The Sand Creek, hole thirteen, Ridges at Sand Creek, Jordan, Minnesota

Rainbow over the neighborhood, Eagan, Minnesota

Like a lemon to a lime, a lime to a lemon, I sip the def ale with all the fly women…

Family pizza night at Carbone’s on Randolph, St. Paul, Minnesota

Beastie Boys, Tenacious D and Ben Harper at Roy Wilkins, Nov 1, 2008, St. Paul, Minnesota

Bring it back that old New York rap…

http://www.pitchfork.com/news/46406-rip-adam-yauch-of-the-beastie-boys/

Martinis taste like tears…

Iron Range M.C., Tower, Minnesota

There is only one god, and his name is Death. And there is only one thing we say to Death: ‘Not today’.

Old Apple propaganda, circa 1997

Various TV show studio audience tickets from 1983

http://www.gocomics.com/jimsjournal/2012/05/01

Colonel Klink, that is nice…

Imagic for Intellivision brochure:
Ice Trek, White Water, Safecracker, Dracula, Tropical Trouble, Truckin’ and Nova Blast (full size image)

Not sure how this survived the downpour last night, Fortune Bay Resort Casino, Tower, Minnesota

But I know the reason why you keep your silence up, no you don’t fool me. The hurt doesn’t show, but the pain still grows…

M Network Brochure: You won’t believe it’s the same Atari VCS! Super Challenge Baseball and Football, Lock ‘N Chase, Astroblast, Space Attack and more…

http://www.complex.com/music/2012/05/premiere-brother-ali-not-a-day-goes-by

Continuing on with the ten favorites theme I started a few days ago, here is my initial pass at outstate Minnesota. There is a heavy focus on the northern part of the state, as I’ve spent the most time there. Other areas are very nice too, but maybe that can be a third post down the road.

1. Devil’s Kettle Hiking Trail

Part of the Judge C.R. Magney State Park, the trail to the Devil’s Kettle is pure North Shore beautiful. It’s not too long or too tough, so almost everyone can do it, and I just love that we haven’t figured out the mystery of where all that water goes.

2. World’s Best Donuts and Sven & Ole’s Pizza

Grand Marais is such a beautiful town. I’ve been lucky enough to visit almost every year of my life, so I’ve had plenty of time to see the dining options come and go. These two establishments are firmly planted within shouting distance of each other and continue to be must visits on every single trip I take.

3. Lutsen Mountains and Lutsen Resort

Lutsen has always been Minnesota’s only “real” ski area and I love visiting any time of the year. The golf course added another dimension and the original Lutsen Resort on the lake holds special memories of my friend Megan’s beautiful wedding on the beach.

4. Gooseberry Falls (above) and Split Rock Lighthouse

Gooseberry Falls State Park represents everything that is good about the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources. Gorgeous setting, nice visitor center, easy access off highway 61, miles of great trails and photogenic waterfalls. And it’s all free.

Just down the road, Split Rock isn’t free, but what a wonderful historic site. Another great visitor center, friendly, informative guides, super cool lighthouse structure and a beautiful hiking trail down to the lake and the iconic photo opportunity that awaits.

5. Ely Blueberry Festival

This is a relatively new thing for me, but I’ve been to the last two Blueberry Festivals in Ely and will plan to keep coming back. My parents have been going for years and it’s just down the road from work, so I think it’s officially tradition now.

6. The Wilderness at Fortune Bay and The Vermilion Club

Speaking of work, it’s a no brainer to include The Wilderness at Fortune Bay, Golfweek’s #1 public course in Minnesota.

Best. Benefit. Ever.

After the round, the food at the resort is good, but nothing compares to the VC. You know your foursome needs a Bamboozler…

7. Grandma’s Marathon

This race lacks the total spectator count of Twin Cities, but it’s so very special in a different way. Taking the train to the start, the beauty of Lake Superior, the crowds when you enter the city, the party at the end – Grandma produces a world-class event. A true showcase for the city of Duluth.

