Minneapolis

NB: Blog may be written with less enthusiasm now that I'm back in Dunedin finishing it off...

Another intense airport security debacle unfolded when we flew from JFK airport in New York to Minneapolis - we’d been carrying instant coffee and sugar with us from city to city on the trains and buses, but I forgot that this might present a problem when flying, and inadvertently put the sugar in my carry-on bag. I couldn’t work out why I was pulled aside for a special check, because I’d been careful not to have any sharp objects or liquids in there, but turns out that containers with crystalline substances arouse suspicion, and they did some kind of science-y looking test on my sugar with blue chemicals, and seemed annoyed when they confirmed that yes, it was just sugar, not drugs or explosives. Yay, no rotting in a US jail for me.

After a bit of a delay at the Minneapolis airport (my anti-anxiety pill had worked moderately well on the plane, but then as soon as we sat down in the airport once we arrived, it really kicked in, and I fell asleep face down on a table, then came to in a puddle of drool after a couple of hours). I probably could have been woken up, but Sam had found a computer game that he was addicted to, and decided to leave me to it in order to sneak a bit of playing in. We eventually made it to our hotel - yes, a hotel this time. I’d gotten a good deal on a place called Aloft, which we only paid $50 each a night for, and it turned out to be just what we needed for a couple of nights - 2 comfy queen size beds, a pool and a spa. We found an excellent place just down the road called Grumpy’s that was a combination of diner, bar, band venue and roller derby hangout, and enjoyed some very junky but tasty veggie diner food (best jalapeno poppers of the trip) and cheap PBRs. Then it was back to the hotel to enjoy what was our first real night off from partying/travelling/sightseeing in ages, and we ordered a movie on the huge screen TV (Rise of the Planet of the Apes - actually better than I expected it to be, and it was set in San Francisco which made it more interesting given our recent visit), and lay back on our fancy beds and made the most of the decadence.

The view from our hotel room

Sam outside the Walker Art Center - we didn't have time to go in, but appreciated the Lichtenstein sculpture outside

The next day was Sam’s birthday, and on top of the many other presents I’d bought him along the way, we also came across an awesome Ramones-style leather jacket in an op-shop which was added to the present pile. Happily, the same op-shop (My Sister’s Closet) also had an equally cool leopard print faux fur jacket, so we ended up with his n’ hers jackets for fairly decent prices after the lovely shop owner kept adding on discounts (apparently having a New Zealand accent entitles you to one). We walked round downtown Minneapolis for most of the day, and encountered a few good record stores and vintage clothing places, and had lunch at a bar similar to Grumpy’s. Minneapolis was really good for vegetarian food, every restaurant seemed to have a fairly decent selection - second only to Toronto for food awesomeness. After all our walking, we were both blistered, overheated and surly on our return to Aloft, but quickly cured this with a spa/pool/spa/pool combination (they were right next to each other, so whenever the spa got too hot, we’d go for a swim, a cycle that would have continued infinitely had we not had the Trailer Park Boys live show to go to that night). 

On our way to Trailer Park Boys, we discovered the strange phenomenon known as the Pedal Pub. Basically, a bunch of people sit across from each other on a contraption similar to a picnic table with a roof and pedals, and drink booze while pedalling themselves round the streets of Minneapolis. A bartender stands in the middle pouring drinks (and, I assume, navigating and making sure the whole thing has some semblance of safety). It looked incredibly stupid at first glance, but once we realised beer was involved, we would have been keen to jump onboard had we not had prior engagements...

As expected, Trailer Park Boys was hilarious, and well worth the detour to Minneapolis. It was just Ricky, Julian and Bubbles onstage, but they ‘skyped’ Randy and Mr Lahey, and got lots of the audience members up to participate (not me thankfully). The samsquampch was referred to, and Ricky used his classic “getting two birds stoned at once” line, not to mention the battle with Cyrus being re-enacted, and lots of other top-notch classic TPB stuff. We bought a meet and greet pass (sorry to disappoint, but it wasn’t our magnificent stalking skills this time), and got photos with them and our merch signed. When they found out we were from New Zealand, they let slip that they’re coming to NZ in March or April next year for shows in Auckland and Christchurch! Oh the excitement... And now that we’ve seen them, I can let slip how we managed to do it...The show was actually sold out, apart from disabled seating which you had to write and submit a request for, so in the spirit of Ray and his wheelchair benefit fraud, we got disabled seating on the basis of Sam having had recent foot surgery (not entirely untrue, he did have an ingrown toenail removed before we left New Zealand). Sometimes a white lie doesn’t hurt, especially one that was almost a TPB homage of sorts…

It was then back to Grumpy’s for some more incredible veggie diner food (mini burgers for me this time), and those cheap PBRs we can’t get enough of, while they played Misfits and such things on the jukebox. All in all, a pretty sweet 26th birthday for Sam (ooh, and he got wished a happy birthday by Ricky, Julian and Bubbles, which was extra cool!)

Trailer Park Boys! On Sam's birthday! Proof!

The trip started with Tim, Lars and Matt, and ends with Ricky, Julian and Bubbles... Also, check out how unrecognisable Bubbles is without those glasses 

The final Chicago chapter to come soon, possibly tonight if enthusiasm for writing continues, or tomorrow night if enthusiasm for Taz and Dexter overtakes...