So what happened was this...I was looking on Ticketmaster and a 5th row seat for the Police at Excel Energy Center happened to pop up. My heart starting racing, it's so rare for such a good seat to come up at face value on Ticketmaster! So I thought about it for a few minutes, let the ticket go and searched again. It came up again! It must have been meant to be. Maybe I could sell it and make back some of the money we spent on the Anaheim show. So I bought it. Turns out the secondary ticket market was flooded with brokers tickets who expected to make a killing on the show and are having to dump tickets below face value. So what to do? Do I risk not selling the ticket and eating the $250? Or do I send Bill to the show? I send us both! It will be a perfect little getaway, just the two of us. I find a great air/hotel/car package and off we go!
We arrive July 2nd at 8:30pm. We rent our car, a sweet little red PT Cruiser Touring Edition. Love it. Our hotel (the Crowne Plaza Riverfront on Kellogg Blvd) is perfectly located. I couldn't have planned it better if I had done it on purpose. After we check in we are starving. The enterance to Taste of Minnesota (which has moved to Harriet Island) is right across the street, so we change our clothes are go. First stop - deep fried cheese curds. If you haven't tried these, you must. They are devilishly good and will kill you in a heartbeat. We continued down the bridge onto the grounds and it's turned into a redneck midway lovin' shit hole. It was humid as hell, we were sweating like mad, fighting off mesquitos, and desperately trying to find something good to eat before it all closed up. We watched the fireworks - sort of - then everything was closed. No funnel cake for you lady. Whatever. Still somewhat hungry, we went up to the room, sqee-ged off and headed for the only late night dining destination we knew of in St. Paul - Perkins.
The neighborhood at University and Snelling has gone down a bit since we lived there, some colorful characters were outside the door. Our waiter was very funny, and the salad hit the spot. I ordered a Chocolate Chipper Sundae for dessert - it's an old favorite. Pleasantly surprised, it did not dissapoint, good as it always was. I gave the cherry to the girls at the next table who fought over the cherry on their shake, we talked to them through the meal. That is the main thing I miss about MN living. The people are so friendly and nice.
Tuesday. The day of the concert. We sleep in a little, we are two hours behind you know. Our first stop, Zimmerman's dry goods on Grand Ave. Bill buys 6 pigment dyed T-shirts. Next stop Woullets Bakery! I would be lying if I said the decision to make this trip wasn't partially based on getting to have a piece or two of the Chocolate Whipped Cream Cake (bottom of the page in the middle) with Hot Fudge Frosting. It's amazing. As I ate my cake and Bill ate a whole rubarb tart we were relaxed and happy. It started raining outside. Eating cake in the rain, I feel a song coming on. My best friend Mia was off work now and ready to meet us, so we had her head to our next location, the Hands Gallery at Grand and Dale. A little art shop where I bought a very cute pair of mismatched knit socks.
She left her car parked there and we went back to the hotel. Looking for a cup of coffee, we ended up a few blocks away at Dunn Brothers coffee / optometrist. Very strange combination don't you think? We did. We sat for a few hours talking and laughing. I wish afternoons like this came around more often. Then it was time to head back to the hotel, pick up ticketfast papers and head to the show. The Excel Energy Center was only a few blocks from our hotel. It had stopped raining and we walked over, saving endless traffic hassle and huge parking fees. We walked around the perimeter, scoping the swag. Mia got a $40 tank top, Bill was eyeing the army jacket, but I told him not to press his luck. A small fortune had already been spent on Sting and the Police. He went to his fifth row seat, and Mia and I went up to our nosebleed, below face value bargain seats - which were actually quite good. High up, but right by the stage on Stings side. She really enjoyed Fictionplane too, and wanted a shirt. Plus it was FREEZING up there, and I'm not exaggerating, the AC was blowing right on us. So at the intermission, first we ran down to Section 119 to see Fictionplane in person, went to pee, then hit the swag stand where she bought another two shirts and I bought the army jacket for Bill. I'm a sucker I know, but I knew he would love it. And I was freezing.
Of course after we ran back to our seats missing half of the first song, the AC was off and it was perfectly warm. Figures. That's ok - it's not really why I bought the jacket anyway. The concert was great, a very different experience than the 2nd row was. We had empty seats on either side of us once we moved down to the second row of our section. After the show we found Bill at one of the swag stands buying a trucker hat. He saw me in the jacket and was floored. He was so happy after the show, great seats, great crowd, and the jacket... I don't get to see him this happy as often as I would like. Finally hungry for dinner we headed back to Perkins and had a good fried meal.
Wednesday - the 4th. Meeting Andrew and Amy at Ruby Tuesdays at the MOA. We had a wonderful 3 hour lunch with them, Amy is 7 months pregnant and looking wonderful. I love my family, I wish we all lived in the same state.
We walked around the mall for awhile after they had to go, I wasn't particularly in a shopping mood, so we drove around a bit, went to Mpls to see the Cherry on a Spoon. I never actually saw it all the times I lived there.
Had a roast beef hoagie at Davanni's on Cleveland and Grand - my old high school hangout. (Dave Scamp where are you?) Then hit the airport. Smooth flights both ways, watched the fireworks from 35,000 feet. Back to LAX around 11:30 and home by 1am.
A good time was had by all.
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