Weekend Travel: Minneapolis

You may wonder why I decided to go to Minneapolis in the dead of winter. Great question! The week before I arrived the highs were not getting over the single digits and the lows...well, we won't talk about the lows! Also that does not even count the wind chill. I went to see Lisa and her family, and thought it was funny when she told me that it was going to be warm for the weekend that I was there. By warm, she meant lows of about 2 and highs in the low 30s on one of the days! Woohoo! Break out the Bermuda shorts! 

I met Lisa via blogging about 13 (?) years ago, and when I was working in Missouri in 2011, I flew up to MSP to meet with her for a 10 mile race and our friendship was set. At the time she lived downtown and we had a great time exploring the city, and eating ice cream and Kowalski's sausages. She has always been a good host, and so I went to visit her again when she was living in Charlotte and we had a great time eating fish tacos and having a weekend away in Ashville (if you have not been here, I recommend it). 

Over the years she has come to visit me several times and we always have fun hiking and running and eating and catching up. Of course, life has progressed and now she is married with two kiddos and the visits are a little different, but it is still great to catch up and to be part of life's journey! This visit was just as fun as the others! 

I arrived on Friday to two degree weather and got picked up by Lisa and her little buddy Pablo, who was very excited to see me, even though I have not seen him since he was a baby (he is now almost five)! It was a warm (!) welcome! We caught up over pizza and I even was coerced into having a beer with her husband before heading to bed.

On Saturday, we spent a great time at the zoo. Luckily a lot of the exhibits are indoors, and the two boys sped through the maze of jungle animals before we headed to the main event: the dolphins! The zoo has borrowed dolphins from the Chicago zoo and they put on a really nice show with four of them, even going so far as to have a trainer get in the water with them and do tricks. I was impressed and the boys both sat still the whole time, which was a good sign that they liked it too! Later that day, after it warmed up a bit (~18°) we went for a run around Lake Harriet and then had a nice dinner and I spent some time reading with the boys. 

On Sunday, we did a 10k snowshoe race, which was something I've never done before. It was very fun but our snowshoes were not meant for running! Some people had really cool rubber ones that are especially made for running, but ours were a little cumbersome and both of us were sore in weird places the next day. We stopped off on the way home for some gluten free pastries and I got biscuits and gravy that were delicious! My new mission in life is to recreate this, as it's my favorite breakfast item and I've been avoiding it due to digestive issues. We had a nice dinner and did a puzzle with the Grammys in the background after watching 60 minutes and having the nightly apple with the boys. 

Monday was Lisa's birthday! I worked for a little while and then we celebrated by taking a little run and getting her a free Starbucks coffee before I left her to go for a walk so she could have some much needed alone time. After that, we went for a multicultural lunch of dosa, kimchi salad and grain bowl before she dropped me off at the airport. 

I know that one thing that the pandemic has done for me is to give me a better appreciation for time spent with friends, especially those who are farther away. It's not a given that we will see them often or at all, and as we get back to some sort of normal, I really enjoy time with people who I haven't seen in years! Next time, I'm hosting!! 

Have you ever done a non-running race and if so, what was it and how did it go? What friend or family have you finally seen lately that you maybe did not see over the last few years?