If anyone has followed me on Facebook, Twitter, read the most boring crap in the Internet, (otherwise known as this blog) or talked to me in person, you would have picked up some mention of the Rollag thing I attend every year and am overly obsessed with.

What Is It?
Rollag is the Western Minnesota Steam Threshers Reunion. It was started back in 1954 and has been going on every Labor Day weekend since then. It is one of the largest, if not the largest show in the region sitting on over 230 acres of land. We have a wide array of displays and exhibits to see. We have a complete horsepower and pioneer farmstead area, two steam locomotives that pull visitors around the showgrounds. We also feature daily parades, food, construction area, music, sawmills, foundry, ladies activities, miniature steam engines to see. There are so many things to mention I could go on for hours or days. One of the big draws to the show is our large collection of steam engines. Rollag owns a number of steamers, and many of our members store, or haul in steamers to Rollag for the show.

We operate the massive steamers for threshing displays, plowing and nightly spark shows which is a real treat to see. Most of the engines are 80+ years old, and are an impressive sight to see working. In addition to the engines, we have a great array of tasty food to enjoy. Local churches serve meals all day long, and are some good down home cooking. Full breakfasts with eggs, pancakes, sausage and coffee, to lunches and roast for supper, rommegrot, fry bread and steamer cooked corn are just a few of the great things you can eat while on the hill. We also have ice cream stands, hamburgers and other meals such as the Thresherman Special (Taco In A Bag to the commonfolk)

Why do I go there?
I was hooked by Rollag by my late grandfather many years ago, back in 1995. I started, along with my buddy Mike running the sound board for one of the music buildings at night. Since then, I’ve become involved in other areas of the showgrounds, such as the showbook photography, filming, editing and production of the annual Memories On The Hill DVD, as well as maintaining the Rollag website and e-commerce site. I do many other things around the grounds too, help with this that or the other thing, but my main contribution has been technology since I didn’t grow up around, or have much exposure to tractors etc.

I still go there as a homage to Grandpa, and will continue to attend until my name is carved into the memorial wall many years down the road. I feel it’s important to demonstrate how life used to be before cell phones, cars, automation and the other modern conveniences we’ve become accustomed to in our daily life. We would not be where we are today, without the progress from yesterday.

In addition to helping keep the show going, we’ve met a number of really great people at the show. Almost being like a second family, I really enjoy seeing these people as you don’t get to see them every day. As a whole, once you are inside the showgrounds gate, it doesn’t matter who you are, where you come from, what you do, or how deep your pockets are. We are all there for a common goal. We have tradesman, lawyers, IT people, truckers, farmers, doctors, military. You name it, they’re here helping!

Why should you go?
I think everyone should attend at least once, just to see the grounds, and all of the working history. Sure, you can go to the state fair and see a bunch of tractors, but they don’t run. They sit. Our displays are working, active, you can talk to the operators and get history on what the equipment was used for. Kids love tractors, plain and simple. We have LOTS of tractors for kids to look at, and even drive! All in all, it’s a great experience to come and visit, and you really need to plan on spending two days to see all of the show.

Rollag is near and dear to my heart, and comes first in pretty much all aspects of my life. I have missed birthdays, parties, weddings and other events because my role is very critical to this show, and many aspects would be significantly hindered if I wasn’t there. It’s also the only time I take a block of PTO of more than 1 day for an event. I take time off, to volunteer and work 10-12 hour days in the dirt and dust, for vacation.

If you are interested in coming to the show, check out Rollag.com, or drop me a line and I’ll feed you more information than you can digest.

Many of you know I’ve dabbled in photography for a number of years. I’ve done portrait sittings for local Real Estate groups, parties for the Yacht Club, MLS photography via Obeo, and taken thousands of photos camping, outdoors and at Rollag.

I’ve started to collect a number of good photos that I’d like to put a price on, either for a digital copy, or by print or framed print.

I know I can manage the online digital downloads etc, however I’m a bit at a loss of where to start looking for framers or printers for the photos. Some photos are panoramas and could be broken up into 3 photos to occupy an empty wall (that is my current plan for a recent pan I’ve taken) Some would do just fine as 8×11, of which I can handle in-house. One photo actually ended up on a billboard last year.

