Minnesota Memories

Just one week ago I was on an airplane returning from Minnesota. Thanks to an overbooked flight I took a year ago, I had received a free ticket which I decided to use to visit friends back in Minneapolis and Rochester.

I began my trip down memory lane in The Cities. Some of my friends from Mayo (Amy, Randy, and their kids Katherine and Luke) had recently returned to Minnesota and are now living in Blaine (a Northern suburb of Minneapolis). Amy was able to pick me up from the MSP airport and take me back to their new house (after a brief stop by Minnehaha Park to pick up race packets for Saturday's Get In Gear 10K). Matt (a friend from Rose) and his wife, Kelly, joined us for a selection of gormet frozen pizzas and birthday cupcakes (leftover from Katherine's party at preschool). We talked and shared stories of the past year for a few hours bafore Matt and Kelly took me back to their place for a good night's sleep.

The next morning, the three of us prepared for our race, donning "easy breathe" shirts, applying Glide and sunscreen, and choosing the right socks. We then went over to the park to meet up with Tessa and Mo. We were all in line for the bathroom at the official start of the race so we got started about 5-7 minutes after the clock started. However, this didn't bother us as this race uses Chip timing and we got to avoid the massive crowd start:) Matt and Kelly ran ahead, while Tessa and Mo hung back with me and my sluggish 10-min/mile pace.


After completing the 6.2-mile loop along both the Minneapolis and St. Paul sides of the Mississippi River, we enjoyed the post-race activities, including free massages and free food (bagel bites, yogurt, popsicles, energy bars, Schroeder milk or oj, energy drinks, bananas, etc).


I also took this opportunity to collect yogurt container lids (from friends, strangers, and trash piles) for a craft project I'm working on (more about this in a later post). Once we had all had our fill of the event, we went back to Matt and Kelly's for a little while. I got a chance to flip through their wedding (I had missed this because I was in Kenya at the time) and honeymoon pictures before we had to head back to Rochester (babysitter was only until 2pm).

As soon as we drove into Rochester, I felt like I was coming home!!! Everything was so familiar and comforting. The first major changes I noticed were at Tessa and Mo's house. First, they are in the process of doing a little addition to their house. Second, kids do grow up a lot in a year!!! Greason and Parker were so cute and fun to play with. While we were eating lunch, Greason kept asking me how much I had missed him this last year and how happy was I to see him now. That afternoon we all got to play on the trampoline and walk to the park to play and fly a kite.



For dinner that night I requested a trip to Pannekoeken (one of the many resturants on my list to visit while in town).

Sunday turned out to be a Marathon Day!!! I was able to borrow Mo's car for my day on the town. I first went to church at Autumn Ridge that morning, followed by lunch with friends (Chuck, Kathy, Chris and Sandy) at Pho Hoa (Vietmese). Sandy was even willing to come post-call to see me...did I feel special, or what! From there I went over to see Christina and the kids (Matt got home from work just as I was leaving, too). We talked while I sewed and she cleaned. Note: this is typical of our relationship...we hang out and multi-task together:) She had also made a dairy-free cake that we washed down with rice/potato/almond milk. ( I love it when others are willing--usually by necessity--to adapt to a diet more fitting to mine.) My next destination was dinner at Jenpachi Japanese Steakhouse with some of the old soccer gang (Kt, Brian, Laura, and Mike). We enjoyed watching the extravagant preparation of our fried rice on the hibatchi grill while conversing about jobs, the up-coming wedding, horses, and updates on others that weren't there that night. We went back to Mike's apartment after dinner (which I was unable to finish after everything else I'd been eating that day) and I was able to share pictures and stories from my travels in Europe last summer.


Returning to the house, I was able to say good night to the boys before they headed off to bed. The rest of us were also tired, so we soon followed their lead.

Monday was Tessa's birhtday, so we spent most of the day together. We had lunch at Victoria's downtown (free dessert for the birthday girl) and then did some shopping (at stores we don't have here in State College: Menards, Old Navy, and Cost Plus World Market). I then hung out at Starbucks for a few hours to have coffee and catch up with with Susan and then Lori.


Tessa, Mo, and the kids then picked me up en route to the Hanger for dinner. Tessa got a free meal because it was her birthday, and the boys loved all the airplanes.


Off next to Apache Mall for Tessa's last B-day freebie--ice cream at Cold Stone Creamery. We topped the evening off with present opening and some long conversations. I also had the joy of trying to fit all my newly purchased items in my luggage.

I started Tuesday morning off with a visit to Kt's new stables for a tour.


I then went to Mayo to see everyone in my old lab. I guess I had forgotted to tell them exactly when I was going to be coming for a visit, so most everyone was shocked to see me. Unfortunately, I couldn't stay long, as I had a flight to catch in MSP that afternoon. On the way out of town, Tessa and I had pizzas at Nick 'n Willy's (historically, our Thursday lunch treat). And since we ate quickly, we had time to stop by Walgreen's up by the Cities to get some FARs (i.e. free after rebate). My trip back was more of an adventure than I would have liked at this point. My flight into Philly got in late, so I missed my connection to State College. Instead of taking the 8:30pm flight (that would have had me home before 10pm), I had to wait for the 10:55 flight, which was further delayed by weather (90+ min wait on the tarmak), and got home at 1:30am!!! Special thanks to Jenn and Mike, who rolled with the punches and left my car at the airport for me that night!