called my Herrin cousin and fellow foodie Joey and he gave it a ring endorsement especially the chili mac so the decision was made.
Champs in is on the north end of Herrin close to Chittyville and is a block building.  Once you walk in there is a lot of memorabilia on the walls mainly sports related.  There were a couple booths in what appears to be the game room so we took one of those.  After looking at the menu for a while we finally decided on what we were having.  Lisa decided on the chili mac even though it has beans in it.  Chili mac isn't my thing so I went with a cheeseburger with onion rings.
According to the waitress all there stuff is handmade and they process their own meat.  While we were waiting for our food I had to look at all the stuff on the walls, I even found a series of pictures of a Murphysboro play.
Now on to the important stuff.  My onion rings were great, one of the best around.  I didn't care for the cheese on the burger, it seemed like a slice of velveeta which I don't like.  I found out the have other choices but after I'd already go mine.  The burger itself seemed really good but the cheese overwhelmed it.  Lisa said her chili mac was good but it had way too many beans in it, seemed like a whole can.  It was also made with spaghetti noodle that seemed odd. 
Overall a great place and it will be added to our regular places.

We somehow managed to get a call that we had made the tournament.  7-9 and the 35th in the league standings should not be making the tournament but so many players are playing on several teams and some teams just don't want to play on a Saturday that we were in.  Bittersweet to say the least, we didn't deserve to be in it.
Anyway in the first game we played Pin Oak on the middle court.  Actually we didn't play we just took up space on the court and we lost 9-0 in four frames.  Embarrassing but it's been that kind of year.
The next two games were on the first court and almost mirror images of each other.  We played much much better but ended up losing both 9-3.  Both games were closer than they appeared but we just couldn't score.
It was great day for having the tournament unlike some others where it's been so cold.  I wasn't sure how bad I wanted to play but ended up having a lot of fun seeing people for other nights.  And not having a Wednesday team in our pool was great. 
There's always next year.

I was feeling better than usual after my eyball shot yesterday so we decided to grab a bite to eat somewhere.  Wanting to avoid carbondale and SIU homecoming at all costs we decided to got down 127 with the choice being King Neptune or the Revlon.  We didn't really decide until I turned left to head to Anna-Jonesboro.  Main reason I decided was King Neptune has draft beer.
When we got there our plans took a bit of a skid when they ran out of the one beer on tap they still had.  They were getting a delivery as we sat there but we were told it was warm.
On to the food.  I stuck with the plan and ordered etouffee while for some reason Lisa ordered blackened shrimp and grits.  Neither of us really like grits.  I thought the grits were okay but once again I don't really like them very much.  Lisa said the shrimp was over seasoned but I thought they were okay.  The etouffee was really good, it was more soup like and better than the first time.
It's great to have a cajun place closer to us but I wonder how long they will be open in the afternoon.  We were the only people there but a few more sat at the bar as we were leaving.

On Wednesday we decided to give Carbondeli's another try.  We had to abort the first time since there was a long wait and we didn't want to wait that long.  First off it's one of the best names for a place I've heard, love it.  Secondly it's on a side of town that's easier for Murphysboro people to get to. 
The place is small, there's not much sitting room but we were taking it home anyway.  We waited until about 1:30 to go in case there was a noon crowd.  Neither of were sure what we would get when we got there but I finally decided on a Boskydell bomber.  I never had one when Arnolds was open so I figured why not?  Lisa got the Sicilian and an order of lobster bisque.  We both got our sandwiches toasted.  We both got a variety of toppings on our sandwiches along with oil and vinegar.
One thing they will have to improve on is the efficiency but that may be because we were standing in line instead of having a beer while we wait.  It just seemed a little long.  When we got home the sandwiches were already cut in have even though they were 6", nice touch. 
The Boskydell bomber was a really good, it had plenty of meat and cheese and the toppings were nice and crisp even after traveling to our house.  Lisa said her sandwich was also really good.  I didn't care much for the lobster bisque but that's probably not in my wheelhouse.  Lisa wasn't wild about it either and it's more her thing.  The pickle slices that came with it are very good. 
I was going to compare Booby's and Carbondeli's but after trying both they're just different types of sub sandwiches.  Overall a great experience and we'll be back soon especially since they seem to have a small meat counter, hopefully they will stock it more in the future.

With very little hope that we'll somehow make the league tournament Roll'em If Ya Got'em closed out the 2024 season with the fall towel tournament last night.
In the first game we played Bertha's Ball Handlers on the first court.  What used to be my favorite court has now become my least favorite.  Good throws veer off line quite often.  We managed to stay close but gave up a couple big plays, a three and a two.  Somehow we came back and closed to 8-7.  Debbie threw the pallino deep and got close with her second ball.  They left it wide open and Mike finished them off for a 9-8 unexpected win.
For the second game we moved to the third court to play Boccelism.  We stayed with them for a short time but they kept making throws that either made it tough for us to score or knocked us out of a point.  Final score 9-2. 
That's a wrap on bocce for the year.