The other question I’m coming up with over and over, – What do I charge? I know I’d need to cover the cost of materials, however I undervalue my creative talent and time big time. Granted the photos of rare sites and those that require more setup or post work would be more. I’m really at a loss of what to tack on tho..

Any suggestions welcome!

It’s that time again, a little earlier than normal to head up to Rollag. Due to some warmer weather, and an Expo meeting that is at the Hill this weekend, it seems like a great opportunity to open up the camper, get some work done, and hang out with some of the Rollag crew.

So we may have limited access to power and water, oh well.. Camper has 12v power, and LP appliances, including heat!

So, here’s to some good weather, good friends, and a great weekend ahead!

OK – So, if you’re on Facebook, you’ve probably had at least 1, if not 1,000 invites from your friends to play FarmVille, no need to be ashamed. I was sucked into the game last summer, and found myself spending more time than I should have been spending, plowing, planting, milking etc.. It wasn’t so bad, because you could plunk away at it while you watched TV or ate lunch at your desk.

Recently, You’ve had to become fans to get a bigger farm, and play some of the other Zynga games in order to get upgraded farm stuff. Sorry, I’m not playing Mafia Wars for a reason, I DON’T WANT TO.

I gave FishVille a try, because I like fish tanks. After about a week of feeding my fish, I tired of it, and currently have sold all my fish, and assume I have a very green tank.
Also, with all the recent upgrades, added stuff etc, it’s taking longer and longer to load, and now that I’ve upgraded to the largest possible field, and you cannot doing any farming function in mass *plow all* *milk all* etc, it’s becoming far too much of a time eater than it should.

I’ve started ignoring most of the requests and gifts I get, because, honestly, while it was fun in the beginning, The appeal is gone. It’s more of a task now than a fun thing to do on FaceBook. Also, with spring on the way, and warm weather activities, the last thing I want to do, is be tied to my computer on a nice day collecting chicken eggs.

What is your take on FarmVille, and the other Zynga games?

After spending a few previous outings with our friends Vicki and Justin, Eileen and I decided to invite them out to a non-stressful/athletic night. – (past events of ours have included sandbagging in Fargo, moving, and Wii boxing)

Last time we were at MOA, I had noticed signs all over for a place called Cantina #1, and figured it was a typical Corona bar tucked up in one of the locations empty since 2007 when Bloomington enacted the smoking ban at the same time the contracts renewals for the MOA entertainment had the prices jacked up, and subsequently non-renewed their leases.

We arrived about 6:30 and walked right in to be seated at a hi-top in the bar to wait for Vicki and Justin. The bar area is decorated a bit like a tiki bar with fake-palms all over, music playing and bamboo themed seating. There is an entire dining area on the other end of the location, separated off by the main entrance/shop with a variety of Corona merchandise. Overall, a pretty inviting place. There appeared to be a DJ booth in the bar as well, which I could only assume meant music and/or karaoke at some point during the weekend.

I decided to splurge and order the Cadillac Margarita to start with, because we were planning on going over to Moose Mountain for mini-golf after supper (ok, so I guess that’s kinda athletic, but not compared to sandbagging right?) Eileen got the Cherry Limeade, which was good, but strong, but not too strong, as she quickly found the bottom of the glass. My drink, I sipped a bit slower, as I knew there was tequila in it, but it was pretty smooth as it didn’t turn my nose up when I got it.

Vicki and Justin arrived and they ordered drinks, and we decided on our meals. Vicki ended up ordering something in a bowl, what I think was an enchilada bowl, but it was hard to see over what I’ll describe shortly as the large f**king burrito I’ve ever seen. Yes, we ordered what was called the ‘Maximus Burrito’ with steak, rice, beans, etc, all the trimmings in it (but I opted for no beans, ick!) In the menu, they looked like a good sized meal, and for the price of $15.00, they sure better be a good burrito.

Our waiter (who I forget the name of, but a great server) snapped up our orders and headed off to the kitchen, and returned about 15 minutes later, with as I said above, three of the most ginormous burritos I have ever seen in my life. The three of us, must have had a least a YARD of burrito between us, if not more. These were monsters. You cannot compare these to any other burrito I’ve seen or eaten, not from Ol’ Mexico, Don Pablos, Chipotle, nothing.. The thing was as long as my forearm and as big around as my bicep in the middle.

