Day: July 1, 2015

Juicy Lucy at the 5-8 Club and a walk over the Stone Arch Bridge

We started our Minneapolis adventures with a taste test of the Juicy Lucy at the 5-8 Club.  The Juicy Lucy (or Jucy Lucy) is a hamburger with cheese in the center and two different bars in Minneapolis claim to have invented this concoction.  We visited the bar that spells it Juicy Lucy.  There’s actually a wikipedia entry about this. IMG_3682

We began with the fried pickles, which were about as delicious as the coming together of “pickles” and “fried” can be. Not to mention the ranch dressing.

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At the 5-8 Club you can get your choice of cheese.  Apparently at Matt’s Bar (home of the Jucy Lucy) the only choice is American Cheese.  I chose blue cheese.  After following the instructions on the menu and from my waitress to wait until everything cools down a little, I took a bite.  It was good. They also had jojos, but they came without seasoning.

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Needing to walk off our dinner, we stopped at Sara and Shawn’s house (which apparently needs a name) and then walked down to the Mississippi River and over the Stone Arch Bridge (built by James J. Hill as a railroad bridge).

On the bridge you can see the four lanes, two each for bike and pedestrian.

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On the other side of the river I caught this illuminated view.

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And also this glowing sign with the moon.  The sign can be seen in the first picture of the Stone Arch Bridge. It’s on the building that looks like it is directly under the lamp.

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DEN and MSP

Though the Denver Airport is not nearly as charming as the Portland Airport, it does have a Ben and Jerry’s. And tornado shelters.  I stopped at B&J for a scoop and some hot fudge.  And then I looked out on the beautiful day and contemplated how the scrap of paper with the number 302 came to be sitting on my table. I bet there’s a story there.IMG_3678

I got very excited because the Minneapolis airport has the round luggage carousals.  Then I got excited to see Sara and Shawn.IMG_3679

Interesting people on my flight.

Dude. What the hell is that?
This was the question I didn’t ask, but rather took a picture on the sly. Although I didn’t have to be that sly because while the mouth and nose are free, the eyes are covered.
The flight attendant wanted answers too.  “I gotta ask.” she said eventually.
The guy said it was called the Ostrich and that they were really popular.
“I fly all the time,” she said, “and I have never seen anything like that.”IMG_3676

When I got to Minneapolis, I said to Sara and Shawn, “I gotta show you the thing the guy on my flight was wearing.  It was weird.”

“What if it was that Ostrich thing in the SkyMall catalog” Sara said. It was! And we both marveled at the craziness.

Since the SkyMall catalog doesn’t exist anymore in flight, I’ve included this link, so you can purchase your own.  But people are going to stare.

This woman spent the entire PDX to DEN flight going over song lyrics.  I assume she was a singer.  She had this “You sing the songs of Taylor Dane” printout that was very interesting to me.  But I can’t find an example of it with quick googling.

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Things to do while waiting for your flight.

Wonder if the company in charge of the Jantzen Beach redevelopment planned from the beginning to lose the historic carousel.  Get grumpy. IMG_3675

Walk the secret hallway between the D-E and the A-B-C gates.  Enjoy how deserted it is. IMG_3670

Covertly watch this mother and son entertain themselves pre-flight, by taking pictures.  Enjoy how the son narrates his thought process as to why he was taking the pictures.

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Awesome clock at PDX

I procrastinated a lot getting ready for my vacation, at one point thinking, “Why am I going somewhere else?  It’s so much work!”  But I eventually got around to getting everything done and by the time I found myself at the airport (thanks Matt, for dropping me off) and made it through security, my mood rapidly improved.  PDX is awesome!  They had a piano player right outside of security and his cheery take on “Ode to Joy” calmed my frazzled nerves.  And I noticed this amazing clock!   It’s a tremendous specimen and I had a great time studying all the details.IMG_3668

Then I found the poster with the explanations.   IMG_3669Also, the Portland Airport has Cafe Yumm!  I love Cafe Yumm and bought an Edamame Bowl to eat on my flight.