Beer is good and stuff

I'm back to the grind after a very fun weekend.  We had a blast at the beer festival on Saturday.  I thought I'd start out my blog post today by sharing this hilarious video - I should warn it's probably not suitable for work, but I've always gotten a kick out of it!

 

So beer is good and stuff!  We got ourselves up on Saturday and had a little time at home with Oliver before dropping him off at my in-laws.  I'm proud to say I didn't even cry, there may have been some tearing up, but that was the worst of it!  We were on the road by about 10:30 or so.  Duluth is about 2-2 1/2 hours north of Minneapolis, so that gave us plenty of time to drive up, get lunch, get checked in at the hotel and then walk over to the festival by 3:00.  The festival was at the Bayfront Festival Park - it was a great spot for this event, right on Lake Superior.  There were tents set up all over for the various breweries, food trucks along one edge and then some live music on a large stage.

It was hot out there for Duluth - the high was 85!  But it was a "dry" heat so to speak, no real humidity.  I was glad I wore a tank top though!  We played a dorky game and Nate won me that orange bell.

We also sat in an educational session on cooking with beer - it was a great choice because we got free food as part of the presentation!  Other than that we wandered about sampling what the various breweries brought.  We have a good system at these events, we each get a different beer from the different places and then share - we can taste a little more that way without getting absolutely hammered.

We made sure to take plenty of water breaks as it was pretty warm in the direct sun.  Towards the last hour or so the clouds started rolling in and it was kind of a relief, it was still nice out, but a little less crazy warm! We ended up getting a couple of hot dogs from one of the food trucks and they were delicious - the guy makes his own mustard - with beer no less - and it's really tasty!

The crowd also really started thinning out in the last hour or so as well, it was kind of nice to wander around once it was not quite as packed.  I honestly could have stayed out there all night!  Sadly it did come to an end, so we took a nice leisurely stroll back to our hotel.

We had to stop on the path and take pictures by the iconic Duluth Lift Bridge.  I also got a kick out of the line of geese swimming by in the lake.  They were seriously in a perfect line, kind of crazy.  After we got back to the hotel we got a text from a friend we had run into at the festival that he and his girlfriend were thinking of grabbing dinner if we wanted to join them - we discovered our hotel was right next to Canal Park Brewing Company - which happens to be a brewpub, not just a brewery, so we asked if they wanted to meet us there.  They did, so we finished out the evening with some appetizers and just one more beer - after all, we did have a hotel room right there!

As I predicted, I didn't end up sleeping that great - but it wasn't so much about missing Oliver (although I sure did miss him a ton) as it was our room was warm and there were just too many foreign noises.  I never sleep great away from home.  Oh well.  We got up nice and early on Sunday morning, stopped at a fantastic diner on our way out of town and were reunited with our boy by noon!

Oliver was very happy to see us but did very well for his first sleepover.  It sounds like he had a great time with his grandparents, so I was happy to hear that, but even more happy to be back with my sweet boy!  I took the day off of work yesterday so I could get a little extra time in too.  We had a very fun day together!

I took him to the park and Target, met a friend for lunch and we just had fun hanging out and playing at our own house.  I am glad I had a chance to get a little extra time in with him!  Overall it was a great weekend.  I would definitely go to All Pints North again, it was a great venue, lots of good beer and food and it was just right for a quick little getaway!