Day 8: Breweries (and a Rehearsal Dinner)

The hubs and I got up, went to breakfast at the hotel and ran into friends of my parents. We chatted with them for a little while, went back to the room, then I went to the hotel gym and worked out for a while. Got ready, then headed to the 16th Street Mall and poked around a bit, but there weren't any shops we were really dying to go in so we ventured to Great Divide Brewery.  We got there right after they opened and it was a good thing because the place got busy quickly.  I had no idea that many people drank at noon on Friday.  I'm not a big beer fan, but I tried two samples and I liked one of them--it was some sort of sour.
After about an hour or so, we walked a mile to another brewery, Epic.  I got a small flight there and didn't really like any of them.  We also ordered some pretzels to absorb the beer.  Mike did like his beer.  I think he even got a t-shirt there.
Then we walked a short distance to Our Mutal Friend where we split a flight of fruity beers--thought since they were fruity I'd love them, but no luck.  Our last stop was Stem Cider Company.  I tried two small ciders there and really liked one of them.  I also had the best vegetarian crepe of my life outside Stem. I think the guy who made it was high, but he was a riot and the crepe was delicious.  I kind of wanted to get a dessert one too, but we had to head back to the hotel to get ready for the rehersal dinner.  Mike had a s'mores crepe, Happy Camper or something like that, he enjoyed it.
Anyway, we Ubered back to the hotel, got ready, then Ubered to the rehersal dinner--good ol' traffic (and a little poor planning on my part) made us 15 minutes late.  The food was pretty good--big portions.  After dinner (it was only 7), we rode with my parents to my brother's house.  He and his fiance were having a party for everyone who was in town--local or out of towners--for the wedding.  It was nice to see his friends from home and meet some of his friends from CO that I had not met yet.  We stayed 'til around 10, then rode back to the hotel with my parents.

     

Day 7: Missing Shoes, South Dakota Sighseeing, Cows Galore, and Colorado

On day 7 as we were getting ready to head out for the day, I heard the hubs start saying a few shall we say not so nice words when he was in the hotel bathroom.  I was sitting in the bedroom so I thought perhaps he'd seen a spider or gotten hurt or something.  Nope.  My parents had flown out to Colorado and per usual overpacked so Mom asked us to bring a small bag with shoes and a purse in it for her.  The hubs had taken some bags out and moved some bags around at our last stop.  As he was getting ready, it suddenly dawned on him that he didn't think he'd put Mom's bag back in the car and he was freaking out--because you know it's always fun to tell your mother-in-law you did something wrong.  I told him to calm down and go check the car when he was dressed.  He did--no shoes.  I texted my friend to see if we'd left them at her house.  She wasn't at home, but promised to look later.  So as we're trying to decide how to explain this to my mother, I go out to to the car, look around, and find the shoes and purse in a bag UNDER another bag. YAY!
With that settled, we could get the hotel breakfast, pack up, check out, and head to Mt. Rushmore.  We drove over there, waited in a short line of cars, and then for the first time I saw , Mt. Rushmore.  I was pretty excited.  It was great, we took some pictures in a few different places, but then it was like, um, okay, what do we do now?  If we'd been there at night, there was a light show, but we had plans to be in Colorado that night so we were all "um, I guess we should go to the gift shop???"  So we went to the gift shop and then left.
Then it was off to Custer State Park--via some crazy narrow windy roads.  At Custer State Park, we did the Wildlife Loop Road where we saw burros (donkeys) that come right up to your car and buffalo--the buffalo made me a little nervous, but the hubs LOVED them.  I had no idea he liked buffalo so much prior to taking this trip with him.  From Custer State Park, we headed to the Crazy Horse Memorial--not my favorite spot.  It was cool to see, but I didn't think we got our $22 worth.  We only stayed there a 1/2 hour. I guess if we'd had more time, we could have watched the movie and spent more time walking around, but I just think for that price, there should be more to do.  We left Crazy Horse and began the 5 1/2 hour drive to Denver.  We saw lots of cows--and not a whole lot else. Once in a while we'd go through a small town.  We saw some storms in the distance, but thankfully, we only got hit with a little rain.  We made one rest stop in Wyoming and later one gas stop.  The hubs and I wondered what life was like for some of the people out there.  You'd see a house with nothing else really around--besides cow and hay of course.  I wondered how far they have to go for groceries, school, etc.  Just so dfferent than what I'm used to in my neck of the woods.  Not much traffic until an hour outside of Denver--UGH!
  We finally checked into our hotel in Denver around 7:40 then drove to my brother's house.  We hung out with hin, his fiance, and my parents for a little while--got a tour of his new house--then my brother, his fiance, my husband, and I all went out for dinner and drinks.  We left the car at my brother's house since parking was ridiculously overpriced and my brother drove us back to the hotel after dinner/drinks.  It was a long and busy, but fun day. 

