Time to get Cold

Before running the Medtronic Twin Cities Marathon on Sunday, I had to get up to MN. This was my fly to state for this year. Luckily, Lisa agreed to put me up for the weekend and show me around her city while I was there.

The tops of the clouds

I thought this was Minneapolis

This is actually the Minneapolis skyline - pretty awesome

Friday afternoon I flew into Minneapolis and it was COLD. There was a hurricane blowing through NC that did quite a bit of damage to South Carolina. We didn't see more than a lot of rain in Raleigh, but I still had some concerns about flight delays. Needless to say I was quite relieved to land in Minnesota and discover 60* and sunny skies.

Turns out, 60* is really cold when there is some kind of canadian arctic breeze behind it! Standing outside of the airport was as cold as the dead of our winters here in NC. This was the farthest north I have ever traveled.

Twins tickets!

Lisa's apartment overlooks the Mississippi River

Seriously, I couldn't get enough of this view. Amazing!

Lisa and I on the balcony enjoying the view

I picked up some tickets for the Minnesota Twins game that night. I love going to watch baseball, this was the last weekend of the regular season and the Twins were in the playoff hunt. Unfortunately, they lost and it got bitterly cold at the game. But it was still a fantastic night to be at the ballpark, and I got lots of souvenirs for the kids.

Target field was walking distance from the apartment. Really cool place!

our seats sucked. notice that handrail blocking my view of the batters box.

A rare Phil sighting! He does exist!

Also notice how everyone else was so bundled up in the stands. That last pic is me, Lisa, and her boyfriend Phil. Everyone around us was making fun of me for being cold because I totally wasn't used to it like they were. Very true, I was shivering most of the weekend. But I also had one of the best bratwurst ever (locally) made at the ballpark - I love getting local finds like that when traveling. It really is the best part of the experience.

Saturday started off horribly. I woke up with a migraine like I haven't had in a decade or so. Actually, I puked twice before Lisa woke up. it was that bad. After several doses of medicine it started to clear up, so we met Phil out for brunch at a local Arepa place. If you've never tried Arepa's, it's a corn based pocket bread, like the venezualan version of pita bread that gets stuffed with all kinds of beans and delicious love. fantastic stuff.

Then Lisa and I went to the race expo to pick up our packets and all of the cold weather gear that I didn't think I was going to need.

How do you fit 8000 people into an expo?

Like I said, when it's still 80* in Raleigh I didn't expect 60* in Minneapolis to feel quite that cold. Plus I outright forgot to pack a hat and my Garmin. So at the expo, I went ahead and picked up a hat, some gloves, and a long sleeve shirt to wear on race day. Also had to pick up some gels - they only provide gels at one of the aide stations on the course so I'm really glad Lisa reminded me to pick up some of those and let me borrow a fuel belt to hold them.

After that we headed over to the University of Minnesota campus. I picked up a puppet for Ella at the Twins game with something different for Evil Genius, but then of course she had to have a puppet too. Unfortunately, the Golden Gophers shop on campus didn't have anything like this, so she got a hockey puck instead. I got a few other things too, including a sweatshirt for Kelley that I promptly wore since I was missing her so much.

U of Minn Football stadium

After that outing, I had to take a quick nap to finally get rid of this headache. It really was a plague on most of the day. Once I woke up, we went out exploring a bit. First was a visit to a local theatre, because they had a balcony with an amazing view of the river.

The stone arch bridge is a well known landmark

Me in front of the stone arch bridge

it took a 3 story escalator to get us down from that balcony! This thing was intimidating.

After that we picked up some of the city's publicly available bicycles and rode around downtown for a bit. I can see why Minneapolis is consistently rated as one of the most bike friendly cities in the country! it was so nice to be able to ride around so easily. We stopped at several scenic places to take in the views.

The Mighty Mississippi

This building is the theatre we visited earlier

I look like I belong here now

After that we settled in at home for the night. Lisa made a wonderful chicken and pasta for dinner so we'd be carb loaded for the marathon and Phil came by to eat and watch some college football. The Clemson/Notre Dame game was a real nail biter! Still doesn't seem right that I went to Minneapolis to watch a Clemson football game, but we needed to have a chill night and that's what we got.

Saturday night I slept great and I was quite relieved to wake up Sunday with no migraine and ready to marathon. Make no mistake about it, Minneapolis is a cool city with lots of fun activities. I highly recommend visiting if you get the chance. I know I had a blast. And Lisa is a dear friend for putting up with me through that migraine.