Minnesota Marriage Madness

Well, it's been forever since I posted, and a lot of fun stuff has happened in between my last post and now. I will probably break this post into a few readable sections to keep it from turning into a novel. Some of my experiences have been positive and some, not as much. This first section is going to be about the big trip to Minnesota, which has been one of the highlights of the summer.
The occasion for this trip was the marriage of Timmy and Jenna, two of my absolute favorite people on earth. It was a very small wedding, but Becky and I were joined by Gary, Torkelson, and Dawn (along with some of Timmy and Jenna's family) to celebrate it in style. It was a great trip all around, and a great experience to share with a group of friends that I enjoy immensely.



Becky and I stayed in the Marquette hotel in downtown Minneapolis, and we were quite pleased with the accommodations. From the 42 inch LCD television, to the full glass / stone shower, to the functional room furniture, we found our stay there to be very enjoyable. It was also nicely located in easy walking distance from the Hilton and the Marriott, where other members of our party were staying. And cheap on priceline.com.

On our first night, Timmy's dad bought the entire wedding party dinner at Great Waters brewing company, where the HefeWeizen tastes like bananas! Actually, it is a brewery/restaurant combination with a nice selection of both food and beers, and we fully enjoyed our meal. Becky and I were seated across from Jenna's mother, and we had a delightful time. Torkelson seemed to be the life of the party, cutting up with some of Timmy's more colorful family members by trading Boudreaux and Thibodeaux jokes and calling various members of the restaurant staff "Alfonse."
From there, the family members headed home and the friends stayed out at the bar across the street, drinking pitchers of beer and having a wonderful time catching up. Since the restaurant and the bar where we ended up were located in St. Paul, we called it a night and headed back across the river to our respective hotels in Minneapolis to prepare for the big day.

Friday was wedding day. We headed over to the most awesome breakfast restaurant in the world, called Hell's Kitchen. We were so impressed with the place we would eat there for every single breakfast during our stay (three days in a row). Our first meal there saw 5 completely different orders, and every person loved every item served. Buffalo sausage, porridge, huevos rancheros, vegetable frittatas, lemon-ricotta pancakes, it was all devilishly good. They make their own ridiculously good peanut butter (for toast, of course) and blackberry-lemon preserves. Man, that place is outstanding. There were trees inside filled with stuffed crows, and artwork by Gary Larson (all of the "Hell" related Far Side comics) and Steadman (who illustrated a number of Hunter Thompson's works including F&L in Las Vegas). Here's their URL: http://www.hellskitcheninc.com/

After an entertaining day in Minneapolis involving sushi, video games, and mimosas, we headed to the Conservatory/Gardens where the wedding took place. The grounds were beautiful, the ceremony was short and poignant, and the photographs really weren't too arduous. The meal afterward was a success, with delicious walleye AND steak and cake and chocolate truffles. mmmmm. Afterwards, we headed downtown Minneapolis to continue the drinking late into the night (or what passes for late there... the bars DO shut down at 2). We found a bar that was ideally laid out for us, with sidewalk tables and such, but Timmy hadn't brought his wallet along due to being in his fly-ass wedding tux pants, so the server had the audacity to refuse him service on his wedding night. Seriously, she walked out onto the patio and confiscated his beer right out of his hand! Unbleievable. Torkelson went on the wallet rescue mission and returned with proper ID for Timmy, so the drinking continued. A good time was had by all. The following day, we held a disc golf tournament for the newly wedded couple, but that, as they say, is another story.