We were headed to Minnesota for the state fair and to see my family. It would be a fast paced do it all weekend again, but it was well worth the effort.
We flew on late Friday night to the MN airport and booked it straight to the rent car area. He had a very tiny but functional Hyundai, but it had a low-pressure light. So, we got upgrade to the hybrid sonata instead. We had air BnB’ed a room for the night in the downtown area of Minneapolis. We had a slight scavenger hunt in the dark looking for the keys to let us into the house. Luckily one of the neighbor helped us cheat and find the keys after we had wandered around for a while. We settled in quickly and were hungry so we walked down the street to Lowery’s for dinner and Sebastian’s Joe for a coffee and icecream.
Saturday morning arose, and we went to the Minnehaha Falls. It was slightly gray outside but there was an impressive amount of water flowing over the falls. The park was pretty impressive, especially for being in such an urban area. We met Alexis’s Aunt, Uncle, and Cousins for lunch at the Sea Salt Café which was right next to the falls. After eating, we all hopped into a van and went up to the Stone Arch Bridge in the down town area. This place was very popular for wedding photography shoots. Then it was a quick stop at Midwest mountaineering, were I would find the holy grace of medium sized sales. I spend probably too much money and we moved on. After shopping we parted ways with Alexis’s family and went to the Mall of America. We walked all the floors and got our old-timie photograph taken. The place was packed and crazy, there was no sign of a down trodden economy here. To cap off the night we drove to one of the fanciest brewery’s yet, Surly Brewery. The place was very impressive with it grain silo, and large open air setting. The had a very impressive restaurant setup as well.
Sunday was the time for the fair. We got there really early to be the crowds. There were no lines, so it was easy to get what we wanted quickly. Later in the day this would become a odyssey to get anything. Things we ate, mini donuts, rootbeer, chicken fired bacon (YUCK), pronto dog, fried cheese curds, fires, donut beer, ice coffee, fried ravioli, icey cone, honey ice cream
Things seen or done: Tractors, Sing Along with crowd, lumberjacks, ecostuff, quilts, cooking, DNR booth, cows, horses, weird grandstand shopping, bee keeping
After while it became too much, there were way too many people. We bailed a bit early and escaped to do a driving tour of the city, both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. While we were in downtown, it must have been senior picture time, as there were photoshoots and a music video being shot all over town.
Monday, we went down the street from the BnB and got coffee at the Dunn Brother shop. Right next door was vertical endeavors. So, we went inside and checked out their setup. It was cool gym in a old warehouse feel. After, we killed a couple minute we drove down to my brother house in Rosemount. I finally got to meet the huskies. They were a very peculiar bunch. We also met Luke, the Doberman, and he was very laid back and chill doggie. Moments went by and it was time for us to hop on our flight back to Charlotte.
