ANN ARBOR UPDATED

If you read my blog post about Ann Arbor I wrote last year, one thing you will remember is how disappointed I was with the gym options I found. Well, I just visited Ann Arbor again and found a gym worth going to. The Arbor Fit Club is in the space of the old Golds Gym. Although the equipment is still the same as when it was Golds a few years ago, the equipment is still in great shape and has everything you need. Also, you will find a lot of hot eye candy at the gym too. There is also tanning and a smoothie bar....so you will find everything you need at this location. This gym is a few minutes off the beaten-path....but definitely worth the drive!

During this trip I went back to downtown Ann Arbor (pictured above). Centered on the University of Michigan campus, this is a cute, quaint downtown with everything you would need in a city. It gives Ann Arbor a ton of charm and worth visiting!

HOUSTON

For those of you that have never been to Houston, it is one hell of a spread out city. The car definitely rules in Houston. Houston is also home to most of the major oil companies as well; so the automobile is king here (and traffic is bad too!).

When I am in Houston, I stay at (or close to) the Galleria. The Galleria Shopping Center is one of the largest malls in the country. You can find just about anything here. There is also a cool ice skating rink in the middle of the food court; so there is plenty to watch as you eat. The Galleria area is one of the Houston business districts; so there are a ton of hotels next to the mall (and some in the mall as well). I prefer staying in this area because you can get everything you want within a few blocks of the mall.

If you are looking for gyms, I have found 2 great options in Houston. There is a very nice (and new) 24-Hour Fitness on Richmond Ave (just a few blocks from the mall) that just opened recently. The facility is very nice and one of the best gyms I have found in the Galleria area. If you are willing to drive, there is a heavily-gay gym located across in the Montrose/Midtown area. This 24-Hour Fitness Super-Sport is not only very nice....but filled with gay-boy eye candy during the 5pm-7pm prime time hour.

If you are wanting to go out in the city, most of the gay bars are located in and around the Montrose section of Houston. There is also a very nice bathhouse (Club Houston) located between Montrose and downtown. The bathhouse has a nice relaxing outdoor clothing-optional pool that helps you escape from the south Texas summer heat. Although I did not make it to Club Houston this trip, I was able to visit the club a while back with a few friends that were also visiting the city. It was a relaxing way to spend a Sunday afternoon. Also, as a bonus, it has a pretty nice gym as well.

Houston is also close to the Johnson Space Center. The space shuttle control center for orbiting spacecraft is located in Houston. That is where the picture above comes in. This is a piece of art in the middle of the George Bush Intercontinental Airport (the main airport in Houston). It is a statue of a cow in astronaut gear with the words "Houston, we have landed" at the base of the statue. It is one of the first things you see when you land in Houston....and I thought it was pretty cool.

COLUMBIA, SOUTH CAROLINA

Columbia is not only the capitol of South Carolina, but it is also the home of the University of South Carolina. You have to love a university that has COCKS t-shirts (see above). All over town you see t-shirts, hats, and shorts that say "COCKS" (short for the Gamecocks.....but I still love it!).

There is not a lot I can say about Columbia. Although I have visited the city are few times now, the gay community is not very large from what I have noticed. There seems to be a lot of guys "in the closet" though.

The one thing I was very impressed with was the gym I found this last trip. The Gold's Gym in Irmo (a suburb of Columbia) was not only a great facility with nice equipment, but it was filled with some HOT HOT HOT straight guys!

There might not be many gay boys in Columbia, but the city is definitely filled with some young straight hotties!!!!!

MILWAUKEE

Considering its reputation as a working-class city in the Midwest, Milwaukee is not what I expected. The downtown area is surprisingly walkable...more so than most comparable sized cities. The first few times I came to Milwaukee I stayed downtown. If you stay downtown, you do not need a car. There are a lot of nice hotels downtown and a great gym too. The YMCA downtown is FILLED with hot college guys (Marquette University is downtown in Milwaukee) and the equipment is very nice as well. It is one of the nicer YMCA facilities I have been to. In the complex with the YMCA there are also a lot of meal options as well (including one of my favorite sandwich shops - Potbelly Sandwich Works).

The last few times I have been to Milwaukee I have stayed about 8 minutes north of downtown. I prefer this location now because it is close to Bayshore Mall. Bayshore Mall is an outdoor mall with a lot of great food options. This is also the location of the Milwaukee LA Fitness. Although this gym is never packed, it has great equipment and the facility is very nice as well. There are also a lot of very hot straight guys at this gym....so the eye candy is great as well. There is also a bd's Mongolian BBQ, CPK, and a Cheesecake Factory at this mall....so food options are plentiful.

