Have you been to NYC? I’m spending a week in Manhatten in ealy May. I’ve never been before and was hoping you could suggest “must see” sites, restaurants, shops, etc. What can’t I miss? What should I skip?

It’s been an eventful week. I’ve been up to a lot but don’t really feel like writing about any of it so I’ll just type out some quick highlights. Thursday evening was spent having cocktails in the old neighborhood - it was great for that reminiscing part of my brain. Later we headed over to the Oriental Theater (nice blog, great venue) for this “420″ thing that was a bit of a dud, but a decent cause.

Friday was rough but after work I rallied and met friends over at the Funky Buddha for a bit and then went home to watch movies.

Slept in Saturday and did tons of yard work (hmmm I guess that’s not a highlight). I then went off to a birthday party at Ogden Street South. It was a complete blast. Highlights include karaoke and the soon to be infamous “Nobody calls her that you fucking bitch!” episode. I’m beginning to determine that me and karaoke don’t mix well.

Sunday consisted of a 24 hour long headache (not hangover induced), another birthday celebration at the West End Tavern, and some serious couch time.

On Friday I went up to Brekenridge.

My brother introduced me to a group of friends who were “displaced” by hurricane Katrina last summer. Suddenly, finding themselves homeless, a group of them decided to move out to Colorado, rent a house in Breckenridge, find some jobs in town, and become ski bums for the winter season. Brilliant! This weekend was the last weekend they were living in town (some are moving down to Denver, another is going back to NOLA). This was my last weekend to take advantage of the fact they lived so close to the mountains. Because it snowed another two inches, on what I was expecting to be a spring day, I decided to opt out of the skiing. I did not fail to take advantage of the hot tub though (and the partying going on around it). This also probably contributes to my not going skiing. As always though, a fun time was had by all.

Easter brunch was spent at my Fathers. All the traditional stuff plus figs. I had three deviled eggs, which has become my deviled egg norm. Afterward, my brother, Pandy, and I went to visit my Grandma. It just so happened that her old neighbors who helped her out so much when she was in the springs were there too. It was nice to see Grandma was getting other visitors and gave us plenty to talk about. Grandma seemed much happier than normal. That makes for a wonderful Easter. Dinner was over at G’s aunt’s house.

That’s a whole lot of ham for one day.

Last Wednesday contained quite a few firsts for me. I attended my first Passover Seder. I’m not much of a religious man but I enjoy the pageantry and ritual of most religions, regardless of their beliefs. Judaism is no exception. We had the homemade Haggadah and Seder Plate. There were about 25 friends and acquaintances seated at the table which made for a lively time. There was the Matzo, Gefilte Fish, and Matzo Ball Soup. All of which I had never experienced before. Of course there were the four cups of wine (what a wonderful tradition!) in addition to all the singing and merriment. The Seder lasted hours and went well into the night. Definitely a fun and very informative evening.

Vehegadeta levincha bayom hahu leymor ba’avur zeh asah Adonay li betzaysi miMitzrayim

A couple of weeks ago I had the pleasure/displeasure of eating at one of Denver’s - scratch that - the Nation’s landmark restaurants: Casa Bonita.

Casa Bonita opened in 1974. It is over 52,000 square feet with seating for 1,100 guests and took one year to build. Since the Casa Bonita in Tulsa closed in September of 2005 (which I’m incredibly disappointed in never having had the chance to visit), Denver’s Casa Bonita is now one of a kind - with the exception of the soon to be open Casa Viva and The Mayan (which was sued by Casa Bonita). Casa Bonita achieved national recognition recently with it’s appearance on South Park.

I think it’s easily described as the offspring of a broken down Disneyland, less than stellar Taco Bell, long airport security lines, the Las Vegas Strip, Chunky Cheese, and good liquid acid.

