Things to do in Ann Arbor: the Main Street District and Krazy Jim's Blimpie Burger

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I'm Johnny MC and travel is back. Recently, I made my way to

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ann Arbor, Michigan, and I
loved it super cool. I had no

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idea what to expect, and I
found this really cool downtown area and I

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was walking around on a Saturday night
with my family. There were live bands,

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street cafes, all kinds of cool
things, and we discovered a thrift

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store called rag Stock, described on
the Internet as a trendy clothing chain,

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stocking hip, new, used,
vintage, and one of a kind pieces

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for men and women. So let's
pick up my audio recording there as I'm

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walking around Ragstock. Oh that's great, let's get it. Loved the dumpim

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shirt. This store is cool.
Oh look it has a Ricky Moody.

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This is funnest place. I like
this Jaws shirt. You could rock that

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Chicago Bulls cool ghostwriterer Mickey the Little
Tiny One. Not sure it's gonna fit

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me, but it's very cute.
I like this Jaws cool Dog ninety two,

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Rockys cool vintage caps, Pepsi MTV
shirt. I see all a Michigan

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one Asca of Blats beer shirt,
Bush Beer Racing, nice minted yellow cores

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bring quick from very eighties prints with
Fred Show computer graphics, squiggles and black

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triangles, look straight out of MPV. Barbian kin sections, pack man Go

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sweatshirt, too small art already own
it. This is Ragstock, a vintage

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shrift store. All kinds of cool
clothes, multiple rooms, love the vibe.

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We then made our way to the
main street area in the district.

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That was a few cool blocks of
restaurants, tons of coffee shops, and

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on this Saturday night in July they
had the streets all closed. There was

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a live band playing great vibe.
The official website tells us you'd be hard

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pressed to find a more vibrant,
exciting area of ann Arbor than main Street.

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I agree, bursting get the seams
with progressive restaurants, creative cocktail bars,

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unique meeting spaces, beloved music venues, and boundary breaking art galleries.

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The main Street area is the beating
heart of ann Arbor's dynamic downtown area.

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Yeah, really vibrant scene. And
we'll talk about the music scene. I

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really liked it. A lot.
Website tells us dynamic dining is possibly what

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most defines the main Street area.
You'll find award winning, top notch fine

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dining steaks at the Chop House,
the Asian inspired menu, a Pacific rim

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Cuban inspired cuisine at Free to Botitos, and fast casual Greek food at Cuisina.

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If you're into breakfast, healthful comfort
food at Avalon Cafe, and to

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try the creeps and waffles at Cafe
Zola That's where I wound up. Cool

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bar scene. Check out the speakeasy
style underground hidden gym the last word for

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pre prohibition style cocktails and great food. You can visit one of the state's

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oldest microbreweries, Arbor Brewing Company.
You're into wine, try the wine list

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at the Earl. Plenty of places
to shop, including imported goods at places

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like ten Thousand Villages and the Himalayan
Bazarre, the bunch of bookstores coffee shops.

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Let's go back to my recording and
join me in the family. As

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I stumble unplanned to the main Street
area District Main street areas. This next

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clock two looks cool like it's closed
off so that you could sit on the

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street. This looks like the happening
area because is Liberty Street. I have

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a closed off and they have outdoor
seating on what would normally be where the

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cars roll. This looks awesome.
I think this is more breakfast hours avalon

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coffee bar. Yeah, a lot
of coffee shops. Another one across the

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street. All right, here's the
sciences downtown. So I accidentally stumbled across

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what I wanted, Pretze bell I
don't know what pretza Belle is. Coffee

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and ice cream. I could live
here. How this is awesome street fair?

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So did we just look out and
get a parking spot? This is

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scream another coffee player. See wu
Yama Jazz Club looks really cool. Lu

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Yama Jazz Club looked awesome. I
didn't get an opportunity to go in,

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but it just had a really cool
vibe to it New Orleans vibes on Main

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Street. Someone on trip Advisor wrote, it's the only place in ann Arbor

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we can get fine dining along with
live jazz. The interior is beautiful,

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highly recommended for a date or a
special night out. Then I got distracted

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by a candy shop. Oh wow, candy shop. Check it out.

