A guide to fun, food and music in Cape Girardeau

A well-rounded life is not spent in one place, confined to either a cubicle or a classroom. A full life includes outings, meals with friends and a soundtrack to the nights and weekends.

In this week's SE Live, we've highlighted just some of the great things Cape Girardeau has to offer in fun, food and music. Be sure to bookmark semoEvents.com so you always know what events are coming up.

FUN

Between work, school and other responsibilities, Cape Girardeau has several opportunities to have some fun, get outside or get moving.

For the nature lover, the Cape Girardeau Conservation Nature Center offers adult classes from nature art lessons to bird watching. The Trail of Tears State Park, near Highway 177, spreads across more than 3,400 acres with hiking trails, fishing banks and picnic areas.

To add a social aspect to your extra activities, Cape Girardeau has a few cycling clubs in the area. Velo Girardeau meets on Sundays for rides and meets for casual rides appropriate for all levels at 6 p.m. Wednesdays in the parking lot near Hutson's Fine Furniture downtown. The group mainly focuses on group road ride, but has a section of cyclists who branch out and go off-road. Visit velogirardeau.com for contact information and more ride times.

For more contact activities, check out an area paintball field. Cerberus Training Options and Paintball recently added to its operations in Oran, Mo. It now features a combat field with craters, uprooted trees and plywood buildings to add to the game. Blodgett Paintball, the veteran field, hosts tournaments and workshops for the sport.

There are also dart and pool leagues that encourage friendly competition.

To work up some culture, step into one of a dozen art galleries in Cape Girardeau. The first Friday of each month, the galleries open late to show off the new works from local and national artists as well as students in the area. The Southeast Missouri State University River Campus will have plays, musicals, recitals and other entertainment from now until May.

FOOD

You'll have to fuel up to have enough energy to enjoy the music and activities around Cape Girardeau.

Aside from the numerous dine-in or takeout options like Buckner Brewing Co., Broussard's Cajun Cuisine, Pagliai's Pizza and My Daddy's Cheesecake, certain establishments also offer delivery -- and delivery drivers in Cape Girardeau will bring much more than pizza to the door.

BG's Olde Tyme Deli has a menu that's several pages long and it'll deliver whatever you want off it. Jimmy John's delivers its sandwiches "freaky fast" and Burritoville employees offer a green delivery of the business's anything-goes burritos. They deliver -- fast and efficiently -- on bicycles.

For a cafe meal and coffee, turn to Broadway Books and Roasting Co. on Broadway, Cup 'N' Cork on Main or the Mississippi Mud House -- which will soon transform into Pitter's Cafe and Lounge with breakfast and coffee by day, music and drinks by night.

For those late-night cravings, Imo's offers late-night specials and delivery until the wee hours. If you're downtown, the All Good Grill food carts sets up shop at 11 p.m. in the south parking lot across from Hutson's and cooks steak or chicken on a stick, cheeseburgers, brats and hot dogs until 2 a.m.

MUSIC

Cape Girardeau has live music most nights of the week, be it a local band in a downtown venue, a touring act at the Show Me Center or your own talents at a songwriter's night.

Today and for the next three weeks, catch an outdoor show when Tunes at Twilight brings in folk and Americana artists to play from 6:30 to 7:30 p.m. at the Common Pleas Courthouse gazebo.

To welcome students back to school and to Cape Girardeau, several bands have planned gigs Friday, Saturday and Sunday, though most of the venues only admit those 21 and up. The Big Idea will play LoDo's Martini Bar at 7 p.m. today, and an hour later Big Ticket will welcome listeners in the open air of Bel Air Bar and Grill.

Rockface Barband and The Biggest Car in the County will play a Welcome Back show at 9 p.m. Saturday at Breakaways for a $3 cover. Both bands play original music, but the similarities end there. RFBB stays true to uptempo rock while The BCC lace country and folk into its music. Across the street at Mixing 10, Almost Always will play its punky versions of popular songs.

For a larger, all-ages venue, try the Show Me Center, which will host Jason Aldean on Sept. 23, as well as Rodney Carrington on Oct. 23.

The first weekend in October, downtown Cape Girardeau will open up to the sound of more than 25 local and regional bands on four venues inside and one outside for the 14th annual River City Music Festival.

To get your own material onstage, check out an open mic or songwriter's night. Stooges in Jackson hosts one on the second Tuesday of every month. Port Cape started one on the second Wednesday of the month.