Winding down with the Arts...

Life has settled back down after the disruption of getting in an accident that ended up with my car being a total loss. My last weekend was spent emergency car shopping. As with most cities, the southwest suburbs of Minneapolis have an area where almost every automobile dealer can be found. After visiting nearly every one of them, I decided to go with a two year lease on a 2014 Ford Escape Titanium. I wanted full time all wheel drive for the Minnesota winters and it had all the modern bells and whistles. It even parallel parks itself.

This weekend was my final weekend before my self imposed 3 month exile ends. I went low key and spent Friday night with Netflix. Saturday morning I went to the nearby AMC Eden Prairie 18 and saw an early matinee showing of Chef (Rotten Tomatoes Review). I would recommend you go see this film. No trip to the mall for a movie would be complete without a trip to the food court and for $4 you can't beat a slice of Sbarro cheese pizza and a soda.

On Saturday afternoon I met a long-time friend for happy hour at Loring Park Kitchen (Loring Park Kitchen & Bar). I have known Robyne since the 6th grade and would like to thank her for coming out and introducing me to more of Minneapolis. Her twenty plus years of public life in Minneapolis are a great resource for a Twin Cities newbie.

Selfie on Nicollet Mall

Following some drinks and appetizers, we headed over to Instinct Art Gallery for the opening of "Self & Others", featuring the work of Frank Gaard, Pamela Gaard, Stu Mead and Nancy Robinson. I have never been to an art gallery before, let alone the opening reception of an art gallery show. It was more interesting that I would have anticipated. 

I had the opportunity to meet the artists and the work displayed was very interesting. The price of the artwork was a bit of an eye opener for this newcomer!

Nancy Robinson & her work

I liked this, but, too rich for my blood!

Afterwards, TNT was my friend with a showing of Inglorious Basterds (Inglorious Basterds movie trailer). Sunday morning arrived and with it another early matinee. This time my date was Scarlett Johansson. Forget the reviews, Lucy is a good summer action film and worth seeing (Lucy movie trailer). In honor of my children, I had another slice of Sbarro pizza for lunch!

Next weekend, my family will be here for my daughter to attend her St. Thomas Freshman orientation session. Following that, a quick 36 hours in Milwaukee to take care of a few last minute items. August 8th the moving truck delivers our belongings and the the real work begins, unpacking the house. I will let you know how it goes...

Exploring Minnesota...

As July 31st approaches and the date of our formal move to Minneapolis nears, I have found that it is really too expensive to go back to Milwaukee on the weekends. After spending the week of July 4th back in Milwaukee, the next three weekends will be spent here in Minneapolis, alone. So, I was happy to be invited to Duluth last weekend to visit one of my former colleagues, who also recently relocated from Milwaukee to a new city, Duluth, MN. His situation is very similar to mine and is as well living alone for the time being. As they say, misery loves company. So, off to northern Minnesota I went.

In 1995, I actually looked into relocating to Duluth after my fellowship. That idea was quite short lived after my wife found the brochure lying around the house. Little did she know that all these many years later, we would have occasion to visit there on the weekends from Minneapolis in the future!

Duluth has a great history that I really was not aware of. It is a major shipping port on Lake Superior, along with Superior, WI (Duluth, MN). You probably know the most famous ship that sailed from this area, The Edmund Fitzgerald (Edmund_Fitzgerald). Yes, the one from the Gordon Lightfoot song (The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald). Anchored in Canal Park is the S.S. William Irvin, once the flagship of US Steel, now a museum (S.S William Irvin). I plan on touring it on our next trip to Duluth.

S.S William Irvin

After arriving on Friday evening, we visited a local brewpub in Canal Park, The Canal Park Brewing Company (Canal Park Brewery). The beer was great and so were the burgers. We spent most of Saturday watching The 111th Duluth International Regatta. Congratulations to the Minneapolis Rowing Club for their overall 1st place finish.

MRC Men's Double

MRC Women's 8

Crew Regattas are similar to Pom Competitions, lots of time spent waiting around for your team to race / perform. So, in our abundant down time, I took the opportunity to consult my TV Food Maps App to check out the local Triple D / MVF dining spots. First stop was the Anchor Grill in Superior, WI. 

Tom wondering what all the bikers are doing here...

Overall not a bad place. The burger was good, but average. The beer was great however, Fat Tire on tap in cold frosted mugs! Probably worth the initial trip, but, probably not worth going back anytime soon. The burger at the Canal Park Brewing Company was much better.

Saturday evening was spent at Fitger's Brewhouse (Fitger's Brewhouse) for dinner and Grizzly's Grill in Canal Park (Grizzly' Grill) for a few after dinner beers. We had a lot of laughs and told a bunch of stories before calling it quits for the evening.

Sunday morning came faster than expected and with it the final stop of the TV Food Maps App Tour, The Duluth Grill. Highly recommended if you are in the Duluth area. Great breakfast and hands down the best banana cream pie on the planet!

It was a great weekend, dropping in on an old friend in similar circumstances and I would like to thank him for his hospitality! I look forward to many more visits to Duluth once all our families are officially Minnesotans. In the meantime, I will spend the next couple of weekends in Minneapolis exploring what else lies within my 10 mile radius...

Demolition Derby in Suburban Minneapolis...

I was wondering when my luck would run out, when the other shoe would fall and now it has. My first problem in my new Minneapolis life has arrived...My first, and knock wood last, automobile accident in the Twin Cities.

During a routine drive home from work last night, I was suddenly struck from the left by a large SUV. Much to my surprise, I did not see or hear the SUV before it hit me, just to the rear of the left rear door. Suddenly, I found myself in a slow motion series of 360 spins, deployed side curtain air bags  and resting the the middle of an intersection, aiming the opposite direction to which I was travelling. The white air bag dust and gunpowder smell filled the car as I looked around and wondered WTF just happened. After a few minutes I came to my senses and managed to take off the seat belt and get out of the car. Luckily, everybody involved was not injured, although my left shoulder is quite sore from the seat belt. It took a while for the hearing in my left ear to come back given the sound of the collision and the airbags deploying. Standing next to the car, it was obvious my vehicle took the brunt of the damage.

The large SUV had a cracked front bumper and not much else. The local police department finally showed up after 1 hour 10 minutes and three calls to 911. They get a failing grade for response time, although the responding Officer was very nice. It was a good thing nobody was really hurt! One the other hand, my roadside assistance was outstanding. The free tow truck was there within 20 minutes! After exchanging information with the other driver, I was free to go. Giant shout out and a great many thanks to my Minneapolis Guardian Angels, Jeff & Gina, for schlepping out to give me a ride home. After work the next day I visited Enterprise, rented a car and am back on the road. I look forward to hearing what the body shop has to say about my car.

My message to everyone? Drive very carefully on unfamiliar roads, remember the driving school lesson, look left, right, then left and wear your seat belt! And for those of you keeping track, I managed to get in an accident, find a great body shop and rent a car, all within a ten mile radius...