Beach Party Madness

This place is crazy. In fact, it's basically another world, one that holds up to 4,000 people. It reminds me of the sickeningly sweet dessert concoctions I make some nights to make up for the fact that I was deprived of sugar as a child. (Think: cookie dough & peanut butter melted together, plus ice cream, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. Love.) However, this place isn't a "dessert bowl," it's a "spring break lifestyle bowl."

Ocean City, Maryland's Seacrets is a fantastic trip back in time to the world of spring break. You can pull up a stool to a cocktail table that is set a foot into the bay, rock out to reggae bands jamming on the beach stage, lay out with your drink on an inner tube in the water, get down on one of the nightclub dance floors, or eat dinner under tiki torches-- be careful, though, you're probably being broadcast live on a movie screen somewhere else within the grounds!

The best part is that when you finally go home after a night of debauchery, you're not on spring break. That means you can go home, brush your teeth, go to sleep in an actual bed, and wake up for the 9am sun.

Tips:

- Even though you're at the beach, this place has a strict dress code!

- Don't wear heels (flip flops are allowed), since you'll be trudging across sand throughout the club.

- Don't go on the private dock if you've been drinking exorbitant amounts.

- Do dance! Reggae is meant for beach parties!

Southern Comfort

After a few years spent in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and plenty of visits to Atlanta and more, I can certainly say I've seen my fair share of the down-home Southern bar scene. But I've realized since moving to flashy Manhattan, with all of its glitzy rooftop hotspots and exciting W. 27th nightclubs, that many have yet to go to the kind of bar where you can count on hearing Alabama's "Dixieland Delight" at midnight.

Sure, New Yorkers can pretend to rock out dixie-style at places like Brother Jimmy's, the allegedly All-ACC bar on the Upper East and West Sides. But I've found on weekend nights, the places are filled to capacity with none other than Columbia students. And there are a number of self-proclaimed dive bars who thrive on white-collared Midtown types who assert they keep it real by drinking $2 PBR. Personally, I was definitely craving a carefree night, where it's warm enough in April to leave the jacket at home, where you create your own dance floor right against the actual bar and it's cool with everyone, and where the bud light bottles really are $2.

On a recent visit to Charlotte, NC I got just that-- plus a piercing lemon drop in a clear plastic solo cup-- on a weekend visiting friends. The local pick was Dixie's Tavern, but I'm sure others would have sufficed as well. One of the best nights I've had in awhile; the kind where you dance like hell until the wee hours of the morning (or 2am by Charlotte law). And you'd be surprised who you meet down south; there's a swell of finance and banking going on in more cities than one. So next time you take a trip to the Dirrrty South, make sure to give a wild & unpretentious bar a try-- you might find yourself having a surprisingly (or not?) fantastic time.