Minnesota
11th Anniversary
October 13, 2005
State of Minnesota
City of Minneapolis
Mall of America, Chapel of Love
Day One
We arrived at the airport and picked up our rental car, a Volvo S80 with the Hertz Neverlost navigation system. We love the nav systems on our anniversary trips because they cause us endless laughter as we get lost trying to use them. We have taken to calling it the Hertz Everlost system. We made it to the hotel in downtown Minneapolis in spite of the nav system, had dinner at the hotel bar, and turned in for the evening.
Day Two
We had a room service breakfast overlooking downtown Minneapolis then dressed for our wedding and headed for the mall. Yes, you read that right, the mall. Our ceremony was going to be at the Chapel of Love at the Mall of America. We checked in at the wedding chapel early and then went to Sears to have our wedding photos taken. The pictures actually turned out really well. The ceremony was very nice with the music we chose and some great words of reminder from the officiating pastor. After the ceremony we went to the amusement park at the center of the Mall of America where Julie rode the roller coaster. Then with stomachs full of A&W root beer floats we hit the road as we had many miles to travel to our lodging for the evening.
We drove south from the twin cities through Rochester (home of the Mayo Clinic) through a heavily Amish part of Minnesota to Preston. In Preston we checked into our lodging for the night the Jailhouse Inn. The Inn was built in 1869 as the jail for Fillmore County, Minnesota and is now a bed and breakfast. We stayed in the Cell Block room which is really the only room to stay in at the Inn. The cell is complete with bars still in place but now it has a nice whirlpool bath as well. It is a very fun place to stay. After we checked in we decided to drive to Harmony to the local roller rink. The Everlost system did not fail us but we managed to find Harmony anyway. The roller rink did not have roller skating but instead had a large group of elderly people dancing to country songs played by a guy with a 1980's keyboard. We left. We did have some delicious pizza at a local pizza joint before heading back to jail. The room had a TV/VCR with a large selection of prison movies and we spent the evening watching We're No Angels with Humphrey Bogart from 1955.
Day Three
Our third day started with a breakfast in the cozy dining room of the Jailhouse Inn and then we once again hit the road. Our first stop on this day was the Spam Museum. It was a lot of fun because it is all tongue in cheek. We did learn some SPAM history that was both amusing and interesting. We then headed to Blue Earth, Minnesota because it is the home of the 60-foot tall Jolly Green Giant. It was definitely a highlight for Julie to have her picture taken while singing "Ho Ho Ho. . . Green Giant" as she enjoyed so often as a kid. Old leadfoot, Eric, got pulled over by Minnesota's finest and was given a stern warning coupled with grace and no fine. Whew. He slowed down the driving a bit after that.
We eventually arrived back at the "twin" city to the one we stayed at the first night and checked into the St. Paul Hotel overlooking the city's central square. After a wonderful Italian dinner recommended by the concierge, we attended a concert of Barbara Cook's Broadway which was both intimate and entertaining as she sang through many of her Broadway standards while regaling us with stories from her career. We topped off the evening with dessert at the St. Paul Grill; it was a sweet time together.
Day Four
We walked to Mickey's Diner for breakfast and bellied up to the counter for some authentic diner grub at this St. Paul landmark. After strolling through the square where we giggled at the charming statues of all the Peanuts characters (Charles Schultz was from St. Paul), we walked through the St. Paul Cathedral which was stunningly impressive. There are not many cathedrals of that caliber in the United States. We then drove through some older sections of St. Paul and loved the houses with big front porches on the bluff overlooking the river.
The highlight of our trip (aside from the wedding, of course) was being able to see a live broadcast of Prairie Home Companion at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Garrison Keillor is one of Eric's favorite authors and storytellers. We laughed together and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Now, in the mood for food, we drove to the Black Forest Inn for a late German dinner where we discovered a delectable treat called Sauerkraut Balls. Not sure what's in 'em, but, boy, were they delicious! Eric liked the hasenpfeffer while listening to live oompah music. Very lively. . . we even sang along with the crowd!
Day Five
Sunday morning we worshiped at Bethlehem Baptist Church which is pastored by John Piper. And while he wasn't there that Sunday, we did hear a great message about world missions. The famous St. Paul Sculpture Garden was our stop after church as we couldn't pass up seeing the "cherry on the spoon" sculpture in person. Not a thing to miss! Just needs a big cereal bowl to go with it. We swung by the Mall of America one more time on the way to the airport to pick up a few souvenirs of our wonderful anniversary in Minnesota.
