Fitting Remarks: A Reflection on my 2014 Minneapolis Summer Bucket List

Labor Day has passed us by, so I suppose I should concede that summer is on it's way out... It doesn't officially end until September 22, but I figure it's time for me to reflect upon my summer bucket list and see how I did. Here we go!

1. Leave  a note for the elf on Lake Harriet. Come back later and search for a personalized response.

Done! I left him a note on a Sunday and came back to see what he had to say a few days later.

I asked him what the secret is to becoming a faster runner like him. He told me below...

The secret to speed is to be a maniac! Good to know. I'll get right on that.

2. Take an outdoor yoga class with the Yoga Garage

Sort of...I wasn't able to take a class with Meggan as the instructor because her Wednesday night class conflicted with the strength conditioning for runners class I took at the Calhoun Beach Club. I was, however, able to take a special morning yoga class with Luminous Yoga with Meggan as another participant!

I also fit in another one of Emily's (of Luminous Yoga) regular classes last Tuesday. It was lovely! Tonight is your last chance for outdoor yoga with The Yoga Garage on Isles (Wednesday at 6:30 pm).

3. Bike to SeaSalt Eatery

Done! We did this over Labor Day weekend.  The line for food was crazy long, but it was worth it. I loved my shrimp tacos and we also shared some pickled herring.

I think I get bonus points as we also made it to Sandcastle on Lake Nokomis this summer (Doug Flicker's joint). We had never been here before and stopped by for lunch after checking out the Wiener Dog races on Labor Day weekend.

4. Stand-up paddleboard

Sort of...We paddleboarded quite a bit at the cabin this summer...

...but never in Minneapolis, which is a  bit of a fail, especially because we even bought one of THESE to pull the boards behind our bikes. We'll be ready for next summer I suppose!

5. Spend an afternoon on the Relaxation Station

Done! I definitely accomplished this at the cabin this summer. But the new star of the lake was the fun station. Not quite as relaxing as the relaxation station but it’s good to know we have a station for every necessary cabin emotion...

6. See a bear

Fail. No bears. My spellcheck changed that to beers. There were plenty of beers this summer, but no bears.

7. Make it to a Twins Game. Bonus Points- take a Nice Ride bike to get there. Extra Bonus points: Get on the kiss cam!

 I did this twice- once with my work team and once with Dustin in the Legends Club. No bonus points though. That would have been pretty awkward to get on the kiss cam with my work team, right?

8. Go to a church supper in a small town- preferably a lutefisk dinner

Fail. I had planned to go to strawberry festival in Little Cannon Falls, but we had the wrong weekend and missed it completely. I did, however, participate in a small town 5k! That should count for half a point, maybe?

9. Catch a pike or another “big” fish. (A Muskie would be bonus points!)

Fail. I don't even think I picked up a fishing pole but I did put a worm on a hook for one of my nephews. That should count for something!

10. Eat something on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair.

Not quite. Dustin and I made our yearly trek to the fair (read all about it HERE), but I never actually had anything on a stick. Even if I had tried, I sure couldn't have eaten as many items on a stick as THIS GIRL <-- holy cow, that's impressive! But I did get a full fair experience, minus the actual something-on-a-stick.

12. Attend a summer concert at the Lake Harriet bandshell

Done. We walked over there a few weekends ago for some music. It was so lovely! Sometimes I forget how beautiful Lake Harriet is, but this was a timely reminder.

13. Pick a winner of Best Jucy Lucy between the 5-8 Club and Matt’s Bar.

Done! I went to the 5-8 Club for the first time a few weekends ago. I have to admit their Jucy Lucy was really good. It's such a tough call, I don't know which one is better! I think they are both awesome. So maybe I didn't actually pick a winner, but at least I have tried them both and can have an opinion.

14. See an outdoor movie in the park.

Fail...I had high hopes of going to see Back to the Future at the Linden Hills park in August, but something came up and it didn't fit in my schedule.  I'll have to try again next summer!

15. Lawn bowling at Brit’s Pub
Fail...This just never happened. Next year!

16. Go to the Mill City Farmer’s Market

Fail, though I did make it to the Linden Hill Farmer's Market multiple times. 

FYI, you can now bring your dog to the Linden Hills Farmer's Market, which is new from last summer. Our neighbor's food truck, Hot Indian, often makes an appearance there. If you haven't tried this food truck, you should!

17. Have an ice cream date at Sebastian Joe’s

Done! We walked over to the Linden Hills location last Saturday night after fully recovering from the capitol run. Dustin had the ginger ice cream and I had the Open Street's Cycle-delic (mango, chocolate chips, sea salt, raspberry). Yum!

18. Go to an old-school drive-in...

19. Go to Taylors Falls and the Franconia Sculpture Park!

DONE and DONE! Read all about it in THIS POST. We combined these three items into one lovely summer day.

20. Run a trail race

DONE, DONE, and DONE. And maybe more this fall --> I am registered for THIS RACE and one of THESE

21. See the Lake Creature!

Fail...we never met over to see Minnie the lake creature on Lake Powderhorn. Sorry Minnie...