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Oh you just heard about this online
right, like in like a building that

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had vintage shops. This is what
you were describe walking into Rocket Fizz candy

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Rocket fizz soda shop and candy shops
say they have the largest selection of candy

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and soda ever found in one store, hundreds of sodas from microberries all over

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the world, and almost every candy
ever made. You will discover amazing flavors

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here. Let's listen. This smells
so good in here. So munch of

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sodas, coffeecake soda, cherries and
cream, Enchilada soda. That's amazing,

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weather Stotch candy soda. You want
an Enchilata soda, Labrador flavor? Want

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some garlic Joe contents? One pickle, thiz it of oz soda, sweet

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corn, Buffalo Wing soda, Buffalo
Wing soda. Has to be discussing if

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you had a pick buffalo wing or
enchilada, but if you had to pick

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buffalo mustards amazing, but Pumpobie,
I don't know, Yah pozzo good now

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right? Hes care bears. I
know this sounds stupid because of our age.

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When's the last time you saw seven
op It's a knee high, It's

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just tons of inch of soda.
It's a blue cream soda. It looks

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like the color of windex fits his
cardinal cream and his bright red Dad's orange

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soda. It's like a cream spool, loving all these drinks. I still

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love scream and ate street, big
leak, chew heads, like this place.

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Mystery soap. Yeah, that's what
she was looking into. She wanted

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one, but then she's afraid it's
going to be a bad What's pretzel bell?

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What is pretzel bell? A little
bit of everything, A little bit

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of everything. It's a little bit
more than the other one. Okay,

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let's see what's on this block.
Right, we have nothing but time.

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Daddy's making friends. I saw I
saw a couple more people sitting out on

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the streets. I just figured check
it out. Go around the Hyperion coffee.

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Cool bookshop. Remember the bookshop in
Paris that we just randomly walked through.

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It was fun. Whoa, what's
that over there? Hey? I

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found the Crazy Chimoky Burger. And
my old boss he's like mister Michigan.

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He told me about this place.
I asked him for recommendations, and he's

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like, you definitely want to go
there. Establish in nineteen fifty three,

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this burger joint with a cafeteria style
setup, also makes sandwiches. Blimpy Burger

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has found in nineteen fifty three,
but here. In the twenty first century,

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it's been getting coverage on various TV
shows. In two thousand and eight,

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Blimpy was featured on Diners, Dive, Ins and Dives. An episode

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of Man Versus Food filmed here.
In twenty ten, USA Today named Blimpy

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at ten Great Places for regional fast
food Treasures. Blimpy was featured on the

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travel show Hamburger Paradise in twenty twelve. Blimpy Burger says our burgers are still

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made with fresh beef ground in house
daily. We use the same recipe for

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our hand battered and breaded onion rings
and veggies. You still order your food

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directly from the cook and you watch
it made on the grill. Yes,

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the same grill. And they say
they still give two dollar bills and fifty

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cent pieces for change. Love the
retroonist. So that alas I had just

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missed it, they had just closed
for the evening. I didn't even get

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to go back to my recordings Fleetwood
Diner. I like the slogan cheaper than

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food, all right, So let's
cross when we have this light. Let's

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see what's over here. Bill's beergard
looks like a good time. Pacific rim

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seafood put Nordless. The cherry stuff, alright, we're checking out the cherry

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stuff. Cherry Republic cherries. All
right, let's learn just closing. Oh

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there, yeah, I'm gonna wait
up here. They're closing Cherry Republic.

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From Chocolate's to Sausa for delicious products, celebrating Northern Michigan's tart cherries. We

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got here, Walter midnight. No, I'm good, I'm good. Yeah,

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Himalayan Bizarre looks cool. The Himalayan
Bizarre and Main Street ann Arbor has

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a unique history. Heather O'Neill was
trekking to Ever's base camp in Nepal in

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nineteen ninety eight and stayed friends with
Pim, who lived in a remote village

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and spoke no English. Having spent
her junior year abroad Nepal, Heather has

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spoke some Nepali. After meeting Pim, Heather started a travel company in ann

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Arbor. She's been leading trips trekking
in the Himalayas with Pim's help since the

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two thousand. What's this? Cafe
Zola looks cool? Chicken who's interesting?

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Whatever you guys want? And yeah, cafe Zola did look good. That's

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why I wound up for breakfast the
next day. Now, I thought I

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had recorded some stuff at breakfast,
but apparently the recording failed. But I

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can tell you we sat outside at
the sidewalk cafe. Service was excellent.

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I'd some nice pancakes at Nice Coffee
or two I think it too, and

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then we had it off to do
some outdoor activities. But that's next week's

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show. So we follow the show
for free on Apple, podcast, Spotify,

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YouTube, wherever you get your shows, and we'll pick up in ann

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Arbor again next week. Travel is
back