Now for the picture at the top of this post. The Milwaukee Art Museum sits on Lake Michigan. It is architecturally stunning. It is definitely not what you would expect in this working-class Midwestern town.

CLEVELAND

Cleveland is a city of contrasts. Although it has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country, there are some very good things about the city. Cleveland has some beautiful suburbs and some great shopping - especially on the east side of the city. When I am in Cleveland, I stay in Westlake. Westlake is on the west side of the city and close to the airport. From what I have been able to gather, most of the gay population lives on the west side of downtown. Westlake is right on Lake Erie, there are some beautiful areas close by including Rocky River.

When in Cleveland, I usually stay close to the intersection of I-90 and Columbia Road. Although this is about 10-15 min west of downtown, the area is quiet and there is a reasonably good gym nearby. I usually workout at the Bally's on Columbia Road. Although the gym itself is somewhat run-down, the equipment is new and you can get a good workout. There is some eye-candy at the gym (but not much)...especially around 4pm-7pm. The weekends are pretty dead; and the lunch time crowd is not the best to look at.

Although I have never been there, I have been told that Cleveland has 2 of the largest bathhouses in the country. Flex and Club Cleveland have the reputation of being huge. I can not independently verify that (since I have never been).....but that is what everyone tells me. I guess there is not much to do when it is freezing cold in Cleveland; so the bathhouse would be a great place to hang out.

One thing Cleveland does have is the Rock-and-Roll Hall of Fame. For those that like to find a touristy thing to do when visiting a city, this is a must see. Since I am not much on doing tourist things when I travel, I have never been. But you hear about it a lot when in Cleveland....so it must be good.

PITTSBURGH

I visited Pittsburgh a few weeks ago. The weather the entire time was rainy and overcast. If you have never been to Pittsburgh, you will be amazed at the level of civic participation there is in the city. I usually stay on Penn Avenue in the downtown area of Pittsburgh. This is considered the Cultural District of Pittsburgh. There are a bunch of huge ornate theaters lining this street. Most of them carry the name of one of the corporate benefactors in this city. Heinz is a big contributor here (their name is on Symphony Hall...and also on one of the stadiums).

The downtown itself has a someone gritty feel about it. It definitely had a industrial steel-town influence. One of my favorite parts of Pittsburgh is the drive from the airport to downtown. Right before you hit downtown, you enter a long underground tunnel. When you exit the tunnel on the other side of the mountain, you are on a steel bridge over the river that faces downtown. The view of downtown when you exit the tunnel is amazing!

One of the other things I like about downtown Pittsburgh is that it is a very walkable city. Being from Atlanta, I almost always get a rental car when I travel. Not in Pittsburgh. You can pretty much walk anywhere in downtown (and it feels relatively safe).

In past trips, I stayed at the Westin Hotel on 10th/Penn Avenue. This time I decided to save some money and stayed at the Courtyard by Marriott on 9th/Penn. Both hotels are within walking distance of the gyms in Pittsburgh.

Last time I was in Pittsburgh (a few years ago), I went to the Ballys on 6th Street. Since my last trip, that gym has closed (probably because the gym needed a renovation bad!). In the past year, a Gold's Gym has opened downtown in Pittsbugh. I decided to try it out. All I can say is WOW! What an improvement over the Ballys!!! This gym is not only nice (with great equipment).....but if you go during the 5pm after-work rush....it is FILLED with some of the HOTTEST straight guys you have ever seen. And....unlike most gyms....the hot straight guys all shower after they workout! So, as you are changing to head to the gym, there are hot straight guys walking around in towels everywhere. It is a HOT scene!!

The only negative I found with staying downtown (without a car) is the food options at night. I found that most of the places to grab a quick bite to eat closed around 6pm....so I ate Wendy's every night (that was just about the only place I could find open). I have a feeling there are probably some nice sit-down restaurants downtown that are open later....but when I am traveling alone I like to eat quick (but healthy). Thank goodness Wendy's has some healthy things on the menu (as long as you know what to order).

Now for the picture at the top of this posting. There is a cute park right in the middle of Penn Avenue in the Cultural District. It was filled with funky sculptures. It looked like someone on crack might have designed it. But it was fun....so I decided to take a picture of it.

JACKSONVILLE

My trip to Jacksonville brief....but here is what I learned from my short stay there.

