[pannod]

I'm going to Jonesboro this week for an interview and while I'm there I want to look around town a bit. Are there any areas I should avoid? What should I make a point in seeing? Good places to eat?

Thanks.

[goody2shoes2001]

There are plenty of good places to eat, you can find almost anything you crave in J'boro. As for areas to avoid, there are a few scattered around town but most are not in high traffic areas. Some random assaults have occurred along Johnson Ave. and the neighborhoods branching off Johnson. As with any other city you can pretty well tell by the appearance of an area if you should worry about your safety.

[pannod]

Thanks goody2shoes for your input. I've heard, and read some here, that Jonesboro is pretty nice, so I'm looking forward to my visit. I'll look up Johnson Ave on MapQuest and see which streets branch off. I've looked up some rental property in case I decide to move there, so I'd also like to make sure the places I'm interested in are in a safe area.

Just a thought... isn't it weird how every city/town has it's "not so good" area no matter the size? I wonder if there is a city/town anywhere in the US where you don't have to worry about a "bad" area. I'm just a curious cat about such things. Not going on a wild goose chase for the perfect town!

[terrabeth]

Originally Posted by pannod

I'm going to Jonesboro this week for an interview and while I'm there I want to look around town a bit. Are there any areas I should avoid? What should I make a point in seeing? Good places to eat?

Thanks.

Kirin is our favorite Asian buffet... it's easy to find on S Caraway, one of the main streets in town, look for it near Corky's bbq. They don't use msg, their ingredients are fresher, and they're smarter with their oil use. You can build your own stirfry. Typical asian buffet prices. We miss it so much since we moved a couple of months ago!

Downtown, there are some nice places, though we didn't eat there often. Main St Pizza is really good. If you like bbq, I recommend Couch's. And if you like coffee drinks, there's a really fast drive through place on Matthew's between Stadium and Caraway... called Shadrack's... it's tiny, like a little stand almost, but believe it or not, they do a good job, good prices, and very fast.

Your main roads across town are Stadium on the east side, Caraway in the middle, and Southwest Blvd on the west side (which sort of turns into Main St, I think, on one end of town, though honestly that always confused me!).

Perpendicular to those are Johnson on the north end, Nettleton and Matthews through the middle (Matthews goes downtown to lots of doc's offices and hospital), and Highland and the Bypass on the south end of town. Highland goes past a Wal-mart and also past both malls, one on Highland/Caraway and the other on Highland/Stadium. You'll find lots of restaurants on Caraway.

As for sights, ASU has a pretty cool museum in their library, free admission. And if you take the 67 bypass looking for a brown exit sign for the Forrest L. Wood Crowley's Ridge Nature Center (then take a left on the street the exit takes you to and keep following the brown signs... it's on the edge of town, through a nice residential area)... that is a really neat place to visit and learn about the local topography. It's also free admission. They have a multisensory short film about the creation of the ridge and some local history. They have an overlook, both up an easy trail and also an overlook tower in the building itself. There are some lovely new trails around it linking between the Nature Center and the adjacent Craighead Forest Park with a lake and great play areas. When my hubbie was interviewing there, we'd grab McAlister's Deli sandwhiches (they're located on Caraway also, tucked in behind the Dixie Cafe) and go out to Craighead Forest to eat. It's nice out there.

As the other poster mentioned, Johnson Ave is really the only area of town that has any problems... mostly right there off of Johnson and on the north side of it. Though driving down Johnson, itself is not a problem... it's a main street across town, on the north edge and connects between Main St and Stadium Blvd on the ede of the University Campus. Campus is super safe, most other areas of town are as well, nothing else comes to mind. It's a very easy place to live in and visit. I wouldn't worry about a thing.

Good luck with your interview and hope you enjoy the town!

[pannod]

Thank you Terrabeth for all of the great info. I'm actually going tomorrow (7/18) and will only have time for the interview and a quick look around town. However, I will definitely go back and check out the nature area. I've been dying to spend some time with my camera since I left Louisiana, but job hunting has taken precedence. Honestly, I'm not expecting a lot from this particular interview, but it's good practice for future opps. I have applied with other companies in Jonesboro, so there is a chance I could move there if the right job comes along.

Thanks again for your time and information. I sure appreciate everything.