Apart from the Lowry Bridge, nothing else exploded or fell into the river over the weekend. Which is probably for the best.
Friday night, Matt and I grabbed a quick dinner at Black Dog (due to which I’m re-obsessed with hummus sammiches), then went over to the Hat Trick Lounge to see the Jack Brass Band. They were playing there as part of Jazzfest, and we hadn’t seen them in a very long time. They were fantastic, as always, and apparently they have a regular morning gig at Famous Dave’s in Uptown now! If only it didn’t start at 9am. Eesh.
Afterwards, we headed to Dixie’s for a couple drinks. We didn’t want to be out very late, and the arrival of what appeared to be a 21st birthday party ensured we wouldn’t stay long. Around midnight, we decided to go to Santana’s to test something we always wondered about: is their food as mindblowingly awesome when you’re not drunk?
The answer: it’s definitely not life-changing, but it’s still spectacular. Good to know!
Saturday after some errands, we headed to Rochester. We had lunch at Whistle Binkies on the Lake (fun fact: Matt’s been to the original Whistle Binkies in Edinburgh), then went to Shopko. What? We don’t have Shopko here. I got the girliest purse ever on clearance, and I love it.
Tradition dictated that we re-visit the Canadian Honker. Our server on the patio (i.e. sidewalk facing St Mary’s Hospital) was great, and the highlight of our visit was when an Amish couple, fully decked-out in traditional garb, came up and asked, “Is this the place to eat?” We assured them very nicely that it was, and then tried not to fall over in hysterics because Amish people spoke to us. That is so awesome.
We still had an hour or so to kill before the baseball game, so we headed downtown and went to CJ’s Midtown Lounge, which is the kind of place we’d have wanted to stay all night. There was already karaoke in full swing (by 6pm), and a loud birthday party. We talked to a guy at the bar who seemed to have never really spent any time in the Twin Cities, despite living 75 miles away. Wow.
We walked over to Mayo Field and bought tickets for the Honkers game. (They’re part of the Northwoods League, for college players over the summer.) They were playing the Brainerd Lunkers, a name which held no end of amusement for me. The game was pretty awesome, with an atmosphere like the St Paul Saints on a much lower budget. We decided to head out after the 7th inning, with the Honkers in the lead and us in need of food and a late-night drive back to Minneapolis. We stopped at a surprisingly awesome Mexican place called Azteca, had dinner, and headed home. We got there shortly after midnight.
Sunday, after the bridge exploded in the early-morning hours, the cruise took us through the locks at St Anthony to see downtown, and dropped us off around 10:30am. Bill, Katie, Matt and I went to the 501 Club for brunch, then hung out on Huberts’ patio in the on-and-off rain. (What’s that place going to do next season? It’ll never survive without the Twins.) Then we headed to the Twins game, witnessing their first-ever loss in our presence. I think maybe Big Willie style is bad luck!
Since then, we’ve done a lot of house-stuff, involving cleaning and knitting and gardening and grilling. That may not be terribly exciting to you, but it’s definitely one of my happy places. I love it.
P.S. How’s everyone doing on Infinite Summer? I’m up to page 42, and so far all my reading has been done in the hammock. WIN!
Man, I think I am bad luck. I haven’t been to a Twins game that they won since sometime last year.
you’re not invited to gophers games, willis. haha!
I’m on 59. I’m hoping that I can build up some more momentum before I completely lose interest in reading 5 pages at a time before it exhausts me.
i actually read (or had read to me) the first 30ish pages before, which helps a lot. for some reason i’m finding it way easier to read this time. definitely slow going, though, which is why i’m just trying to stick to the reading schedule!
Very cool. I grew up in Rochester, still have family there and enjoyed reading your Roch experience. Even worked at ShopKo my senior year of high school and remember hanging out at CJ’s here and there before I bolted.
I’m a bit envious actually. Never had an Amish couple approach me for anything.
we’ve always had a great time there, but haven’t even spent the night. not since i was a kid, at least. we need to fix that!
we were so shocked by the amish couple. pretty sure that’s never going to happen here in the 612.