I am firm believer in lists. They are a brief set of directions to organize my thoughts as my brain goes crazy. As we are fast exiting the Twin Cities and the Upper Midwest I feel it is time to break out the Goodbye Tour List. Bill and I will hit several important locations before we leave. Our specific locations are Eveleth, Duluth/Superior, Mankato, Sioux Falls, Huron, and, of course, the Twin Cities.
Rules of the Goodbye Tour
-Bill and I, to the best of our ability, do these together. But there are things on the list he will not do, like drink with me or reenact scenes from bad 80’s movies. He says he has standards, I say he is a stick in the mud.
-We will perform most of these actions with family and friends. Or who ever is there at the time.
-If you want to participate in an activity let me know.
-There must be pictorial documentation. If we are not mediated, we do not exist.
-Either Bill or I will write a bloggish missive about our outing.
The Loen Berg Goodbye Tour of Minneapolis/St. Paul and parts of the Upper Midwest
1. Cleanse myself in the waters of Lake Minnetonka
If we don’t, the doves will cry.
2. A trip to the Sculpture Garden
The Spoon is a Twin Cities landmark. Simply, I need to go and pose inappropriately with statues. It is what I do.
3. Picnic at the Highway 100 Roadside park
This is a tiny park with stone benches and picnic tables. It is less than a half mile from where I currently live and it is cool
4. See a Movie at the Cottage Grove Drive-in
As of right now this is the only thing Bill wants to do.
5. Ride the Light Rail
I have lived here for almost four years and I have never had the opportunity to ride this train. I plan to ride the whole way down and the whole way back.
6. Buy an Adam Truman print of MSP
I love his artwork and I want his visions of this city when I leave. He also has a deal that if I buy $50 of his stuff that I can get a discount for this guy’s bitching coasters.
7. Eat at hot dog place in SLP
Once again, I live less than a mile away and I have never eaten here. Bill says it is off limits because of our vegetarianism. I say he is a communist.
8. See Lake Superior
Bill was shocked to hear that I had never seen Lake Superior. I have seen it from the air, but I have never been in its presence. It is his fault. I have never been to Duluth.
9. See the Duluth Harbor
The above answer is the same.
10. See a midnight movie at the Uptown
This will be hard since I now go to bed at 9:30. It is also hard because the list of midnight showings is impossible to find. So if anyone who reads this drives by the Uptown Theater, let me know what is playing.
11. Eat at Zanz
This is a Mankato institution, which I have avoided out fear of a contact high.
12. Go to the Walker
I like art, I like avant garde art, I don’t know always what this art means, but I enjoy it none the less. They also have free Thursday nights.
13. Last concert with Izzy
My sister is my concert buddy. I am moving too far for her to run up to the Cities to see a concert. So we need one last hurrah, hopefully at First Ave. But we haven’t found anything which fits in our schedules yet.
14. Go to Zesto
Zesto is an ice cream place with three locations: Pierre, Huron, and Brookings, SD. I love Zesto and we used to go the one in Pierre and Huron all the time. No one ever goes to Brookings, so we never bothered with that location. When I head to Huron, I need to take Bill to this childhood staple. I hope they will be serving strawberry-banana frozen yogurt for Bill and cherry sherbet for me.
15. Mill Tour
Along the Mississippi River on the Minneapolis side are several rundown flour mills. It is because of these mills Minneapolis prospered and I would like to take sometime to see them. Okay, I was working on this list while sitting next to John Kohagen. Apparently his trip to the Mill City Museum has scared him for life. He told me there was a shifting demonstration. How cool is that?
16. Mississippi River Walk
There are bike trails next to the river bank and you can walk along that great river. I also want to walk underneath the 35W Bridge.
17. Experience Twin Cities theater
I don’t know if I will get to do this, simply because of time. But I know Minneapolis is a unique town for theater. I hope to hit something at the Brave New Workshop or something similar.
18. See Allison and Tom perform
There are two types of forensics people. The first type, like me, go quietly into retirement and never perform publicly again. The second type rock stages all over the place to create brilliant performances. Two former competitors from Concordia have done just that. Allison is the Slam Master of the Minnesota Slam Poetry team, a member of Rock Star Storytellers, and writes amazing one woman shows. Tom Reed creates characters like Loungeasaurs Rex and other improv theater. Because it often takes a crowbar to remove me from my house at night I have missed their work. Now I have put it on a list. I have to do it if it is on a list.
19. Walk/Bike the Chain of Lakes
I will not do this all in one day, but we will walk or bike each of the big lakes in Minneapolis.
20. Canoeing with Erica
My best friend is an outdoors person. Why she is friends with me I will never know. We were driving by Lake Calhoun and she admired the canoes. I confessed I had never been in a canoe. I want to canoe in Lake Calhoun or one of the other lakes, but Erica’s schedule before the wedding is tight. Maybe we can make time to canoe in the Big Sioux River.
21. Eat at La Belle Vie
As an Instructor at a culinary school, La Belle Vie comes up in conversation a lot. Many students stage there and some receive an exclusive (unpaid) externship. La Belle Vie is the best restaurant in Minnesota; it is rated in Zagat and Chef Tim McKee is a James Beard Nominee. I didn’t think I could put this on my list because of the cost. Until Laura pointed out at Book Club that they have a lounge menu and served some more affordable treats there.
22. Drink at Zatar
I like to drink, it is fun and tasty. Zatar is crazy about drinking, to prove my point: they have eight different types of ice. Each one melts differently and has a separate effect on the drink. I will drink there and it will be glorious.
23. Eat at Mexican Village
I hated Mexican food for years. Mexican Village changed all that.
24. Eat at the Mankato Olive Garden
I lived in Mankato for six years. For six years we were promised the Olive Garden was coming. It was built three months after we moved. We know the Olive Garden is not good, but it is the principle of the thing.
The list is incomplete, so please holler out something we should add if we are missing something from any of those locations