We dig into these things, and wow, were they good. Filled with steak, wow, just an amazing burrito to try and plow my way thru. Now, Vicki, who ordered something different, which I wasn’t able to see over my burrito, said it was good, but a bit spicy, not a bad dish though. Sadly, I was able to finish my burrito, which means I eat too damn much, but wholly crap it was GOOD. This thing would have fed a family of 4, I cannot explain how large this thing was, you could wrap it up and say it’s your newborn, yes it’s THAT BIG.

I happen to spot an another friend getting supper there as well, but didn’t feel like disrupting their evening to get a food review, so I used the next best option, Facebook!

I ordered the Swiss Enchiladas. It came with verde sauce or green sauce that just didn’t have a good flavor and all in all somewhat bland in taste. My stepmom got the shrimp tacos and she was unhappy with hers as well. Basically a fried shrimp thrown in a tortilla shell and call it a taco. Not sure what she was expecting though…. These two things were also listed as their “Signature” items I believe she said. Sangria was tasty and 4 people had the burrito (split it of course) and they loved it. ~ Courtesy of A.H.

So, I guess you can see the mixed reviews on how they liked the food. Our table was 75% happy, and the other table had mixed reviews on different parts of the meals. It seemed that the drink menu came back with 100% favorable results, while the dinner menu was on both sides of the fence.

After we stuffed ourselves on food, we stammered over to Moose Mountain for some mini-golf, which was actually pretty fun. I thought it would be a random thing to do, and even more fun after a few drinks, and it was just that! The course had some really plain holes, and some that were a little more challenging. A few had random sound effects, like horses and other animals that after awhile became comical, or the 17th hold that was an outhouse – Key is to hit the middle hole to make it ‘flush’

I think, the 4 of us spent around $80 total for the evening including big meals, two drinks each, and 4 rounds of mini-golf. Granted, it’s a chunk of change on paper, but we had a good few hours out together, and it was a great time.

Cantina #1
406 E Broadway
Bloomington, MN 55425
(952) 854-6500‎

I was out in Hudson a few weeks back shooting some real-estate photography, and the weather was nice, so I figured it would be a great night to stop by Pier 500 and give it a review. Having been there a few times in the past, and enjoyed the food each time, I felt it was a great opportunity to shoot a few photos since I had my camera with me, and give it a proper review. I gave a quick shout out on twitter to see if anyone wanted to join me, and my buddy Will said he’d stop out too.

I arrived shortly after 6pm and picked up my beeper, as there was a 30 minute wait for a sunny Tuesday evening. I expected this, seeing as Pier 500 sits about 100 yards off the St. Croix River. While waiting for Will I picked up a Captain and Diet, which was mostly Captains, so there were no complaints there. Will arrived and got a drink as well as we talked and waited. There is plenty of space on the deck area near the bar, in addition to the maybe 30 or so tables on the deck. Certainly a great spot to stop by for a happy hour, or in off the river for a bite to eat.

Will and I got our table and sat down, waiting for our waitress. It wasn’t more than two minutes before she appeared and made sure our drink orders were OK. Glancing at the menu, I had forgotten how many different items they listed. The one thing I saw running out left and right but not on the menu was this huge freaking pile of nachos. I asked our waitress, and while they weren’t listed on the dining menu, they are part of the bar menu. Will and I quickly snapped up an order of these things, with chicken, and went back to drinking and catching up.

When the nachos made it out, they looked awesome, and tasted even better. With a great balance of meat, cheese and veggies, we sure as hell didn’t /need/ to order an actual meal, these would have filled us up quite well. The cheeses were melted and gooey, and not crunchy as if they’d spent 20 minutes under a heat lamp. The chicken was juicy and full of flavor, not dried and in bits as I’ve seen other places. – Overall, I would go back to Pier 500 for these alone!

When our meals did come out, Will’s steak salad looked pretty damn good, with big hunks of steak on one side of the plate and large sheets of parmesan to crack over the salad. The lettuce, looked to be a little higher than grocery store grade, so that was a little bit of a downfall. Will said the steal was great, but maybe not worth the extra $8.00 the steak addition put on the bill. The ceasar dressing was good, and overall he was content with the salad, possibly not worth the full price, but pretty good none the less.

