It all started Thursday evening at Rush Off Main, a Cubs Bar in Brownsburg. Jon and Brevin Tilmon met their cousins, Alec and Chris Schuck and myself for some Old Style beer and Chicago themed food.

Those boys continued on to the Butler/Providence basketball 🏀 game while I went to the New Ross Wintins and a wonderful ribeye 🥩 dinner cheffed by my son, Lawyer. Bathed in 🧄 garlic butter, it was delicious.

After a morning of playing with Lawson, I headed south. On the way home I stopped off in Greenwood for some City BBQ.

Finally, I decided on some Crumbl 🍪 Cookies. I struggled with the automated order system, but after a bit of time and some help from a human, the order was successful.

I made it home for David Goecker’s surprise birthday party and even have a growler of Zwanzigz Honey 🍯 🌾 Wheat and a couple of oranges 🍊 for New Years Eve…Boom!!!

When I meet a new person locally they may ask “Are you related to the Walt Wintin that was the teacher at Seymour?” To which the answer is “Yes. He was my Dad.”

This year at Lutheran Central Grandparents Day, Cam Nierman’s grandma asked, “Are you related to the Walt Wintin that was a football 🏈 coach at Warren Central?” Holy cow! We moved back to Seymour in 1967! What a pleasant surprise to meet Sherry and Armin 🍎 Apple that day.

As I am coaching Cam and brother Brayton Nierman this 🏀 basketball season, I have spoken to the Apples several times at ball games.

A week or so ago, Armin mentioned that Jaggers, a new restaurant in Columbus, had a really good 🍔 burger. So, after two victorious games at St, Bartholomew Thursday night, I had to give it a try.

I don’t often include fast food on The Diner, however, Jaggers is pretty darn good. I had the Bacon, cheese, avocado burger. It was two beef patties, Crispy bacon, Swiss cheese and slices of avocado. The fries 🍟 would be in the “shoe string” variety and I can also recommend them.

I tried the chocolate chip cookies of which you get six and they appear to be baked in a muffin tin.

Located east of I-65 at the Veteran’s Parkway exit in Clarksville, we enjoyed a wonderful breakfast at Wild Eggs. We all agreed that we would drive to Clarksville if the main reason was to eat there.

There was an incredible menu with breakfast burritos🌯 , omelettes , chicken & waffles, A Bloody Mary, …all kinds of stuff.

I had the mad Platter which was three medium 🥚 eggs, three pieces of 🥓 bacon, three sausage links, gone fries, a blueberry 🫐 muffin and a pancake. The home fries were outstanding and the muffin was just tremendous!

If I go back, I would probably try the 🌯 burrito.

Quite the combination, Jeff and Luke are!

Us and Stahls met the Tilmon’s at 5:30 at Jeff Ruby’s Steak 🥩 House in Louisville Friday… It was an incredible evening!

I had the Porter House T-Bone which one side off he bone is a New York Strip and the other is a Filet Mignon. It was 24 ounces. When I first saw it, I doubted I could eat the whole thing. However, I made it to the finish line.

For sides, we had the garlic 🧄 creamed 🌽 corn, mushrooms 🍄, asparagus, and a delicious Mac and cheese. They all were superb.

Bruce and I have done Tomahawk steaks about four times, and we (mostly Bruce) can cook one as good as any I have ever had. However, Jeff Ruby’s was a nice experience, and with the concert next door at the YUM! Center, it was an excellent choice.

Lainy Wilson and Jordan Davis performed first and were outstanding!

But, Luke Combs gave possibly the best show I have ever witnessed. The entire YUM! Center was captivated by his performance.

I have seen The Eagles, Kiss, Rolling Stones, Kenny Chesney three times..,they were all really good, but Luke Combs absolutely slayed it! He had the crowd in the palm of his hand, and when he sang “Long Neck, Ice Cold Beer Never Broke My Heart,” every person in the house, including security, was rocking and rolling and singing along.

