Sometimes, we really don't have anything to write about, especially on weekdays. So I'm going to come up with a few categories to give myself topics.

Throwback Thursday will cover some of our past adventures.

Kelly and I got married in my sister's barn back in September of 2006 and went to Minneapolis, Minnesota for our honeymoon to watch a live broadcast of A Prairie Home Companion.

We stayed in Midtown at the Sheraton, which was decorated in the 1930s Art Deco style, drawing from the Sears tower next door, now multi-income apartments and condos with an international market on the first floor. We had a suite with a fireplace and a wet bar with granite counter tops. And a view of Midtown.





The idea behind the honeymoon was to have a downtown USA experience. Take in a show, eat out at nice restaurants, dress well, and see a city we'd never seen before. And have some Manhattans.



Kelly and I love being around art deco architecture. It just improves my mood the way modern and especially the architecture of the 1960s and 70s (such as the life-sucking designs of most SUNY colleges) just can't. The idea was to be somewhere with no florescent lights at all. We mostly succeeded.

We went of course to The Mall of America, which is an indoor amusement park surrounded on each of the four sides by a large mall. If you had four Carousel Centers (in Syracuse, NY) arranged in a square with an amusement park in the center, that's about the scale.



This was in October, so we drove up north a little ways and walked around in a state park to look at leaves.



We soaked up a little of small town Minnesota too.





I don't think I'll ever forget that day. It was about 60 and perfect with muted sunlight filtered through thin stratus clouds.

We take great pride in being a little unusual and we know that other honeymoon locations make more sense to everyone else, but this worked for us. I've spent a lot of time overseas and really feel like I need to see a lot more of the US before I venture overseas again.

Plus, we wanted to be someplace that had Whitecastle.



Other memorable meals:

Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, where I had some New Zealand venison chops and Kelly had Stuffed Chicken Breast:
Oven roasted free-range double chicken breast stuffed with garlic herb cheese and served with lemon butter. This was our first dinner out there and we told the waiter that we were on our honeymoon. Of course his reaction was, "Really, here? Why?" But he believed us enough to comp the creme brulee dessert. I love that dessert because it makes me think of gourmet meals and beach fire marshmallows at Troutburg all at once. I think we had free creme brulee every night of the trip.

Tapas at Solera on Hennepin Ave. The Chorizo Stuffed Dates with Smoked Bacon will make you want to slap your mamma. Tapas is a fun experience for anyone who hasn't done it. You just keep ordering things and sharing and drag the dinner out as long as you please, maybe revisiting something you really like, like the Chorizo Stuffed Dates with Smoked Bacon. Tapas is perfect for couples or epicurious friends. Visit the website, it's decorated like the place itself and made me miss it so badly.

Italian at Campiello in Uptown. Kelly had PENNE - $17.00 with Spit-Roasted Chicken, Artichoke, Basil, Garlic and Lemon. I had BISTECCA "FIORENTINA" - $36.00 Grilled T-bone Steak with Rapini, Potato and Hot Pepper Fritella. We had a side of roasted potatoes too. The waiter was simply delightful and so entertaining and informative. We will visit the shore of Lake Superior some day just because of the way he described it.  

Bubba Gump Shrimp Company in the mall was good, but we got SOOOO much food and didn't want to carry it around all fishy all day, so we had to leave lots of shrimps behind.



The Twin Cities Grill in the mall was good too. We can't remember exactly what we had, but we're leaning toward a burger for Kelly and maybe toasted macaroni and cheese for me.

Every morning, we would stroll over to the Global Market in Midtown and Kelly would get a Cinnamon Latte from the Jamaican coffee shop while I'd get a hot green tea. A few times, I'd venture out for that while Kelly ordered Room Service breakfast for us. Room service kind of sucked and actually they had this rule that if it didn't get to you in 30 minutes, it would be free. It took 45 minutes once and we called them on it. I had never felt like more of a jerk. But honestly, room service is almost always bad food that's WAY overpriced.