I got the BBQ Burger with house made B.B.Q. sauce, home town cheddar and smoked bacon, and fries, nothing terribly exciting to eat, but I was really in the mood for a burger. The burger itself was actually pretty flippin’ good, the presentation was a little plain, so that was a little throw off. Once I got into the meal, the meat was nice and moist, cooked to my liking and full of flavor, so I really had no complaints on the taste.

Overall, Pier 500 is a good place to get together with friends for a drink after work, a good dinner, or a good place to take that special someone for dinner on the patio. I recall our bill coming to about $60.00 with a few rounds of drinks, the app and the meals, but well worth it in my mind. I don’t venture out too often due to cost and trying to watching what I eat, but this stop was certainly worth falling off the wagon for a night. The waitstaff is friendly, and if you don’t mind a little wait on a sunny day, stop in! Their website now lists online reservations available, so maybe check that option out if you aren’t in the mood, or cannot wait for 30 minutes. (it’s well worth it if you have to)

Pier 500
500 1st Street
Hudson, WI 54016
(715) 386-5504

Following thru with my intent this year to get out camping in some fashion at least once a month from May until October, I booked the first trip of the year up at Interstate Park in in St. Croix Falls, WI. This park has been a favorite of mine for many years, due to it’s close proximity to me (only about an hour away), it’s in Wisconsin, which means the beer is flowing, and it has a ample amount of caches and hiking trails to enjoy. Step over to the MN side, and you have numerous other pothole trails to venture, and if you’re up for some more river-based scenery, take the boat tour.

In addition to the hiking, caches and riverboat, you can rent a canoe or kayak and either float down to one of two stops a few miles down the St. Croix.

The campsite itself offers as I mentioned trails, caches and a great deal of nature to see along the way. Personally, I’m a big fan of the bluffs overlooking the river, and could spend a day out there shooting photos of whatever I can find. There are three camping areas, the North camp, primarily the family camp with a newer shower house and a big open area for recreation. Typically on smaller trips I’ve camped here, and had a few choice spots return to each year. Being close to the 4th of July weekend, most of the spots were full, and I did not want to nestle myself (and fellow campers) near the camp-host or a family with little kids, because we can get a little rowdy at times. Also, you will occasionally hear a jake-brake from a Semi coming down a nearby road, however, that’s few and far between. Overall you feel pretty secluded.

The group sites were already full as well, but from past experiences, the two sites are great, however sometimes have a few skeeters. Not having been to the south camp, I thought it was time, and made a reservation there.

I’ve been trying to hook up with Bill and his wife Kim for a few years, but our schedules never jived until now, so we finally have a trip on the calendar, and hopefully can find another couple to round out the 6-person limit to the site.

Here’s hoping for good weather, a little hiking and caching, and beer of course!

If you’re looking for some good camping close to the Twin Cities metro, look Interstate up on ReserveAmerica. It’s a easy to navigate site being utilized by the vast majority of state and fed parks these days, and is seldom to find a park you can call up to reserve a site, short of the ‘first come first serve’ drive-up sites offered by some parks.

Interstate State Park
851 State Rd. 35 P. O. BOX 703
St. Croix Falls WI 54024

After having a rough last few weeks, I decided I needed to get out of MN, the cold, the office, and escape life for a few days. Oddly, the [main] reason I felt I needed to escape is on the mend I hope/think. Regardless, the ticket was booked and the vacation was approved, so I hopped a plane this morning from the Cities down to Fort Myers, FL with Miles the Dog to visit the parents for a few days.

Nothing huge planned, but dad and I took the golf cart down to the country club today for lunch with Mom, and then I got a tour of the neighborhood, yah, everyone down in the community has a golf cart.

After munching down my lunch, I forgot that I should have taken a photo to review the food, however, it won’t do much good, as it’s a private community and you wouldn’t be able to get in without a Tee-Time for golf, or a home down here. Short and sweet, the food I had was awesome, lightly battered and buffalo sauced chicken breast with cheese, bacon and a little ranch, with some awesome fries.

No real plans for the rest of the weekend, probably do some sight seeing if the weather is nice, and just relax a little bit.

Last night, on invite from Bill I joined him, Kim, Laura, Art and Laurie at Taste of Thaiyai down in Apple Valley. I’d been spending the majority of my day helping a buddy remodel his house, so I was certainly up for a tasty meal at a new restaurant.

