October 22nd, 2007
Lucratively positioned as the only café in the Auburn-Main area, North End Neighborhood Coffee Bar has many appeals.
Â
One, there is nowhere else to get coffee in that area:  We’ve gone to school at Boylan for over three years, and there have many times that we’ve wished for a coffee shop to magically appear at N. Main and Riverside. Unfortunately, it never happened and we were forced to accept either going thirsty or driving way out of our way. Since we’ve heard of North End, however, we’ve come to love having a café with such good drinks so close.
Â
Two, free wi-fi: Some not-as-cool cafés (*cough* Starbucks *cough*) think you should have to have T-Mobile to use the Internet, which is a big inconvenience when you have another service.
Â
And three, small coffee shops always have the best local flavor. The service is really friendly, and the drinks are unique and reasonable priced. Most small drinks are around $2. Our favorite was the white chocolate mocha. The chocolate taste was definitely subtle, but that’s not a bad thing, as it complemented the mocha well. The chai tea wasn’t life changing, but it was still refreshing. In terms of other chai teas, it had more of a Meg’s Daily Grind thick, spiced taste, as opposed to Starbuck’s more natural, tea taste. Both of these drinks went well with the pumpkin spice cookie. It was very soft, more like really flat pumpkin bread instead of a cookie, but the frosting and sprinkles were still a nice touch.
Â
North End Neighborhood Coffee Bar is a coffee shop without the frills. The inside is plain; it has painted walls, concrete floors, wooden tables, and not much else. However, the coffee is so good that you don’t need fancy décor to make up for it. The next time you’re in the area, check it out for a warm drink in this chilly fall weather!
[North End Neighborhood Coffee Bar is located at 1408 N. Main St., Rockford. You can call them at 815-964-4412.]
October 17th, 2007
Halloween is a time for fun, but more importantly, a time to get scared! This Halloween, there are many ways to do just this in the Rockford area, including a variety of haunted activities and some new movies.
The haunted Temple of Terror is located at the Tebala Shrine at 7910 Newburg Rd. in Rockford. This local haunted house is advertised as an abyss of darkness where anything can emerge. We would try visiting it for an opening into the haunted house season. It’s opened weekends now until Halloween. Tickets are $10. Visit www.tebala.org for more information and a $1 off coupon.
Probably one of the most popular haunted activities is the Trail of Screams. It’s located at the YMCA Camp Winnebago at 5804 N Main St. in Rockford. When we visited it last year, we were not very impressed; however, we heard this year was a lot better. The majority of the trail is outside, so make sure to bundle up! It’s opened Fridays, Saturdays and the last night, Halloween, from 7p.m. to Midnight, and Weekdays and Sundays from 7-11p.m. Tickets are $10. Visit www.trailofscreams.com for more information.
30 Days of Night looks like one of the more promising movies of this year’s scary season. The location is in northernmost town in the United States, Barrow, Alaska, and the plot surrounds the town’s experiences after an evil force visits the town. 30 Days of Night opens October 19th. This might be a good activity if you’re looking for something fun to do the night of Halloween.
And for those of you who felt that Saws 1-3 were the best movies ever (we know some of you out there!), you will be glad to hear that Saw 4 is released October 26th. After the last movie, we are curious to see what path this movie takes after what seemed like the completion of the series in Saw 3. We personally think they should’ve stopped after the first one, but who knows, they may just surprise us.
These are just a few of your options if you’re looking for a good scare around Halloween. We hope to try out as many of them as we can, but unfortunately Halloween is coming up quite quickly! Let us know which are your favorites, which we should stay away from, and of course your favorite Halloween movies. Now, go get scared!