Nearly everyone who has lived in Denver, for any amount of time, is going to know what casa Bonita is. And most of those people are going to gag at the mere mention of it’s name. In fact, the reputation of the food at Casa Bonita is so poor it has been deemed “Casa Don’t-eat-a” by many Denverites. Casa Bonita is not for the week of heart or the week of stomach. It is just as plastic as Vegas (maybe more). And the food is some of the worst I’ve ever had. For reals.

The lines to get into the Casa can be horrendous. Go on a weeknight, less screaming children and little-to-no lines. If you decide to make a weekend night out of it you can expect lines up to an hour long to get in. And often a 30 minute line can form just to get the hell out of there. You’ve been warned. Trust me, this is one of the last places on earth you want to feel trapped.

After you have made your order and paid (you didn’t think they’re going let you see what’s on your plate before you paid did you), you are ushered to another cafeteria style line were you get a tray and wait until a young lady asks, “wachoo order?”. Soon your meal comes sliding out of a mysterious hole in the wall were it waits for you under the heating lamps. I love the fact that you never see where or by whom your food is made - it just appears through a hole!

I can only harsh on Casa Bonita for so long though. I personally, have spent many a childhood birthday at Casa Bonita. It will forever hold a nostalgic place in my heart, no matter how many times I end up puking in the fountain on the way out.

And so the fun begins. After getting your slop you’ll be lead to your seat. Everyone asks for a seat by the waterfall. Don’t. The smell of chlorine will get your stomach upset before you have a chance to drink your first coronaita. And they won’t seat you there anyway. One of the coolest things about Casa Bonita is all the cool rooms they can seat you in. There are gazebos, waterfall seating, mines, cave rooms, “open air” seating, and the governors mansion.

This particular time we were seated in the magic room. This room had a cool chandelier and stage complete with red velvet curtain. There are magic shows every hour. The magician seemed like the saddest man on the planet but actually produced quite a few laughs.

In addition to magic shows, Casa Bonita has all kinds of other entertainment including pupppet shows, flame jugglers, a wishing well, a roaming mariachi band (which reportedly can’t play anything other than ‘happy birthday’), Black Barts cave, an arcade filled with 80’s video games and ski-ball, a souvenir store filled with absolute shit - and t-shirts, “authentic” Mexican dancers, a wishing well, piñatas for the kids, and all kinds of other stuff. Casa Bonita is great to go exploring in. Go thru a door your not supposed, search around, there is cool stuff to be found.

But by far the main attraction at Casa Bonita is the thirty-foot waterfall. Everyone seems to fall into the waterfall. If it’s not the regular divers doing flips, it’s Black Bart being shot by the sheriff and falling into the pool, or Chiquita the gorilla running around it escaping her captor and harassing the patrons. It’s the waterfall that makes Casa Bonita really unique. The diver’s at Casa Bonita even have there own blog featuring Chiquita.

Here are some Southpark screen caps and sounds.

Here are Casa Bonita My Space and Friendster accounts.

Go to Tiki Boyds and get a drink called the Casa Bonita. Refreshing!

Her reminiscing about Casa Bonita really hit home with me.

This dude made a video of his Casa Bonita experience.

Jeffery Sward has some great phtography of Casa Bonita.

The death metal band Carrion Crawler once did a short show on the Casa Bonita stage before getting kicked off.

Some more Casa Bonita photos can be found here.

This is a decent post about the Casa.

Please share you favorite / nostalgic / least favorite stories about the Casa. Or, just comment on how absolutly jealous you are of not being able to go here every weekend!

I am swamped with work. I’m treading water feverishly. However, I’m able to kkep my head above water. It’s hard to do while typeing on a keyboard though so I’ll leave you with a quick list of things I have done recently that have been worthehile. Not including working:

• Skiing at Winter Park last weekend
• Drinks at the new Purlple Martini
• Free drinks at the Front Porch (Wednesday is flip night)
• Naked Fajitas at Chipolte
• Delicious Pork Chops for dinner
• My first BBQ party in ought six
• Backgammon by candlelight during a power outage

I hope that was at least a semi-satisfying list.