M-I-N-N-E-S-O-T-A
Our road trip last week was a blast, other than the 2 day, 19 hour drive each way, but such is life when flying is just cost prohibitive. We're just lucky Isaiah does so well in the car for long trips, that is as long as he has his movies. The main reason we were going was since I was in an old co-worker and friends' wedding, John Yau. We worked together both at TEA 2 Architects and Drive 105 fm and I was honored to do the reading at his wedding. The reception was nice as well and it allowed me to catch up with a bunch of my old co-workers at TEA2. The rest of the time we were in Minnesota was to celebrate Rachel's 31st birthday, catch up with old friends, visit the old haunts, and spend some time with my sister who still lives up there and was gracious enough to host us while up there.
On the way up we went a bit out of our way to hit my hometown of Racine, WI where we met up with my Mom and Dad for lunch where they loaded us up with goodies for Isaiah, Kringle and 7 sisters from O&H and plenty of wares from the Johnson Wax Company store. We wish we could've stayed longer, but we had to get back on the road.
We packed a ton of things into the four days we were in Minnesota. The first full day we were there was Rachel's Birthday and we visited Minnehaha park and the falls there which Isaiah loved. We walked the trails down to the Mississippi so he could see it toward its northern end now. We then went to Coffman Union at the U to load up on Gophers gear for our cars, us and even bought Isaiah a gophers winter hat which he'll probably only wear once or twice down here but may come in handy for any visits up North this winter. We then headed to Punch Pizza and Surdyk's to pick up some Surly and then ran back to Eagan to get ready for the big dinner with friends at Granite City we had planned for Rachel.
Friday had us waking up to some Dunn Brothers coffee, a trip to Noodles and Co for lunch and a quick stop at Mall of America where we bought Isaiah his very first hockey jersey, a Minnesota Wild third jersey that he'll hopefully get to wear when they come to town to play the Thrashers. We bought the obligatory cheese curds from Rybicki cheese (can't get good fresh ones down here) and then headed off to Como Zoo to see Rose and her newborn Allison. Rachel's friend Dayna was supposed to meet us there, but got held up so we ended up meeting her and her husband Brent for dinner at Pizza Luce. Later that night we split up and Rachel, Becca and Isaiah had a girls night in and I went up to Ramsey to see my good buddy Steve and his wife Erin.
Saturday was the wedding taking up most of the day but we did manage to sneak in another of our favorite local eateries in El Loro for a nice big Mexican dinner. Sunday we went to church at our old home up in Maple Grove, Open Door and then spent the afternoon and evening running around to visit more friends. As you can see we had a list of places we wanted to eat while in Minny and barely got halfway through it.
It was great to see everybody and show off Isaiah and he enjoyed meeting everybody too. He especially loved playing with his new buddies Sunday night at the Surine's. He just really likes being around other kids and since he's not in day care, he doesn't get the chance for group play much, other than when we hang out with our neighbors here in GA.
Since Isaiah was so good on this trip it bodes well for future travels and we're hoping to head up to Racine for Christmas this year and maybe get all the way back up to Minnesota for a day or two. It all depends on my work schedule since things are starting to pick up some and limiting how much I can take off, but in a way, that's a really good thing, knowing that I've got work to do which hasn't always been the case the last few years in architecture.
On the way up we went a bit out of our way to hit my hometown of Racine, WI where we met up with my Mom and Dad for lunch where they loaded us up with goodies for Isaiah, Kringle and 7 sisters from O&H and plenty of wares from the Johnson Wax Company store. We wish we could've stayed longer, but we had to get back on the road.
We packed a ton of things into the four days we were in Minnesota. The first full day we were there was Rachel's Birthday and we visited Minnehaha park and the falls there which Isaiah loved. We walked the trails down to the Mississippi so he could see it toward its northern end now. We then went to Coffman Union at the U to load up on Gophers gear for our cars, us and even bought Isaiah a gophers winter hat which he'll probably only wear once or twice down here but may come in handy for any visits up North this winter. We then headed to Punch Pizza and Surdyk's to pick up some Surly and then ran back to Eagan to get ready for the big dinner with friends at Granite City we had planned for Rachel.
Friday had us waking up to some Dunn Brothers coffee, a trip to Noodles and Co for lunch and a quick stop at Mall of America where we bought Isaiah his very first hockey jersey, a Minnesota Wild third jersey that he'll hopefully get to wear when they come to town to play the Thrashers. We bought the obligatory cheese curds from Rybicki cheese (can't get good fresh ones down here) and then headed off to Como Zoo to see Rose and her newborn Allison. Rachel's friend Dayna was supposed to meet us there, but got held up so we ended up meeting her and her husband Brent for dinner at Pizza Luce. Later that night we split up and Rachel, Becca and Isaiah had a girls night in and I went up to Ramsey to see my good buddy Steve and his wife Erin.Saturday was the wedding taking up most of the day but we did manage to sneak in another of our favorite local eateries in El Loro for a nice big Mexican dinner. Sunday we went to church at our old home up in Maple Grove, Open Door and then spent the afternoon and evening running around to visit more friends. As you can see we had a list of places we wanted to eat while in Minny and barely got halfway through it.
It was great to see everybody and show off Isaiah and he enjoyed meeting everybody too. He especially loved playing with his new buddies Sunday night at the Surine's. He just really likes being around other kids and since he's not in day care, he doesn't get the chance for group play much, other than when we hang out with our neighbors here in GA.
Since Isaiah was so good on this trip it bodes well for future travels and we're hoping to head up to Racine for Christmas this year and maybe get all the way back up to Minnesota for a day or two. It all depends on my work schedule since things are starting to pick up some and limiting how much I can take off, but in a way, that's a really good thing, knowing that I've got work to do which hasn't always been the case the last few years in architecture.
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~Darci Ketter