Minnesota to see Britney - June 2009

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

The Quest for the Unfindable

Today, Kris and I awoke and readied in haste to get me off to the airport before he went to work.  I was heading at 10:10 to Minneapolis, Minnesota to see my friend, Britney.

The airport was uneventful except for the fact that I did not hear that they had changed the gate of my departure.  Imagine my surprise whenever I heard that a flight to New Jersey was loading at the gate I was supposed to be using.  I had to hurry up and find out where my new gate was, and, although the worrywart in my freaked out (yes – I am a freaky freak-outerson), I made it in time to load.

I sat next to a pleasant lady – a new college graduate looking for a place to live for her new job.  We did not really have any turbulence, which I am quite grateful for as I have heard Texas had terrible storms today. 

I got off the plane and found Britney waiting for me at the baggage claim – or she found me.  Then we were off to find her car.  While finding the car was a bit of a quest, we eventually located it.

We had a nice lunch, chat, and then headed off for The Quest for the Unfindable.  Quest #1 = a decent, reasonably priced pedicure.  Quest #2 = a small, cute stuffed animal. 

Stone Arch Bridge

The Quests remain undone.

We watched So You Think You Can Dance and Revolutionary Road.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Britney woke me up and we resumed our Quests for the Unfindable.  We went to a cute gift/floral store called Bachman’s and stayed a while.  We also went to a great, quirky little place called Patina.  We found the unfindable…Britney and I both found adorable stuffed animals for our animal albums.  We’re taking a cue from Laura.

Kasey and Skitler

We also went to Psycho Suzie’s for lunch and ordered a trio of appetizers before hitting Minnehaha Park to see Minnehaha Falls, which was the inspiration of the poem “Song for Hiawatha” by Longfellow.  We explored the park a bit too.

We came back to Britney’s before heading out to the Canterbury Park to participate in $1 Night at the horse races.

Friday, June 12, 2009

Britney and I went to the Mall of America and spent a good six hours there before coming back to her place and ordering a pizza.  We snacked on pizza and cheesecake while watching Bedtime Stories.  It was a good day.

Skitler and Britney's cat, Mischief

Saturday, June 13, 2009

Saturday was jam-packed.  We walked a lot - down Hennepin to the Sculpture Garden stopping at many shops, book stores, and the Tea Garden, back up Hennepin to Lake Street, then up Lyndale to 31^st and Dupont.  The SculptureGarden is where the landmark Minnesota cherry and spoon sculpture is located. 

We later went and ate dinner at Mickey’s Diner in St. Paul, which is a famous retro place which has been featured on Food Network, in The Smithsonian, National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Easy Rider, Playboy and Elle magazines. The Mighty Ducks I, II, III, Jingle All the Way and A Prairie Home Companion movies contain scenes that were shot on location at Mickey's.  http://www.mickeysdiningcar.com/.

After a really delicious dinner of breakfast (two eggs over easy with English muffins, hash browns, and a hamburger patty), we went to the Capitol Building in St. Paul. 

We headed back to Britney’s to watch He’s Just Not That Into You.

Sunday, June 14, 2009

Britney and I went to Patrick’s Bakery for lunch.  Then we headed to an indoor park with a waterfall, a park with bird sanctuary, another bird sanctuary/botanic garden before heading downtown to the Stone Arch Bridge, St. Anthony’s Waterfall, the old mill factories, and to the Mary Tyler Moore statue.

Later that evening, we watched The Pursuit of Happyness followed by Last Chance Harvey and Twilight.

Monday, June 15, 2009

Britney and I cleaned up her apartment a bit before heading out to Wasabi for lunch.  I got hibachi chicken.  She got sushi.  One of her items came with flames.  It was called a volcano roll.  All of the food was quite good.

After lunch we headed to the library so I could print my boarding pass and then to the Midtown Global Market.  We were able to procure some oddities at the market like a Chile covered watermelon lollypop for Kris.  I hit a Scandinavian food and gift store called Café Finspang.  I got a wonderful dessert called a Sara Bernard.  It was quite possibly the best dessert I have ever eaten.  I went back and bought another!  What is it you might ask...a multi-bite treat that has double boiled chocolate mousse on top of an almond cookie with a dark chocolate coating.  Seriously heaven.

Afterwards we were off for the airport where this trip write-up ends.  Fun times!