A great meal, some nightlife, the worst hotel ever, and a diploma
(even though this took place on the 3rd and 4th, I'm setting the "official blog date" as the 4th to simplify matters.)
Upon arriving in 
After dinner, we walked uptown a bit, noting all the changes and reminiscing. We popped into Finders Music (review), always an old favorite. I looked through the used CD's but didn't find any I needed. I think this was the first time I walked out of Finders with nothing. I guess I've turned completely digital with my music.
It was a beautiful night, so we kept strolling and ended up at bar #1 - BW3. While the bartender was initially a bit cold, we chatted with him and he quickly gained more personality. BW3 is always a great place to sit, drink, and people watch. I didn't write a review because it's a major chain restaurant that seems to have consistent food and service where ever we go.
We went to Meijer's quickly so I could buy a t-shirt. I was wearing a tank top. While the tank was appropriate for strolling outside, the bars had their a/c's cranked up big time and I needed to cover my shoulders.
Off to Downtown. (review) I think that if I had classes on campus instead of being in a satellite cohort for my grad school, this would still have been my favorite bar. It's over 21 only and has great atmosphere. I had my first Harvey Wallbanger (find out if I liked it in my review!) Well, as 2 almost-30 year olds, we felt it was getting late (11:00 p.m. - HAHAHAHAHA!) and it was time to head back to the hotel. Well, that and I had to be up at 6:00 a.m. to get ready for graduation.
I'm not going to type much about the night from hotel hell here.
I was up around 6:15 and we were off for graduation at 7:30. I met up with the rest of my cohorts and college. We adjusted each other's hoods, caps, and gowns. There was plenty of time to mill around and talk. Usually BGSU's summer graduation is at 9:30, but due to heat they moved it up to 9:00. I don't know if it helped. My parents found a nice place in the shade with the rest of the guests. The guests and presenters were in the shade where it was a beautiful day. The graduates were in the sun wearing black robes where it was SWELTERING. Someone texted me "Is it hot up there?" I sent a message back saying "Must be, Lucifer is graduating two rows ahead of me." Luckily, as a master’s graduate, we had these goofy looking wings on our sleeves that doubled as pockets.
Overall, despite the fact I melted, the ceremony was VERY nice. Mom and Dad had a party for me when we got back home, which was nice. I love spending time with my family.
Thanks to Mom (and Dan) for taking such great pictures.
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Upon entering the room, we discovered about a dozen little dead black pill bugs, most of them in the restroom. I gathered them up with a tissue and flushed them. I guess at this point we thought that was kind of yucky, but bugs can be a problem around this time of year. We did our usual first check of sheets and towels, which both seemed clean. We turned the A/C up because the room was sticky, muggy, and had a musty smell. We then left to go out to eat.
We returned to the hotel around 11:30 p.m. We decided that if we had the Jacuzzi room, we might as well use it. I started filling the tub. We quickly realized that the water wasn’t clear at all, but was this very dirty brown-color. We drained the Jacuzzi (which some of it drained into our bathroom shower) and tried again. The water was clear this time and we climbed in. However, after a few minutes, we noticed that the little bubbles that form on the surface of the water were brown and when they popped left this gross, clumpy residue on the sides. We got out. Once again, we drained the tub and some of the water ended up in the shower. Needless to say, we took showers as well and went to bed.
At 2:30 a.m., our exceptionally drunk and loud neighbors came home (which I realize is not the hotel’s fault, but what’s coming up is.) They decided that a soak in their own Jacuzzi was a good idea; which they did. When they started to drain their Jacuzzi, it was LOUD in our room because THEIR FILTHY NASTY WATER DRAINED INTO OUR TUB. While it was bubbling up, it moved the drain plug enough that water came into our shower, but didn’t leave. So, we had roughly 8 inches of THEIR WATER in our shower. It was just NASTY! Dan got a couple coat hangers and finally got it drained (there was NO WAY we were sticking our hands into it. We didn’t know what was in the water, but from some of the “noises” coming from next door, we had a pretty good idea…) With that over we went back to bed around 3:00 a.m. Keep in mind I got a hotel room so I could get a little extra sleep before graduation the next morning.
The hotel must be next to a garbage truck station, because they rumbled right by our room starting around 4:00 a.m. So much for sleep.
Breakfast was less than stellar: a couple sticky fattening pastries, a couple bananas and apples, and carefully concealed juice that you had to get out of the fridge yourself. There were MANY people sitting around the breakfast area grumbling about their stay. I would have loved to stayed and compared horror stories, but I had a graduation to get to.
Upon telling the lady behind the front desk about our experience, she seemed completely apathetic and acted almost like she didn’t believe a word we said (like I’m creative enough to make something that disgusting up.)
I called the sales manager Monday morning. She apologized and offered us half off our room rate. She also said she'd get right on getting those things fixed. She was VERY nice. However, I just wouldn't recommend this hotel to anyone and if I had known it was going to be THAT bad I wouldn't have stayed there, even at the half price rate. Try the Hampton, Best Western, or Holiday Inn. I wish I had.
There is a Finder’s location on Main Street in Findlay, Ohio as well. Also, they will be offering shopping on-line if you can’t make the trip, but if you’re in the area, it’s a GREAT place for the music lover to shop.
Downtown is 21 and over only. While there is music, it’s more of a traditional bar setting and not a dance club. The bar extends through 2 rooms and it’s usually never a problem getting a drink quickly. The bartenders are friendly, knowledgeable, and prompt. I ordered a Harvey Wallbanger and mentioned that I’d never had one before. The bartender didn’t flinch, made one up, and made sure I liked it before turning his attention away. It was great. I highly recommend trying Mr. Wallbanger if you like sweet drinks. It was $2.50. They do offer drink specials on certain days as well. Corona and Cherry Bombs were the Friday night special.
Dan and I played a $0.50 game of foosball (I won by the skin of my teeth) and we met some new people. The décor is mostly sports and there are many nice flat-screen TV’s around the bar playing a variety of sports.
Uptown/Downtown is in the middle of the main nightlife scene of Bowling Green, making it very easy to go from one to the other. But I can almost promise you, that you’ll spend the majority of your time (if you’re 21 and older) in Downtown.
We were sat within about 10 minutes by a very friendly hostess. There are just a few tables at the front of the restaurant overlooking the street, this is where we sat. The view was nice. We ordered the tomato bread for an appetizer which was WONDERFUL! I had a Caribbean glazed sirloin. While I wouldn’t classify the sauce as Caribbean, it was WONDERFUL! The steak was done perfectly to my liking and the sweet potato was hot. Our salads were fresh and crisp, and soup (clam chowder) was the perfect temperature. It was very thick and had good flavor (although I think it might have been imitation crab. Either way, it was great.) Dan had cod, which he said was done very well. He enjoyed his steamed veggies. We have absolutely no complaints about the meal.
While eating at Easystreet takes a little time, I feel it’s worth it. Our bill (not including drinks) was under $40, which I felt was great for this quality of meal and experience.
For those wanting nightlife, there is a bar upstairs also with nightly entertainment.
