The downside (or among the downsides) of having a famous prison in your town is that this is what the town becomes synonymous with. When we heard our nephew and his star baseball team would be playing in the Illinois state high school championship in Joliet, the first thing that came to mind was “prison.” (The second thing was “Blues Brothers” — the movie that features The prison.)
turns out Joliet has a few other things including a casino (which we didn’t visit) and the silver cross ballpark, a pleasant minor league size stadium with real seats and cup holders, and Juliet’s, a warm and cozy bar that serves decent food in an old building with red brick walls, burnished wood and high stamped tin ceilings. The town (once you get in the old part, east of the nondescript sprawl near I 55) has some charming old buildings and looks like the typical struggling town that has hidden gems here and there, if you are willing to explore. Which we were.
For the record: the comfort inn in east moline was much better than the comfort inn in moline. Room didn’t smell. Mattress and pillows comfortable. Odd decor (wall art here and there, each time featuring two of the same image, hanging side by side or one atop the other. Huh?)
At Juliet’s
TakeBetsywithyou 