St. Paul, MN

I feel a bit discombobulated, so this post may very well reflect a bit of that.

 

Minnesota hit like a whirlwind. I stopped the first night in a town called Mankato, which smelled like chicken and had more mosquitoes than I have ever seen. They all decided to take a bite out of me. The next day I drove up to St. Paul to see my friend Beth. I had some time to kill before she got off of work, so I went to one of the local parks to play with the dog. I shot a random photo of their cathedral out of my truck window:

 

And then I quickly came down with a sinus infection. Thankfully, it all worked out. Beth had a concert to go to after work, so I just went to her house and passed out on the couch. The next day I accomplished getting a meal ready in the slow-cooker before spending the rest of the day napping and recuperating while she worked.  By the time the evening rolled around I was feeling mildly better, and a half-bottle of whiskey with some apple cider vinegar and good conversation thrown in resolved the remaining dregs of my issue.

 

Friday we went to the Minnesota history museum, where I learned all sorts of crazy things about this state. I learned about tornados, and baby boomers, wind turbines, and the fact that prince was born here. We ate some awesome italian food at a local market/restaurant, we went for a walk to shoot some graffiti pics:

 

As well as some odd little flowers:

 

We went out to a ‘Tour de Franzia’ party, with yes – boxed wine. We searched for a greek god in a bar called the BullDog, and I passed out in somebody else’s house on a couch that was about half as big as I should be able to sleep in. An entertaining evening to be sure.

 

Pancakes the next morning, and then back to the house. Lots of cooking, as we had three folks coming over for dinner and the girls had a lot of extra food in their fridge. By ‘the girls’ I refer to Beth and her fun room mate Amanda. Amanda and I got along, had coffee, took the dog for a walk, and went to the gym (which was AWESOME!!). This is Amanda and Scrappy at night:

 

Dinner was delicious, with a chicken-parmesan ish entree, served with asparagus, butternut squash, onion, mushroom, bell pepper, roasted rosemary potatoes, and baguette with homemade roasted garlic butter. Not too shabby for a white boy, and everybody seemed to enjoy it.

 

All in all it was a great trip. Got to see my good friend, and meet a few more. This is Ms. Elizabeth:

Thanks chica for putting up with an annoying sick guy for a long time.

 

Once Monday rolled around, I headed North without really having a clue of where I was going.