October 13, 2005
State of Minnesota
City of Minneapolis
Mall of America, Chapel of Love
Day One
We arrived at the airport and picked up our rental car, a Volvo S80 with the Hertz Neverlost navigation system. We love the nav systems on our anniversary trips because they cause us endless laughter as we get lost trying to use them. We have taken to calling it the Hertz Everlost system. We made it to the hotel in downtown Minneapolis in spite of the nav system, had dinner at the hotel bar, and turned in for the evening.
Day Two
We had a room service breakfast overlooking downtown Minneapolis then dressed for our wedding and headed for the mall. Yes, you read that right, the mall. Our ceremony was going to be at the Chapel of Love at the Mall of America. We checked in at the wedding chapel early and then went to Sears to have our wedding photos taken. The pictures actually turned out really well. The ceremony was very nice with the music we chose and some great words of reminder from the officiating pastor. After the ceremony we went to the amusement park at the center of the Mall of America where Julie rode the roller coaster. Then with stomachs full of A&W root beer floats we hit the road as we had many miles to travel to our lodging for the evening.
We drove south from the twin cities through Rochester (home of the Mayo Clinic) through a heavily Amish part of Minnesota to Preston. In Preston we checked into our lodging for the night the Jailhouse Inn. The Inn was built in 1869 as the jail for Fillmore County, Minnesota and is now a bed and breakfast. We stayed in the Cell Block room which is really the only room to stay in at the Inn. The cell is complete with bars still in place but now it has a nice whirlpool bath as well. It is a very fun place to stay. After we checked in we decided to drive to Harmony to the local roller rink. The Everlost system did not fail us but we managed to find Harmony anyway. The roller rink did not have roller skating but instead had a large group of elderly people dancing to country songs played by a guy with a 1980's keyboard. We left. We did have some delicious pizza at a local pizza joint before heading back to jail. The room had a TV/VCR with a large selection of prison movies and we spent the evening watching We're No Angels with Humphrey Bogart from 1955.
Day Three
Our third day started with a breakfast in the cozy dining room of the Jailhouse Inn and then we once again hit the road. Our first stop on this day was the Spam Museum. It was a lot of fun because it is all tongue in cheek. We did learn some SPAM history that was both amusing and interesting. We then headed to Blue Earth, Minnesota because it is the home of the 60-foot tall Jolly Green Giant. It was definitely a highlight for Julie to have her picture taken while singing "Ho Ho Ho. . . Green Giant" as she enjoyed so often as a kid. Old leadfoot, Eric, got pulled over by Minnesota's finest and was given a stern warning coupled with grace and no fine. Whew. He slowed down the driving a bit after that.
We eventually arrived back at the "twin" city to the one we stayed at the first night and checked into the St. Paul Hotel overlooking the city's central square. After a wonderful Italian dinner recommended by the concierge, we attended a concert of Barbara Cook's Broadway which was both intimate and entertaining as she sang through many of her Broadway standards while regaling us with stories from her career. We topped off the evening with dessert at the St. Paul Grill; it was a sweet time together.
Day Four
We walked to Mickey's Diner for breakfast and bellied up to the counter for some authentic diner grub at this St. Paul landmark. After strolling through the square where we giggled at the charming statues of all the Peanuts characters (Charles Schultz was from St. Paul), we walked through the St. Paul Cathedral which was stunningly impressive. There are not many cathedrals of that caliber in the United States. We then drove through some older sections of St. Paul and loved the houses with big front porches on the bluff overlooking the river.
The highlight of our trip (aside from the wedding, of course) was being able to see a live broadcast of Prairie Home Companion at the Fitzgerald Theater in St. Paul. Garrison Keillor is one of Eric's favorite authors and storytellers. We laughed together and thoroughly enjoyed the show. Now, in the mood for food, we drove to the Black Forest Inn for a late German dinner where we discovered a delectable treat called Sauerkraut Balls. Not sure what's in 'em, but, boy, were they delicious! Eric liked the hasenpfeffer while listening to live oompah music. Very lively. . . we even sang along with the crowd!
Day Five
Sunday morning we worshiped at Bethlehem Baptist Church which is pastored by John Piper. And while he wasn't there that Sunday, we did hear a great message about world missions. The famous St. Paul Sculpture Garden was our stop after church as we couldn't pass up seeing the "cherry on the spoon" sculpture in person. Not a thing to miss! Just needs a big cereal bowl to go with it. We swung by the Mall of America one more time on the way to the airport to pick up a few souvenirs of our wonderful anniversary in Minnesota.