Our anniversary trip to Minneapolis

Our anniversary trip to Minneapolis
March 17th - March 20th 2016

Thursday:
Matt had been in New York the week prior to our getaway weekend for business. Since he vetoed me meeting him in NYC :(.......I took the next best big city option.....Minneapolis. He flew into Minneapolis airport and I drove & met him there. We chose to stay downtown at the Hilton Minneapolis. We both arrived around 9pm....ready to crash. This was in contrast to most of Minneapolis who was headed to the bars to drink their green beers on this St. Patrick's Day.

Friday:
A day wouldn't start out right if it didn't start with a run...even if it is snowing and only 32 degrees. Thank goodness Matt's toe injury is on the mend. We were able to get 3.5 miles under our belt running through downtown and along the river. Afterwards we had our cream of wheat in our hotel room and packed up for our trip down memory lane. We drove to St. Olaf to attend the 10am chapel service, tour the student union, hit the bookstore and explore the campus grounds. Next we made a surprise visit to a good college friend who now is an Economics professor at Carleton. He joined us for lunch with his wife and youngest child at Hogan Brothers in downtown Northfield. Next we headed back to Minneapolis to The Ivy Spa for our scheduled "couples massage". We aren't great sitters but we do love a good massage. We also enjoyed the hot tub, steam room, sauna, and amazing cinnamon tea. As we are leaving we ran into a famous comedian and game show host Louie Anderson. Next we changed and headed to Uptown Minneapolis to meet my niece Emily. We went to her favorite restaurant, Uptown Tavern and Restaurant. During our dinner she shared with us she is working on updating her resume and is thinking about a career change....Matt's eyes enlarged and before we knew it we were at her apartment setting up Linkin and helping her with her resume. Thank you Matt Hanson!!! You are such a sweetheart for helping my niece!!

Saturday
This morning we opted to run twice around the Lake of the Isles in Uptown Minneapolis. The 2-4 million dollar homes were gorgeous to look at. The smell of bacon coming from one of them tempted us each time around. It was slippery footing today...snowed an inch over night. After our 4 mile trek we hit an Organic cafe called Tao Natural foods. I could eat every meal in this cafe!! My steel cut oats with sunflower seeds, millet, and flax were to die for. Matt very much enjoyed his open faced egg, avocado, red onion sprouts sandwich on 7 grain. My only complaint...the earthy organic herbs smell of these type of restaurants penetrated our clothing and stuck with us the whole morning. Next Matt surprised me with a trip to the one of largest REI's in the country. We set a record for the most time spent in a retail store....2 hrs and a pretty penny later we were leaving....happy with our purchases....I guess I should say my purchases....thank you Matt Hanson!! Next stop was the place that drew Matt to Minneapolis...the Surley Brewing Company. Our meals were great...Matt ordered brisket sandwich and fries and I got a pear, endive, and smoked almond salad over mixed greens. Matt enjoyed his Surley Stout beer. Next we headed back to the hotel to chill while watching Born Identity. After some down time we decided to do a little shopping downtown. Matt found dress shoes & I got Greta a Easter dress. For dinner tonight we drove to Uptown Minneapolis again. Of all the restaurants we could choose from we chose Jimmy John's. We browsed through a few more favorite shops....Arc'teryx, The North Face, and a fancy kitchen shop. Boy would we have loved to win a shopping spree in any one of them. By 8pm we were beat...my fit bit calculated us to have gone 8.7 miles. We headed back to our hotel and are hitting the hay early tonight. Tomorrow morning we head home. Thanks for a great weekend Matt!!!