22. Visit Isles Bun & Coffee

Done! 

We headed here after the City of Lakes half marathon for a quick lemonade and a puppy dog tail (to celebrate Dustin's sub-1:30 PR!) Sugar overload....Dustin went with the big cinnamon roll and the unlimited frosting, I did a puppy dog tail.

23.  Visit Wild Rumpus bookstore

Done! No pictures, but I did stop by here a couple of times when we were in the area, but not with my nieces or nephews (which would have been more fun...) If you have young kids or neices/nephews, take them HERE, they will love it!

24. Bonus: Pizza Farm!

Done! Read all about it HERE. I'm pretty sure this will be on my fall bucket list as well, as it was a lot of fun.

Well, there you have it- my reflection on my summer bucket list!

I think I did pretty well, but there were some things I didn't fit in that I really wish I would have. I suppose there's always next summer. Stay tuned for my fall bucket list, coming soon!

**As summer comes to a close, did you squeeze in everything you had hoped to? Please share in the comments!  

Please share any fall or winter bucket list items that you think I should add to my upcoming list!

Fitting Remarks: Fulfilling My Summer Bucket List: The Minnesota State Fair!

"Eat something on a stick at the Minnesota State Fair." 

This is one of the items on my Summer Bucket List. So this past Saturday, Dustin and I put on our comfortable walking shoes and headed to the Great Minnesota Get-Together! (You can read past recaps of the fair HERE and HERE.)

Speaking of walking shoes, Dustin decided to wear his Garmin while we were at the fair. Guess what? We covered over SIX miles of walking! I couldn't believe it. Add that to the 17 mile long run we did in the morning, and I think we covered a lot of ground!

Anyways, back to the fair. This post is going to be very picture heavy. We brought our "good" camera to the fair and I went a little crazy taking pictures of all of my favorite fair activities. But we squeezed a lot into one day, and I'm here to tell you all about my favorite things to do at the Minnesota State Fair.

1. Visit the alpacas.

A visit to the state fair must include a visit with my favorite fair animals, the alpacas! Not to be confused with llamas, though alpacas can spit like a llama.  The biggest difference between alpacas and llamas is their coat. Alpacas have a very fine, soft, single coat, whereas llamas have a course outer coat and soft inner coat. 

I just love their adorable faces. And I'm still wearing my alpaca slippers that I bought last year at the fair. So comfy!

"Alpaca fiber is almost as strong as silk and highly durable. It's also soft, lightweight, lustrous and highly thermally efficient. When made into garments it doesn't pill or provoke any kind of skin reaction in people who are allergic to the lanolin or guard hairs in sheep's wool." source

2. Check out the butter busts!

The Minnesota State Fair is known nationally for the butter busts that are created in the images of the fair princesses, "Princess Kay of the Milky Way!" <-- famous enough that there was a movie with Jennifer Garner loosely based on this. 

We made our requisite stop in the dairy building for a shake and a peek at this year's princesses' butter replicas.

*Does anyone know what the princesses do with their butter busts after the fair?

3. Taste some Minnesota craft brews:

In the horticulture building, you can purchase a 4-sample taster of a variety of local craft beers. This is a great addition to the fair, especially as our local beer scene continues to grow. I tried the hoppy set of four and they were all quite good.

4. Check out the crop art!

The crop art is always impressive and every year there are new and often funny pieces on display. This artwork is all made entirely out of seeds. I can't imagine the patience that goes into these items.

5. Try to understand the Creative Activities displays...

The displays in the Creative Activities building always confuse but fascinate us. There's the cooking competitions, the scrapbooking pages, and plenty of random collections- stamps, postcards, etc.

The top left picture below is an award winning box of straws collection<-- yet there weren't any other similar collections? So confusing. How is this judged? We never really understand these displays, but we try to come up with explanations...

6. Try one of the hot new novelty items at the fair!

We achieved this by trying out the blueberry beer at the Schells Brewing Booth (read all about it HERE). We tried this Japanese style foam beer on top of a Schell's Oktoberfest. 

The blueberry foam beer was decent, but I enjoyed the s'mores beer more. It was a porter served with a marshmallow and a graham cracker crust on the rim. 

We also tried the pretzel curds, which were amazing, and the walleye mac'n'cheese, also very good.

7. Watch the parade

I'm not sure what it is about a parade, but I always have to stop what we're doing and watch it go by if I can. I don't know the schedule, but we always catch some of it while we're at the fair.

8. Ride on the Giant Slide

It's tradition. We take a ride or two on this slide every year. Simple good old-fashioned fun.

9. Admire the flowers in the Horticulture Building

Some years its roses, some years its dahlias, and this year it was orchids. The display was every type of orchid available. Fascinating.

10. Take a break on the Sky Ride

This is a newer tradition for us, but I think between the 17 mile long run that morning and the 6 miles of walking, a quick break on the Sky Ride was just what we needed. We really enjoyed the view of the fair from up above. We will definitely keep this as part of our must-do list!

