Marathon Mania

Who in their right mind would run the Twin Cities Marathon and then two weeks later run another marathon in San Francisco? My wife, that's who! =) Elizabeth beat her personal record at the TCM two weekends ago. This morning, she and several of her running group friends are flying out to California and doing it all over again.

Juicy Lucy

Elizabeth and I started going out on Fridays to various local establishments to sample their version of the "Juicy Lucy" - a cheeseburger with a layer of cheese melted inside the burger. It was supposedly invented here in the Twin Cities and there are several varieties.

It all started with Nook, a small bar & grill in residential St. Paul. Their version was so good, we started telling everyone about it. That's when the feedback occurred - our friends and co-workers would say, "Have you tried it at this other place?" We decided that we should do a comparison!

Here's the list of places we've been to so far (ranked in order of preference):

1) Nook - (St. Paul) visited first, hard to beat! *yummmm*
2) Matt's Bar - (Minneapolis) a great Jucy Lucy (note the spelling), cash only!
3) The Cardinal Tavern - (Minneapolis) visited last, good Lucy and Cheddar Crisps!
4) Blue Door Pub - (St. Paul) probably the best variety of Lucy (at least 10 of them)
5) The 5-8 Club - (Minneapolis) recommended by many, but it just wasn't as good.

It will be interesting to see how the list changes as the contest continues.

Rattle My Bones

Alright, so I haven't been posting to the blog on a regular basis. But who has? Anyway, I've been busy this summer. Take the Rattle My Bones scooter rally for example. I was only able to attend part of the festivities, but let me tell you - riding with 250+ other scooter fans was pretty dang cool! A modest $35 registration gets you full access, plus a grab bag, shot glass, free food & drink and a heck of a good time. At first I thought I was going to be the only person there with a vintage Honda Passport. Then another guy pulls in with one a year newer (close call). However, I eventually got beat out by not one...not two...but three 1963 Honda 50's (basically the predecessor to the Cub/Passport) which were awesome classics. Two of which left before the Big Ride, a 70-mile jaunt through the backstreets of the metro. So mine wasn't the oldest, but Porter was the only blue Cub/Passport in the lot. I'll likely go back again next year - besides, with a kick butt logo and a rally named after a cool Suburbs tune what's not to like?

Go East!

Last weekend, Elizabeth and I left to join her family on a road trip out east. I wasn't totally enthusiastic about it at first (5 adults and 2 toddlers packed into a Honda minivan) but it ended up being a great trip! We went, we saw and we did many things, including...

Dined with relatives in Cleveland, OH
Chatted with more relatives in Harrisburg, PA
Learned about chocolate in Hershey, PA
Toured the dutch region and ate lunch on an old-time train in Strasburg, PA
Dipped our feet in the Atlantic Ocean at Cape May, NJ
Walked through American history at various sites in Philadelphia, PA

There were a few more details but this pretty much sums it up. Now I have a couple days off to recover from a wacky sleep schedule, eating at weird times and de-kinking the knots in my back. ;)