If you are a regular reader of Walt’s Diner, you know that Last Thursday night after hiking 🥾 the Grand Canyon Rim, we had a BIG 💰🥩 steak dinner in Tusayan, Arizona. I mentioned that if I had Bruce Stahl and Richard Hackman that we could produce something just as good or better right here in Grassy Fork Township.

We have been home less that 24 hours and it has already happened. However, we did have a trump card!… Nina Hackman.

On an additional post from the North Rim we had some Cloud Cookies from The Jacob Lake Inn.

Nina took it upon herself to duplicate these gems.

She baked a chocolate chip 🍪 cookie, Added a marshmallow and after it had melted a bit, she spread chocolate frosting on top. Home run!!!

The National Parks were incredible, but the Big Butt BBQ team can cook with the best. As well, we didn’t even have Bruce tonight!

In Chandler, Arizona Vanessa took us to Ghett-Yo Tacos, Burritos and Sliders and it was a big success.

Heidi’s niece Vanessa lives in Chandler and this was the first place they went after moving to Arizona. Great service and great food.

The Western Slider was a burger 🍔 with 🥓 bacon, 🧀 cheese, an onion ring 🧅 , and BBQ sauce on a toasted bun. It made me happy 😃 ! The Fried Guac 🌮 was a blob of fried guacamole 🥑, 🥬 cabbage, cheese and I added taco sauce. Need to fry up some avocado 🥑 and or guacamole at home. This was a hit!

I also had a Two Pitchers Blood Orange on draft. It was a grapefruit beer that was sweet and refreshing!

👍 👍 Two Thumbs up on This one!

We started our day early with hiking 🥾 The Narrows all the way to Wall Street. The Virgin River runs through Zion Canyon and at the far end, the canyon narrows and hikers walk through the shallow river up to where the canyon walls go straight 🆙. We did a six mile hike up and back down the river in about five hours.

Manipulating the 🪨 rocks and rapids was a big challenge for us. No one fell or was injured and it was a huge success and a wonderful experience.

Upon our return, we went across from Zion Outfitters to the Zion Brewery for a well deserved lunch.

Heidi had the elk burger.

Combining an incredible outdoor challenge and a quality lunch was a fine way to get the vacation ball rolling. Every view from Zion is simply magnificent.

Upon leaving the Grand Canyon we headed east to Winslow on our way to the Petrified Forest National Park.

Thank goodness Heidi also wanted to stand on the corner! It was a wonderful 🛑 stop.

After spending the night at the Red Feather Lodge in Tusayan, Arizona, we were up and at’em to see the South Rim. We bussed Up to Hermit’s Rest and Rae and I hiked 5 miles down the Rim Trail to the Mojave 🛑 Stop. It was breathtaking!

We met Heidi and Sophie and drove up to the Desert View Tower where a park worker stated that “It was built as a tourist attraction 90 years ago and it is a success because you are here.”

Since I had a cookie for lunch, we went BIG for dinner. Big E it is!!! 🥩

I started with the Grand Canyon Brewery’s 🌅 Sunset Amber 🍺 Ale and it was a darn good beer.

I had the Big E rib-eye, 🧅 onion rings and 🍄.

In conclusion, The Big E was okay. However, if I have Richard Hackman and Bruce Stahl on my team, we can cook anything as good as we can buy it at a restaurant. Put some 🧄 garlic salt on a steak 🥩 and we are golden. Richard and Bruce can fry anything and it is wonderful. Heck, I can even bake a potato 🥔 and it will be dandy.

Upon leaving the North Rim and a hike to Angel’s Point, we stopped at Jacob Lake Inn for some lunch. It is a restaurant, store, gift shop and motel all in one.

The food turned out to be really good!

The Cloud 🍪 Cookie has got it going on!

1. Bake the chocolate cookie

2. Take cookies out and place a marshmallow on top

3. Place cookies back in oven for the marshmallow to belt a bit

4. After cooling off, spread chocolate frosting over the top

This cookie was a masterpiece!!!