Located in a tiny little strip mall, it’s what you would expect, a few tables, cliche decor, and the smell of good food about to be eaten. The menu had a large number of options, ranging from appetizers, a variety of main dishes, soups and sides.

I’m not the most adventurous person when it comes to trying different foods, so I tend to stick with dishes in my comfort zone, usually something with noodles, and a meat/poultry. I really don’t care for vegetables, so that limits a number of my options right off the bat.

I’ll contradict with last sentence, and say that I started my meal with the fresh spring rolls, with port and shrimp in them. The rolls themselves looked very tasty, similar to what I’ve gotten at the now closed Vietnam Restaurant. These rolls did have shrimp in them which tasted pretty good, seeing as I’m not a big fan of shrimp. The menu also stated that there was supposed to be pork in the rolls. What I found, was little pork balls, no bigger than you’d find in a serving of Dippin’Dots from the state fair. I dug to find actual pork chunks, and found none. Now, I’m not going to discount these spring rolls, because overall they were pretty good. The dipping sauce, however was a bit off. I’m used to being served some type of peanut sauce with my rolls, and these was almost like a vinegrette sauce, thick, with a splash of the red sauce and peanut chips on top. Again, not bad, just different. Overall, I would order these again on a return visit.

For my main dish, I went with a known dish, Pad Thai. Nothing like chicken chunks and noodles. I opted for the ‘REALLY SPICY’ variety, however, I don’t think our waitress understood that I really did want it spicy. My meal came out, and I was impressed by the large serving, and little did I know, the more I ate, the more the plate would keep growing more and more noodles.

The actual taste of spice of the dish was good. The food was excellent, a little sweet aftertaste, and the spice did slowly build on me, not to the extent that Mai Thai Cafe’s version of the Pad Thai did, but very good none the less. As I mentioned, the more I ate, and dug into the dish, the more and more noodles kept appearing on my plate. Not that it was an endless refill of noodles, but, they almost appeared to be breeding on my plate! We all got quite a chuckle out of this, and were treated to more of Bill’s cackling. I did manage to down all of my chicken and a good portion of the noodles, however I didn’t overly stuff myself as I’ve been trying to eat smart, and lose some extra pounds, and I didn’t think stuffing myself full of noodles was a wise choice.

I ended up getting out of Taste of Thaiyai for about 15.00 before tip and tax, which I thought was very reasonable for the huge amount of food I had. Typically, one would have split up my dishes into two meals possible, or share with someone special, however, seeing as my someone special lives three hours into Wisconsin for the time, and I’m not a fan of leftovers, I scarfed as much as I could and called quits.

Overall, I would suggest you stop by and give the place a try. Everyone in our party enjoyed our meals, and I know I will sure go back again when I’m in the area!

Taste of Thaiyai
7705 147th Street West
Apple Valley, MN 55124

This was the weekend for the annual fall camping trip, which we have done as group since.. I think 1998, maybe back to 1997 starting with Jay Cooke. Any ways, we were short a few of the regulars due to moving, illness, schedules etc, but for those of us that made the trek to Chequamegon National Forest in the middle of Wisconsin, it was a good time.

We did some hiking, as usual, cooking, drinking and general relaxin’. We’ve grown from at one point, having us all in MN, to now driving from South Dakota, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois, so it’s almost a regional affair now!

I’ll not bore everyone with details, but instead just leave you with a link to the photos I took. Check them out here.

So I’m almost a week late posting this, but I’ve been busy so cut me some slack. Last Friday, Miles the Dog and I ventured down to Red Wing to spend some time on the boat with my parents, and the regular pack of river rats down at Red Wing Marina.

Seeing it was a sunny Friday afternoon, I loaded the Wiener and myself into the G-RAFFE and we set out for a pokey jaunt down Hwy. 61 thru Hastings, and then down to 316 past Treasure Island and finally pulling into Red Wing while taking in the beginning of fall colors on a few of the trees along the way. I took along the Garmin and compared the speed in the dash to the GPS, and turns out the speedometer runs about 5mph past has normal posted speeds on the highway, so I’m good to go.

We arrived, got settled in and took a few photos, because, that’s what I do. I of course had to crack open a couple of beers while we all decided what to do for supper. There were about 9 of us going out, so we decided to just walk into town the mile, so we didn’t have to mess with cars and such, plus, it was a nice night for a walk. – Mind you, I’m still in flip flops and shorts this time of year when most everyone else is bringing out the sweaters.

