Day Nineteen

I dropped off my truck in downtown Minneapolis for the day and pulled out my bike to explore more on wheel. I rode around for about three hours within the city and gave myself a pretty good little tour including downtown, the University of Minnesota, the bridge that collapsed a year ago, the Metrodome, Starbucks, and a Barnes & Noble. Later in the day I left downtown and went to the Nesvig residence where I spent the evening with Kirk and Mary, and their kids John and Ben. Kirk and Mary went to PLU with my parents and offered a warm bed and some warm meals for my travels through the twin cities. Upon my arrival, I found a box from Lauralee full of her world famous, and now web famous, monster cookies. She somehow managed to get the cookies to arrive on my one night stay at the Nesvigs, a very narrow window. That's like hitting reentry on an Apollo mission. Many thanks Lauralee- Kirk and Mary would like the recipe. Post cookies, we ate dinner on the deck overlooking the golf course and played a riveting game called Farkel, a combination of Yahtzee and Russian Roulette if you were to ask Ben. Myself being the rookie, only took second to last thanks to his selflessness. The Nesvigs will send me off tomorrow with some worthy reading to think about and pocket Farkel to ensure that I make friends along the way and spread the Farkel magic.


Midwest Mountaineering is an oxymoron.


Downtown Minneapolis, MN


Here is the wreckage from the bridge collapse in Minneapolis on August 1, 2007. Just up the river they are rebuilding. You can see the cranes.


Some downtown Minneapolis bike riding.

Day Eighteen

I left the Anderson lake cabin on Bad Medicine Lake around three in the afternoon after some morning water skiing. Maren and I completed the dangerous "high-five maneuver" which was captured via the magic of digital video below.

I made my way down to Rogers, MN where I met up with my old PLU teammate Max. We hung out and then ran over to Maynard's for dinner and beverages to watch the Lakers get pounded. 131-92?!?! C'mon that's not even respectable. Tomorrow morning I will head down to Minneapolis to tour the town and to meet up with the Nesvig Family.