Honorable mentions: 

Visit Any of the Animal Barns. 
The rabbit barn and/or the chicken barn, or any of the animal barns actually...last year, I milked a goat. This year, we caught a bit of the goat competition. All good fun.

Miracle of Birth Center: The Miracle of Birth center is also usually interesting, but it was just way too crowded yesterday to fight our way through.

All-You-Can-Drink-Milk: Dustin loves the all-you-can-drink milk, but we opted for a shake in the dairy building instead yesterday.

Traditional Fair Food: Pronto Pups, Sweet Martha's cookies, Deep-Fried Candy Bars (way too rich for me, but Dustin likes these), and of course, anything on a stick. It's true, I spent 6 hours at the fair, walking over 6 miles, but I didn't consume ANYTHING on a stick. We kept meaning to get the mango on a stick at the Midtown Global Market, but we never made it over there. So technically, I didn't cross this item off of my summer bucket list this year...  But nonetheless, we enjoyed a lot of our Minnesota State Fair traditions, while making some new ones!

Did you make it to the fair this weekend?
Tell me what are some of your state fair traditions?

Fitting Remarks: Why I Love the Cabin....

Like most Minnesotans, a highlight of our summers is heading “up north” to the cabin. My husband’s family has a place on a lake in northern Wisconsin, and I look forward to weekends up there in the summer. On the coasts, they have their beach homes, but in the Midwest, we relish the cabin life!  

There are so many reasons that I love weekends at the cabin, but I thought I’d share my top 12 reasons  WHY I LOVE THE CABIN!

1. It is so relaxing at the cabin.  Seriously. The lake doesn’t have any public access, so its never busy or loud, just  peaceful and quiet.  The minute you arrive at the cabin you can just feel the stress melt away. Vacation time…

2. No makeup! I can definitely be a ‘girlie-girl’ and I love getting all dolled up. I love getting blow-outs and I love makeup. But, I also love not doing those things. I love not wearing any makeup all weekend. I love putting my wet hair in a ponytail every day and never once touching a blow-dryer or a flat iron. My skin feels so fresh and clean with no makeup.

3. “Bathing” in the lake. Again, I am usually a bit "shower obsessed " I take a lot of showers, and love that shower-fresh feeling probably more than a normal person. But there’s something to be said for going for a sweaty country run, and then just changing into your swimsuit and jumping into the lake to cool down. (Don’t worry, I do eventually shower at some point at the end of the day, its just not a priority.)

4. Hill running. On these aforementioned cabin runs, hill training is unavoidable.  Even though its challenging, I enjoy running up at the cabin. There’s no pressure to run fast, because you know those hills are killer. (Be sure to use bug spray!)

5. Wildlife. I always see deer. I haven’t yet encountered a bear (though it is on my summer bucket list). I often see bald eagles, which are still a treat. There’s plenty of wild turkeys too, as well as the occasional porcupine. Of course, there’s the bass on the end of Dustin’s fishing pole!

6. Stand Up Paddleboarding. Sure, we can paddleboard in Minneapolis too, but we do a lot more of it at the cabin. The lake here is so peaceful, and we end up spending a lot of time out on the boards. 

7. It's 5 o'clock somewhere! Drinking a beer at noon is completely acceptable behavior at the cabin. I’m not much of a day drinker, but at the cabin, having a cold beer at lunch is totally normal...and totally awesome.

8. Random TV- At home, we really only watch shows that we recorded on our TiVo or shows we select on Netflix. At the cabin, when we settle in for the night (and can’t go outside because of the mosquitoes), its fun to watch random shows that we never watch at home…like “Little Women of L.A.” or “Honey Boo Boo Child.” Real quality television...

9. Small town charm. The small town where the cabin is located is definitely quirky, but everyone is so friendly. There’s just a different way of life here compared to Minneapolis. Sure it’s a little grungier, a little more Carhartt than Kate Spade, but it’s a welcome change from the stress of work and the “real world” in Minneapolis.

10. The boathouse. The boathouse at the cabin is stuffed full of memorabilia and souvenirs from the life of my father-in-law. I only knew Dustin’s dad briefly before he passed away, so I always love spending some time reading old poems and reflecting on old stories in the boat house. There is so much history and love captured in that boathouse. 

11. Seeing the joy that the cabin brings to Matilda. Our dog Matilda loves, loves, loves the cabin. Therefore, I love the cabin because of how much Matilda loves the cabin! She spends HOURS outside chasing dragonflies and shadows, and it is really entertaining. She is always utterly exhausted by the end of each day, but her joy and love for cabin life is contagious. She especially loves riding in the boat!

 12. Sharing the joy of the cabin with friends or family. Over the years, we have had a few of my sisters (and my nieces) up to visit the cabin and a few friends as well. Its really fun to share the cabin and all those reasons I love the cabin with those people that I love the most!

Now, there are definitely some things that I don’t like-  the drive (I wish it were just

two hours instead of three) the bugs (OMG the mosquitoes this year!) the lack of a decent grocery store nearby (the produce is questionable at best), the lack of wifi…but those are all such minor things compared to the joy of the cabin!

So tell me- do you have a favorite vacation spot that you love, and why? Please share!