We walk downtown and were planning to make a stop at Norton’s for supper. It appeared to be an upscale venue, a little out of place for Red Wing, but settled right on the main drag, it was packed. Some of the others had eaten there before, and knew the management from what I understood, so there wasn’t a concern for getting a table. We walked in, and were told rather rudely that they had no more seating, and to come back another time. – No list, no offer for a drink on the house, just a very rude turn-away.

We took ourselves, and (what would have likely been a few hundred dollar bill) and walked back outside, and down the street to The Staghead (which was originally run by the current owner of Norton’s). Within two minutes, we were seated, and having our drink orders taken by a nice gal in college that had explained she was filling in, and had been in class all day.

Trying to keep a table of 9 all straight with drinks and meals, I imaging cannot be that simple of a task, especially when we ordered many of the same things, with minor variations, but she did an excellent job. Many of us got burgers, which we ALL raved about. They were very tasty, juicy and flavorful. Hand patted burgers with applewood bacon and pepper jack cheese was on my order that night, and it was just a damn good burger.

Anyways, we all enjoyed our meals, and wandered back to the marina, running into another large group of people from our hometown, and part of the St. Croix Yacht Club as well, some of the group, was the kids that I had grown up with on the beach, that I hadn’t seen in few years, so it was good to see them.

We retired to out beds at a decent hour after another few drinks on the end of the dock.

My Saturday started early, as Miles had to get out and take a tinkle, so we did that and checked out the sunrise and the lack of activity, kind of nice. Our group started to get up, little by little and we made breakfast on the doc, everyone pitched in from eggs, meats, toasts, pancakes, beer.. The standards of course. After we all had our brunch and cleaned up, we decided to wander up to the Red Wing Art Fair and take a look around.

I’m not really what you’d call an Art guy, aside from my fetish for photography, but it’s always interesting to see the talents of others, especially if you can actually earn income from it. Mom spotted an artist who took photos of little animals in funny poses, and spotted a photo of a Wiener dog, sniffing a cocktail wiener, I’ll have to find the website for the artists, as some of the photos are excellent, and the rest are just downright cute.

We ventured into a bookstore where I spotted both a new Grisham and Sandford novel. Actually I say two Sandford books, but opted for the most recent Prey book (turns out I missed on before this one I think) Mom picked me up the Sanford novel as a belated birthday gift, and I bought myself the Sandford novel. I was a tad hesitant to pick up the hardcovers, as that is all that was there, but they do look nice on a bookshelf. So they will end up there when I finish reading them, hopefully before they are packed away.

We headed back towards the boats, as I was needing at some point to head back home, and then up to Chisago for an annual BOOYA at a friends house from the Steam Show. I misjudged my time by about 10 minutes too late as I was trying to decide on the rain. Miles and I made it all the way back to Hastings, when we got wet, so I ducked under a gas station for a few minutes.

All in all it was a good weekend, getting out on the boat, for what will be the last time of the season for me, and visiting with friends and family.

Needing a place to grab lunch today, we went down to Fish Take Brew Pub to get some lunch and try some of the local brew. I ordered the Organic Wild Salmon Pale Ale, and was described as a light bodied, crisp and well balanced brew coming in at 5.5% abv. The beer was excellent, just as described. It had a nice smooth finish with a light bitter aftertaste that was not overpowering. Overall it was a pretty darn good beer.

For the actual meal, I decided on the organic beef burger with bleu cheese and organic fries. Not typically choosing the organic things on the menu, I figured I would give it a try seeing as I was in ‘green’ country, and because I’m also trying to be a little more choosy about what I’m eating as I try to get healthier. While I wasn’t expecting a huge burger from a brew pub, when the food came out, it was better than I expected. The burger was one of the best tasting burgers I’ve eaten in ages, done just to my request (medium-well) It was moist, and very flavorful. The bun was your average bun, but it was good that it was boring and not some toasted kaiser thing to detract from the burger itself.

Photo by Tim Dachtera

The organic fries were a nice chance. Different from the fast-food chain salty, oil soaked fries, these were unsalted, not burned to a crisp, and just downright tasty. Mer had a sandwich with ham, apple slices and melted cheese that she said was excellent, and the grandparents had a rueben and BLT, both of which they said were very tasty.

