Another quick trip to Minneapolis - Lisa's Birthday

Tim and I took off for Minnesota friday afternoon. It was a nice drive, even though Tim was tired from working all day Friday.

We wanted to take a short trip up there to see my mom and sister, and to spend Saturday with my sister for her birthday. It was a 7 hour drive.

We took our dog Jack with us too. He likes to travel.




Leaving Kansas City:

Hope no one needs to use this bridge:

We made it halfway........Des Moines Iowa:

Tim and Jack stretching their legs:

Back in the car, ready for the 2nd half of the drive:

This part of the drive in Northern Iowa is interesting. It's a National Heritage Area with really cool farms that you can see along the highway.

The area is called "Silos and Smokestacks". I really love farms, and I wish I could live on one so this area is especially fun for me to see all of the farms we pass by.

Of course, I missed getting a picture of the sign, but I was able to find one online:

 (WEB IMAGE)

I also missed getting pictures of a lot of the farms we passed. I found I am really bad at taking pictures while we are driving by at 75 MPH..........But I did manage to get a few (I wasn't driving!)

Finally, we made it to Minnesota. We still had about 90 minutes till we would get to my mom and sister's house in the suburbs of Minneapolis:

I managed to get one last pic before it was too dark:

As we were driving, a thunderstorm came through Minneapolis and my Mom and sister lost power to their house. We arrived around 10 PM, and after saying hello and settling in (in the dark), we all went to sleep.

The next morning, it was my sister's birthday and the power was still out. We decided to go out for breakfast to a really neat little diner in downtown St Paul called "Mickey's Diner".

I took my own pics of the diner as we were leaving, but Timmy's cell phone is having a glitch and I can't get my pictures off his phone.

Here is a picture of Mickey's Diner that I found on the web:

(WEB IMAGE)

The food was fabulous!  This restaurant is on the National Register Of Historic Places and has been around for almost 70 years. I read on the back of the menu that many famous people have eaten there, but the only names I can remember from the list are Roseanne and Tom Arnold.

 It was a tiny little place with about 20 seats at the counter and only 4 booths. There is a sign that said there is a 30 minute limit to eat your food. My sister said she heard the waitress tell the family next to us to hurry up, they must have been taking too long to eat.

After breakfast, we ran some errands and headed back to Mom and Lisa's house.

The power was still out, but we made the best of it and we ate cake!!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LISA!!!!

We spent the afternoon taking the dogs on walks, hanging out, and helping with some things around the house.

For dinner we were going to The Melting Pot -  A Fondue restaurant.

We all got ready to go and we loaded into Mom's car and drove to downtown Minneapolis.

I took some pictures of some of the buildings that were near where we parked:

And now for dinner at The Melting Pot!!

Tim and I posed for a quick picture in the lounge while we waited for our table:

I snapped this picture just after we ordered:



 I didn't take any more pictures at dinner, but I found a few pics from the last time we ate there.
Below are pictures from our previous visit.

In case you aren't familiar with The Melting Pot, its a fondue restaurant. Each table has a hot plate built in, and each course is a different type of fondue.

This is the cheese appitizer. They bring chunks of bread and veggies to dip in the cheese:

For the main course, they bring raw chunks of meat or seafood, and a pot of oil.
You cook your own food, one piece at a time, and then dip in the sauces they bring.

Such a fun experience!

After we ate, we went back to Mom and Lisa's house. We didn't stay up too late that night, Tim and I had to leave early in the morning to head home.

The next morning, we packed up the car and we were on the road by 6 AM. We were trying to stay ahead of a rainstorm, but it caught up with us and we drove almost all the way back to Kansas City in the rain. I think it was dry the last hour or so of our drive.

We were home by 12:30 or so, and we spent the rest of the day doing laundry and getting ready for the workweek ahead.

It was a very quick trip, but we are glad we went. It's always nice to spend time with my mom and my sister.