8. Tobies Caramel Rolls

Not quite halfway between the Twin Cities and Duluth, the pit stop in Hinckley almost always means a visit to Tobies. And Tobies means caramel rolls – soft, sweet, sticky caramel rolls. Yum.

9. Brainerd Area Golf – The Classic, The Pines, The Preserve and Deacon’s Lodge

While I’ve photographed all of these courses, I’ve actually only played two of them (The Classic and The Preserve). Throw in Golden Eagle and you have a solid week of great Minnesota resort golf. One of these years I’ll organize a buddy trip to do just that.

10. Greg’s Meats

Last, but not least, Greg’s Meats is located just north of Cannon Falls on highway 52. While they have lots of great things for sale, all I have to say is: beef jerky time!

What else do you like outstate?

Activision for Intellivision brochure: Happy Trails, The Dreadnaught Factor, Worm Whomper, Beamrider and River Raid (full size image)

ATARISOFT brochure: Now you can play the ATARI arcade hits – no matter which video game system you own…

Roger Ebert had an interesting story last month about selecting his ten greatest films list. Haven’t seen them all, but I think this might be a good summer project:

• Aguirre, Wrath of God (Herzog)
• Apocalypse Now (Coppola)
• Citizen Kane (Welles)
• La Dolce Vita (Fellini)
• The General (Keaton)
• Raging Bull (Scorsese)
• 2001: A Space Odyssey (Kubrick)
• Tokyo Story (Ozu)
• The Tree of Life (Malick)
• Vertigo (Hitchcock)

I follow the road at night, just hoping to find which puzzle piece fell out of me…

Hot ham and cheese sliders with fries, Bay Street Grill, Fortune Bay Resort Casino, Tower, Minnesota

ColecoVision brochure, date unknown

http://www.bloomsdayrun.org/

Coleco brochure for Atari, Intellivision, Sears Video Arcade and Sears Super Video Arcade video game cartridges – Venture, Turbo, Cosmic Avenger, Smurf, Mouse Trap,Donkey Kong, LadyBug, Carnival and Zaxxon (full size image)

My grandfather sent this in to the Pioneer Press, St. Paul, Minnesota

Kennedy Space Center Postcard, Cape Canaveral, Florida

Hello, hello, hello, White America, assassinate my character…

Echo Point Road, Tower, Minnesota

http://instagr.am/p/KDXwoAzcdr/

Old school Disneyland postcard (pre-California Adventure), Anaheim, California

http://www.elastic.tv/director/AngusWall

A new collage of old school First Avenue tickets, Minneapolis, Minnesota (full-size image)

My first ever concert at First Avenue, Living Colour, April 25, 1993, Minneapolis, Minnesota

The City Pages Best Of issue got me thinking about some of my favorite things to do around this wonderful part of the country. I’m sure I’m missing things (and may change my mind), but here’s an initial shot at a metro area list. Ideas for outstate Minnesota are floating around in my head too.

1. Minnesota State Fair (above)

I write about this every year, so I won’t rehash, other than to say there’s a reason I’ve been to this every year since I was born. Pure awesomeness in so many ways – food, entertainment, people watching and much, much more.

2. Twin Cities Marathon

This also gets a lot of coverage on this site, as I’ve now run it 8 times. The Most Beautiful Urban Marathon in America® earns that circle “R” with fall colors, loops of the Minneapolis lakes, a stretch along the Mississippi River and a great finish down Summit Avenue past the Cathedral and State Capitol. Plus you never forgot your first.

3. Lebanon Hills Mountain Bike Trail

If you like mountain biking, this is my “don’t miss” track for the entire region. I’m relatively new to the sport, but I could ride this every day and not get bored.

4. Mall of America

A lot of locals say they hate the MOA, but sorry Burnsville Center, you just don’t cut when it comes to shopping on a grand scale. It can be overcrowded at times and I’m not a huge fan of the restaurants, but it’s still the place your visiting relatives and friends want to go when they come to town.

5. Barbette and Prohibition at the W

So many good restaurants in Minneapolis, but Kim Bartmann’s Barbette in Uptown continues to be my favorite because of one thing: flat iron steak frites. Mmmm…frites.

