Minnesota, don't cha know

After our attempt at sleeping on the side of the road, we finally made it to the great city of Minneapolis. Let’s get this out of the way upfront: we did not go to the Mall of America. I am completely ok with this- been there, done that, not terribly interested in returning. And lets be honest, we cannot fit another thing in our car at this point.

We did however do some other fun things and saw a LOT of people in just a few days. We stayed with college friends, and former roommate, of Mitch’s: Brent and Sarah. They were fantastic hosts. Sarah may have missed her calling as a tour guide, because she was full of interesting local history and tidbits. We saw the Stone Bridge, historic Flour Mills, including Gold Medal (you know, the kind you probably have in your cabinet now- assuming you found the name brand on sale or were feeling spending that one day at the grocery). 

We also saw a bunch of Mitch’s family- two uncles, two aunts, two cousins, and grandparents (also in a pair!). We got to see his grandparents new apartment and had dinner with the whole group followed by lunch the following day with just his grandparents. Everyone was lovely and we got to eat at the very exotic “Perkins”. 

We closed out the weekend with a celebration on the 4th of July at the St Paul Saints, minor league baseball, game. The Saints know how to entertain- they have a giant fuzzy, pink pig that walks around as well as a live pig as their mascot. I’m not sure why, it just is, some questions are better left unasked. They also do various activities between each inning including races, tire pushing, and quadcopter flying. They also had the best selection of food and beer I’ve ever seen at a ballpark. Way to go, St Paul, you know how to draw a crowd. The evening was of course topped off with fireworks that we watched from the field. And in true Minnesota fashion, we had to ask for the lights to be turned off by shouting in union "Excuse me, can you please turn off the lights?" (as promoted by the announcers). Thank you, oh so polite, Minnesotans. Happy Birthday America- I ate a lot in your honor.

Lunch with the Grandparents

Not real beer, but oh so delicious

 For the first time this trip, I actually got a picture of everyone! Brent is not dressed patriotically, you may draw your own conclusions as to why...