“The Gang” celebrated Tony’s 34th birthday yesterday in the fair city of Grand Rapids. Tony and Jen stayed overnight at the Amway, as did Jon and Emilie, so the five of us made an evening of it.

Itinerary:

• Drinks at the bar across from Amway’s hotel registration area at 5 p.m.
• Dinner at The Chop House.
• Cigars, dessert and cocktails at the cigar lounge below The Chop House.
• An hour or so at Mojo’s enjoying more cocktails (the place was infested with bachelorette parties, but was otherwise tolerable).
• More cocktails at Cygnus 27 at the top of the Amway.
• Attempted 1 a.m. chicken strips run at TGI Fridays; thwarted by a closed kitchen.
• Burgers at Z’s Bar and Grill. Tony and Jen both spilled their sodas, and were rewarded with “sippy cups” from our good-natured waitress. We tipped her generously.
• Retired for the evening around 2:30 a.m.

In all, a good time.

A few highlights:

1. We had no idea Chop House had a cigar lounge. Woohoo.
2. Jon and Emilie picked an excellent bottle of wine with dinner. My grilled swordfish steak was quite tasty.
3. Cygnus isn’t too bad. First time I’ve been up there since the remodel. Tony ran into one of the band members from the Bob Seeger concert and got an autograph.
4. Mojo’s will make you deaf if you stay there long enough. That said, the server’s adding a few cherries to my tall Sam Adams Cherry Wheat was a nice touch.

I’m glad I was able to spend time with Jon and Emilie and Tony and Jen — they’re a great group of friends.