I’m not really a bar hopper, but Prohibition’s combination of Foshay architecture and atmosphere, great service, lovely views from the 27th floor and the wonderful ephiphany martini (Grey Goose La Poire, St. Germain Elderflower Liqueur and Duvalleroy Champagne) could turn me into a regular.

6. Cecil’s Deli, Carbone’s Pizza and Ristorante Luci

Since I grew up in St. Paul, it’s much harder for me to pick one favorite restaurant in that fair city. Therefore I present three: Cecil’s Deli in Highland Park for the hot pastrami sandwich, the original Carbone’s Pizza on Randolph and Ristorante Luci for some of the best Italian food I’ve had anywhere. Rotating daily through these three for the rest of your life wouldn’t be a bad thing.

7. Hockey at the Xcel Energy Center

While this is the State of Hockey, our teams have had their ups and downs lately. One thing is certain, though, the overall hockey fan experience at the X ranks right up there with the best anywhere. Be it the NHL’s Wild, the hockey Gophers or the state high school tournament, I loves me some hockey in downtown St. Paul.

8. Chain of Lakes

Heading back across the river, the Minneapolis Chain of Lakes is really the crown jewel of the Twin Cities. That’s hard for someone raised in Saint Paul to admit, but it’s true. Whether you run, walk, bike, rollerblade, sail, kayak, swim, drive, ski or skate them, you’ll be hard-pressed to not feel good about it afterwards. All that plus great park facilities and food options too.

9. First Avenue & 7th Street Entry

My first show at First Avenue was Living Colour in 1993. Somewhere I have a scan of all the tickets from early shows I attended, back when they had cool sparkly ink and you could usually score free tickets to another show each time you left the building. Can’t wait to get back to see the latest enhancements to the room…

10. Hazeltine National and Interlachen Country Club

Minnesota has a lot of great public golf courses, but there is nothing quite like these two private clubs. If you have the connections, make it happen. Both have history, conditioning, great staff, strong layouts and a day on the course you’ll remember for a long, long time.

Any favorites I missed?

Kid one, two and an extra one, Buffalo Wild Wings, Eagan, Minnesota

So you want it to trigger on the Doot’n Doo?

Today was the 35th running of Minnesota’s Annual Rite of Spring, the Get in Gear 10K (and 5K, 2K and half marathon). I’ve done the last eleven races and I’m starting to see a trend when it comes to the weather. Today was cold, windy, wet and even had a few ice pellets thrown in for good measure.

Before the race, I had the chance to meet a few local Twitter runners in person (@autopilotlegs and @lifeisfunner), which was very nice. Every year there are about 8,000 people at Minnehaha Park for this event, but I never seem to find any of the people I know are there running.

I couldn’t find my watch this week, so I was running without knowing pace. My 10K PR is 44:47 and the more I think about it, the more I wonder if that’s going to be it for me. Last year I stayed sub-50, but wasn’t even close at 48:23. The race organizers (who are awesome, by the way) had people yelling splits at every mile marker, which helped. I think I was roughly 7:25, 15-something, 22:30, 30:00 and 37:25.

During the race, the rain never picked up too much and I didn’t have any problems clothing wise (very glad I wore winter tights and a shell, though). I was a little sore the first two miles, but the pace (and runner spacing) was good throughout. It was a little disappointing not getting a 45-something, but overall I’m happy with the 46:03 (7:25 pace – official MTEC results page).

Up next: the TC 1 Mile on May 17, followed by the Fargo Marathon two days later…

MPR’s Fitzgerald Theater, Saint Paul, Minnesota

Let’s take a little trip, down where we used to go. It’s way beyond the strip, a place they call your soul…

The old Science Museum of Minnesota Building, Saint Paul, Minnesota

If this was the award for winning, I’d train much harder. Get in Gear check-in, Minnehaha Park, Minneapolis, Minnesota

Brooklyn, Bronx, Queens and Staten. From the Battery to the top of Manhattan…

Kid two spring concert, Eagan, Minnesota

Start spreading the news…