Jacksonville is very spread out. From what I could see, there was no area that would be considered the best area to stay. I decided to stay close to the gym that I workout at when I am in Jacksonville. Since I workout every day when I travel, it is important for me to be close to the gym and multiple food options. I always stay around the I-95/J.T.Butler Blvd. area of Jacksonville. That seems to be fairly central and everything I need when traveling is close by.

I have been to Jacksonville a number of times....and every time I always workout at the Gold's Gym. I usually go to the one on Phillips Highway since it is closer to my hotel....but I have also ventured over to the location on Beach Blvd. Both locations have good equipment and both are filled with hotties during the 5pm-7pm rush....but from what I could tell, everyone at both locations were straight. That being said, in my opinion there is nothing better than a gym full of hot straight guys!! If you are looking for a "gay" gym...then you need to look elsewhere (although I am not sure there is really a "gay" gym in Jacksonville).

Now for the picture you see at the top of this post. That picture was taken last night on Bourbon Street in New Orleans. It features porn star hotties Chad Manning and Tom Wolfe. Since they were both wearing matching locks around their necks, I think it is safe to assume they are the latest porn couple.

NEW ORLEANS - SOUTHERN DECADANCE

I came to New Orleans this weekend not knowing what to expect. I had tried coming here for Southern Decadance before...but every time I tried a Hurricane hit (or came close).....so I never made it here for Decadance. The main reason I wanted to come here was to see my friends in porn. I always enjoy seeing Ryan Raz....and Jeremy Bilding is such a sweetheart.

The picture above is of Jeremy Bilding outside the Bourbon Pub on Friday night....

I stayed in the Central Business District (CBD) of New Orleans....right across the street from the French Quarter. The big benefit for staying in the CBD is that it is quiet (so you can get sleep at night). If you want to just party all the time, a good place to stay is the Bourbon Orleans Hotel. It is right next door to the 2 main gay clubs (OZ and Bourbon Pub).....so convenient if you want to stumble back to your place after a night of drinking (or if you want a close place to bring your trick!).

The gym situation in the CBD/French Quarter is pretty bad. The "best" gym is the New Orleans Athletic Club. I did not go there this trip...but when I was here 4 years ago, the gym was just an average gym (and they charge a LOT for day passes....not really worth it in my opinion). The only other gym in the CBD area is the Elmwood Fitness Center. I was going to workout there....but they close at 2pm on Saturdays and are closed on Sundays. I was in luck though. The JW Marriott has a good BASIC gym with dumbbells, cable equipment, basic machines, and cardio. If you are creative with your workouts, you can actually get a pretty good workout at this gym. The gym at the JW Marriott is free for guests of the hotel AND also for guest of the Courtyard by Marriott next door (of course, that is subject to change).

The bars in New Orleans were all PACKED this weekend with guys visiting for Southern Decadance. The 2 biggest bars (OZ and Bourbon Pub) are right across the street from each other. They are both located on Bourbon Street (after you pass all of the straight bars). It was interesting to see how many "straight" bars had gay flags flying outside this weekend. I guess everyone wants to make a buck these days. OZ and Bourbon Pub are mostly what I would call the younger, circuit crowd. They both have strippers (at least they did this weekend) and the music and atmosphere is great!

I met up Friday night with a friend from Austin,TX and he gave me the bar tour. We started at OZ and Bourbon Pub....and then went to the "seedier" bars in the French Quarter. We first went to Good Friends Bar. It was smaller....the crowd was older....and the strippers upstairs were fully nude (with hardons). The atmosphere was a little more laid-back.

Next we went to the Rawhide. This bar is the KING OF SLEEZE! Half of this bar is a back-room....and guys were fucking and sucking all over the place. The crowd is definitely a older crowd....but if you are looking for young hotties.....I am told by the locals that there is always one or 2 that stumble in looking to get some action. This bar is basically just a glorified sex club with a bar in the middle.

Finally, we went to Lafitte's. It is located on Bourbon Street as well (1 block from OZ/Bourbon Pub). The downstairs was like any other bar (with strippers and guys cruising).....but the upstairs had a back-room area where I saw guys getting fucked and sucked in the dark corners.

After the bar tour, we walked around Bourbon Street in front of all the gay bars. The street in front of OZ/Bourbon Pub was PACKED and there was really no need to even go inside at that point. It was almost like a street party (it reminded me of Folsom Fair in San Francisco).

I head to Birmingham next........