Meeting D In Minneapolis

D had a business trip planned for Minneapolis to attend the NAFA expo this past week.  Neither of us had been to Minnesota before, so we decided to celebrate our ten year anniversary there (which is actually this week).  D left on Monday, and I joined him on Wed.  We left the kids with my parents and they enjoyed their time together too.

I flew out of John Wayne, and transferred at Denver.    My lunch consisted of this not so good tasting wrap from Rock Bottom Brewery’s to-go section.  I flew Southwest, and both flights were full, but at least I ended up on the aisle.  There were also peanut allergies on both flights, so we only received pretzels.

Minneapolis has a convenient metro system that takes you from the airport to downtown Minneapolis in about twenty something minutes for $2.50.

The weather was surprisingly warm during the majority of our time.  Our trip was perfectly timed in between two storm fronts.  I checked into the Marriott and then took a shuttle to meet D at the convention center. 

I arrived just in time for the reception after the expo.  There was enough food to constitute dinner.  (We had more food not pictured).

After the reception, we returned to the hotel to freshen up for our night on the town. 

The high rise buildings of Minneapolis are connected through a complex maze called the Skyway.

The Skyway is designed to allow you to walk through downtown without having to go outside, which I could see being quite useful during the snowy months.  It is somewhat difficult to navigate for newbies, however, as you are forced to walk through department stores and down different hallways.

I was quite impressed with the tall buildings and cleanliness.  There were some sketchy parts, though, as in most downtown areas.

I always appreciate art in public spaces.  Here is the Mary Tyler Moore statue.

There was a bustling restaurant scene, especially for a Wed. night.  I’m not sure if this is typical, or if people were just excited to have nice weather.  I also enjoyed how it stayed light so late because we were so far north.  It felt like how the middle of summer is here.

Our outing for the night was to see Cake perform at The Dakota Jazz Club.  It was an intimate venue, but no pictures of the band were allowed.  D was excited to see native Sacramentonians perform their greatest hits along with some newer songs.  We felt old when D was talking to some younger Expo goers, and they had no idea who Cake was. 

The event was put on for the first 300 expo attendees by Donlen, in celebration of their 50th anniversary.  They served *cake* pops at the event, which I did not realize the significance of until D pointed it out later.