On the way out, I picked up a growler filled with their Organic Amber, so I’ll be enjoying some of that later tonight with supper.

If you’re in Olympia and looking for some good local beer and great food, Stop by Fish Tale.

 

Fish Brewing Company

We started out our trip to seattle on a pretty OK point.  Arriving to MSP earlier than needed as usual, because I’m not going to be missing a flight on my watch, we checked out bags and made it thru the TSA checkpoint with little issue.  This was one of the first flights in many that I haven’t needed 4 tubs for all my crap, so I guess I really packed light this time only needing one tub.  I guess seeing as my luggage was only 28lbs vs. the normal 45 I guess I packed light this trip.  No need for business and casual attire, no need for jeans, long sleeves or anything.  I could have gotten away with a carry on roller bag, but now I have room to bring back any goodies I might find out here.

We decided to find some food before getting on the plane and stopped in at O’Garas right near out gate.  Seeing on the flight board that the 5:20 flight to SEA had been cancelled, we noticed a hoard of people milling around our gate for the 7:05 flight that had been bumped.  We ordered our food and a drink, Mer got a burger and a glass of wine, and I got a tall glass of Red Hook and the Selby Chicken, cajun style.

As the clock ticked on, we were still waiting for our food and decided to get it to go and go down to our gate as it was quickly approaching the boarding time, and since we had Exit row seating, we’d be first to hop on.

We paid our tab and gave our Waitress a decent tip as she was very nice and quick with the service and to make sure we had everything we needed.  Not have eaten at the real O’Garas in St. Paul before, I don’t know if the service was on par or not, but I was happy, and that’s good for me.

We took our food out to the seating area and I was less than pleased with appearance of my food.  I was hoping for a decent size chicken breast with some cajun seasoning to it.  What I got, was a medium size wad of chicken, that looks like it was sprinkled with the 5lb jug of generic cajun.  The seasoning was only on one side and not evenly spread out.  The fries on the other hand, were pretty good.  Nothing to write home about (I guess I’m doing that anyways) but they weren’t greasy or overly salty so I was happy with them.

As it ended up being, we could have eaten out meal in the Pub, because they didn’t start boarding until 10 minutes before the flight was supposed to leave, oh well I guess.  We ended up leaving only 20 minutes late which I guess is OK.  First time I’ve left late for a flight in many flights, so considering the cancelled flight, I can’t complain too much.

Photo by Tim Dachtera

We arrived into SEA about 20 minutes beyond schedule, oh well – We got our bags and were shuttled off to Enterprise to pick up our car.  We had reserved a full size sedan, and were offered a Kia Optima… I asked what else they had – Mainly because I’m not a fan of Kia, and I wanted something a little more.. American make (or more american made)  We ended up scoring a 2008 Malibu.  It was nicer than I expected with great pickup, a smooth ride and decent options for a rental, and at 25-30 miles to the gallon we should be good to only need a tankful of fuel this weekend.

I fired up the new Garmin Nuvi200w I picked up this week and punched in the address for Mer’s grandparents in Olympia and headed down Hwy 5.  We pulled in about 11pm Seattle time, 1am MN time, and after saying a quick hello we headed to bed.

We woke up today in Olympia to a cloudless day and warm weather, so it should be a great opportunity to get out and about, hopefully all weekend.  The last time we were here in Nov. 2006, we visited during the rainiest month in recorded history.

I think for today, we are going to check out a local restaurant/pub with their own brews if I recall correctly, and try to get down by the Capital tonight for some photos.

Saturday will bring us thru Bremerton to pick up our friend Lori and take the ferry over to Seattle for the until Monday.  more photos, food, a ball game and Pike Place. 

Next week, Mer and I are headed to Seattle for 4 days, with hopefully less rain than the last trip we took in Nov, 2006 (rainy photos) with the Smith’s and Lori.  We’re going to visit some family as well, spend some time in Olympia, catch a ball game and hopefully just have some fun.  If anyone has suggestions of good places to eat out there, let me know.  We’ve been there a few times, and eaten at the Seafood place on the water, a good pizza shop in the downtown area, and had sushi.  I’m taking the D80 with me, as usual, so hoping to find a good opportunity to get up the Space Needle for photos of the night skyline or something like that!