Speaking of busy, I have a few busy days coming up so it may be a few days 'til I blog again, but we're getting there with the trip.  :-)

Day 6 South Dakota

If I were to replan this trip, I would have spent another day in South Dakota.  Don't get me wrong, we had a great time and saw a lot, but we did a lot of driving and didn't have a ton of time to stop anywhere in an attempt to fit it all in.  We left Angel's house just before 9am and drive to Sioux Falls, SD. We stopped at Falls Park Visitor Information Center and Observation Towe rmainly because I had read about it and wanted to see it.  It was also good to stretch and go the bathroom.  I visited the gift shop and climbed the tower.  We took a few pictures in the park, then it was back in the car.  We drove to the Corn Palace in Mitchell, SD.  We spent between 30-60 minutes exploring the place.  We also stopped at the ice-cream shop across the street so Mike could get a shake.  It was a 4 1/2 hour drive from Angel's house to Corn Palace and now we had over three hours from Corn Palace to Wall Drug, our next stop.  On the way we saw:  fields, tons of billboards, and many bales of hay.  Suddenly at one point we saw a lake. It was so weird to see nothing and then bam there's a random lake.
   Wall Drug was all right.  We wandered around the shops, had lunch (linner?  A late lunch/early dinner)--Mike tried buffalo, then headed down the road to the Badlands.  We both really liked the Badlands, but we didn't spend a ton of time there.  If we did this trip over again, we would have stayed there longer.  Shortly after leaving the Badlands, we saw some buffalo, which excited Mike--I had no idea he liked buffalo so much.  One of the roads we took was SO BUMPY.  It was in the middle of nowhere--no cell service and I kept praying we didn't break down or get a flat.  I was having flashbacks to a similar road in Iceland years ago.  It was only an 8 mile road, but my gosh if felt long!  I was so excited to get back to a "main road" to head to Rapid City.
  We checked into our hotel, got settled, then got gas, and went downtown to explore a little, and get some dinner.  We had dinner at the Firehouse Brewery.  Then we went next door to the Firehouse Winery to sample some wine. Took a couple of pictures downtown, then it was back to the hotel to go to bed.

Day 5 Minneapolis Highlights

We got up, got ready, Angel dropped her kids off at camp and then she took Mike and I out to see Minneapolis.  We went to Sculpture Park, where the famous Cherry in the Spoon is located. Then we went to see the Mary Tyler Moore statue.  After that it was off to Lyndale Park Gardens and Lake Marriet for a quick stroll.  Then it was time to pick Angel's kids up and head to lunch.  We went to Matt's Bar so Mike could have a famous "Juicy Lucy." In case you are not familiar with the Juicy Lucy, it's a hamburger with cheese in the middle. (I had a grilled cheese, which I enjoyed.)  Angel had to work that afternoon so Mike and I ventured off to The Mall of America.  It's big.  I don't really know how else to describe it.  It was cool to see the amusement park and all, but many of the stores are stores we have back home. We bought cookies and souvneirs and walked around for a while exploring the mall.  A couple of hours later we drove to Target Field to try to get tickets for the Twins game that night--success.  The Twins were playing the Yankees.  We enjoyed the stadium and the game.  (We also ate more cheese curds lol.)  Sadly, the Twins lost 3-6 and then we drove back to Angel's and went to bed. 

 The famous Juicy Lucy

Day 4; Good-bye Milwaukee, Hello Minnesota

Day four, I got up, worked out, then got ready to head out.  We checked out of our hotel then drove to Miller Park for our baseball stadium tour.  We very much enjoyed our tour--our guide was great and they really showed us a lot.  I've done quite a few baseball stadium tours and this one was one of the best.  I'd be willing to go to a game there sometime.  After the tour, I talked Mike into going to The Basiclica of Saint Josephat.  It was only six miles from the stadium and I had read it was worth seeing.  We spent about a half hour there.  It was really pretty inside.  Then it was off to Minnesota--we were going to be staying with a friend of mine for the next two nights.  We made one gas/bathroom stop and arrived at my friend's house around 6:00.  She lives right outside of Minneapolis, but traffic in Minneapolis was insane.  We arrived, went in for a few minutes then went out to dinner at Betty Danger's Country Club, which I believe is a locally famous restaurant.  They had interesting decor, a ferris wheel, and mini golf.  Gve it a google, but my description will not do it justice--old-fashioned wallpaper, a rocking hourse, chandeliers, etc.  After dinner, it was back to the house, hung out for a bit then went to bed.