We had to make a trip to St Louis yesterday that ended up taking a little longer than we thought so we scrapped several options to stop in Mascoutah.  Our original choice was Skootrs but it is now closed on Monday so we drove down the main drag looking for a place to stop.  We finally came to the Juicy Peanut, a place that has interested me for a while.
Once in we found out you have to order and pay for beer and food in separate places.  Not a big deal but somewhat inconvenient.  They did have Leinenkugel Octoberfest on draft so we each got one of those.  It was taco Monday and a guy at the bar had recommended the tacos so Lisa went with that.  I got a burger and fries and Lisa decided to try one of the egg rolls too.
While we waited I it seemed the place had a busy but nice vibe with a couple families and some of what appeared to be regulars.  The food didn't take long so we dug in.  My burger was good but nothing special, Lisa didn't care for the cheese on it.  The fries were real thin and crisp and very tasty.  The tacos were okay, for some reason I didn't care for the meat in them but the shell and other innards were decent.  I really like the egg roll but while Lisa liked the wrap she thought it needed more meat in it.
Interesting place but food wasn't great.

After two soccer games we met Bailey and her family at some pumpkin place in Herrin.  The kids petting an alpaca and some kind of long haired cow.  Then they got to pick out a whole lot of pumpkins.
When they got done we went to Frenchman's Widow.  We got chips and onion rings for appetizers since it was by one get one half off.  The chips were okay but the onion rings were really good.  I had a french dip and side salad while everyone else got salads,  I had one bite of my sandwich that was tough and grisly but the rest was good.  The side salad was spot on, enough to satisfy but not too much to get you full.
We left there and decided to continue edifying Mike and Debbie on the joys of Southern Illinois.  First we stopped at a very dead Pin Oak, not much happening.  Our next stop was either PK's or the Cellar.  We found a parking spot about half way between them so we went to PK's.  Always a cool place but it wasn't very crowded but the had Riggs Octoberfest on draft.  Last stop was the Cellar where not a lot was happening there either.  Lisa did get one of their fantastic bloody marys, about the only place I really like them,
Overall a great time.  Mike was happy as three of the four places had his beloved Sailor Jerry rum, only Pin Oak didn't.

As I've mentioned, not much has been happening with us lately.  We had a chance Thursday to get away for a short time so we opted for a nice ride around Giant City.  No place was really jumping out for either of us so the choice came down to Chili's or Logan's Roadhouse.  I finally said I didn't want to fight the traffic going to Marion so Chili's it was.  Not real exciting.
Like a lot of places now they had Sam Adams Octoberfest on draft, can't beat that.  After taking our time reading the menu we both decided on a smash burger & fries lunch deal.  It also came with chips, salsa and a drink, sadly not a beer though.  Anyway it was cheaper than ordering the smash burger and fries off the menu.
The chips and salsa were surprisingly very good, especially the chips.  The fries were nice a crisp.  The smash burger was really good, I was very surprised at how good it was.  I'm not sure how big it was but I'd say close to 1/2 pound.  Nice crisp edges just like a smashburger should have.  I barely got through the smashburger and Lisa took half home.  Neither of us ate all our fries so we took that to see if Dooder would eat them if we warmed them up in the air fryer (he didn't).  As we were leaving I asked the waitress if I should have gotten chips and salsa and she went back and got a to go order for me,
We're not big chain restaurant fans but this was very good.

For various reasons we haven't gone many places the last couple weeks and didn't on Tuesday which was our anniversary.  We (her) watch Dax on Tuesdays and he'll wear an old guy out.  Anyway Tuesday was also our anniversary so we decided on going somewhere on Wednesday.  Since Wednesday is also bocce we couldn't go anywhere too exciting since we had to be back to get the twins off the bus. 
We decided on Carbondalis but found out it was their grand opening.  Since we were going a little after one we hoped we miss the rush.  Didn't happen, there was a 45 minute wait just to order even for to go orders.  We'd made a buck up plan in case of this so off we went to Boobies.
We got lucky and there was a parking spot just in front of Boobies.  It was a nice big spot with plenty of room to parallel.  In the process of parking a train blew it's horn, scared the shit out of us (not actually).  I didn't abort the parking job but it really threw me off and it wasn't my best but it was a adequate parking job.
I decided to go with a Robin while Lisa went with a Tyrolian.  They had Sam Adams Octoberfest on tap so we both got those.  We were the only customers in the place but apparently our order didn't get seen and they apologized even though it didn't seem very long.  Anyway both our sandwiches were really good, just like the Boobys of old.  The bread seemed off the first time we were there but this time was spot on. 
Very impressed.

With an outside chance to make the tournament Roll'em took the court last night.  By outside chance I mean we had to win both games otherwise it was unlikely we'd make it.  We played at 6&7:30, much better than all the 8 o'clock games we've had this season.
In the first game we played Holy Ballz Batman on the third court.  We started out with 2 then one point frames and a 3-0 lead.  We played even with them for a while but then they pulled away some and got to an 7-6 lead.  Lisa had the point and they were out of balls.  My first shot was good and now I had the game ball in my hand.  I made what I thought was a good shot but it was just a little too hard and knocked them into a point and all momentum was lost as was the game 9-6.  Overall we lost 3-4 points on our last throw by knocking us out or them in.
In the anticlimactic second game we played Mission Imbocceball for the second week in a row on the first court.  The game seemed close but when I looked at the final score we'd lost 9-4.
That closes out the fall regular season with only the towel tournament left.  We're going to have to get more consistent and not leave so many big frames.