At least they had diet cherry Coke in Worthington

…a quest for Buffalo 🦬

Today marks the three year anniversary of my train platform event in downtown Minneapolis. The first anniversary was amazing, I was ultra grateful for my second anniversary and now things are running on all cylinders for year three. Colleen made my favorite bars to celebrate and we will be having dinner tonight at Saint Dinette to toast another splendid year around the sun.

On the health front, everything is great. I’m on my second pair of permanent prism lenses and they work perfectly. Still don’t need them for reading screens, but I do prefer them now for watching TV and movies, riding my bike, golfing and driving (even bought a pair of prism sunglasses). The move streak on my watch is now up to 540 days, I’m at 530 miles on the bike log for 2021 and have even signed up to try another half marathon in 2022.

As the pandemic continues to roll on, some things have returned to (semi) normal. While we had an entire football season without fans, this year has seen a return to no restrictions and four games with thousands of people through the doors. We took our first airplane trips to and from Las Vegas over Labor Day and will be celebrating our 30th wedding anniversary this December on Kauai. We’ve also been building a new house that should be ready when we get back (after an extended construction period).

Lastly, I want to again thank the healthcare professionals who helped get me to year three, along with all of my family and friends who have provided love and support. There is one other big change coming soon, but I’ll leave that for another day…

He wasn’t there this time

Really wanted the maxed out major, but it was not to be

Solid, but overall I thought Revival is better

Mad Max Fury Road @ Venetian

Quick first visit to M Resort

Herm’s hooptie

Concert post coming soon

…not sure what to think yet

Doing the hard research for work #LeaguePartners

Not going to play for 100 points there, though

But $40 to go see the pool thing?

…and so we @ MSP ✈️

…but no wins @ Grand Hinckley

The Portland Malt Shoppe, Duluth, Minnesota

The University of Minnesota-Duluth Land Lab

Great to see that guy again – thanks, TB!

Fun afternoon and evening with the MK and SK

A legend of the Northland

The Bulldoge in her native habitat

RIP Stompy, though

Nice to catch up with JS in Cambridge

New Bulldoge apartment ✅

Trail race = Gordy and donuts

Worth the wait 🐠

One away from $15K (and an example of 40-cent vs. 99-cent) @ Grand Casino Hinckley

The Gordy’s Hi-Hat 2021 Season starts March 24th

Mostly happy switching to Lightning Link (50-cent spins)

Walleye, Bay Muffin, VC Blue Cheese & Wings

Lightning Link – Dragon’s Riches @ Fortune Bay

That was not the original name…

Finished just before the rain @ Lutsen

Bluefin Grille, Toft, Minnesota

One off the Duluth list

10% capacity at Papa Charlie’s, high ceilings, masks

…and had “spinnies” on the Black Orchid progressive (which would’ve been almost $15,000)

Breakfast with my Bulldog at Duluth Grill with “Winners” on the speakers

The very clever series of commercials for Grand Casino (developed by the talented Chad Germann and his team at Red Circle Agency) has always made me feel like I should have one of those experiences at some point. Sadly, I’ve never had a large jackpot at Hinckley or Mille Lacs, but today my daughter and I at least had something happen that might qualify as a true Grand Story:

Hinckley has a ton of my favorite game, Black Orchid, often with unusually high progressives. The first machine I played today had a large frog progressive, so MK pulled out her lucky frog (a handmade clay pin) and set it on the machine. A few minutes later, boom, $78.43 frog jackpot. On our way out, we saw another Black Orchid that had a very large butterfly progressive that we tried to hit (unsuccessfully). Just before giving up, though, we hit a smaller $30.61 frog jackpot that put us back on the positive side of the ledger for the night…

Not usually a fan of prime rib, but this was delicious

Damn I love Duluth

Old shot from the San Diego Zoo

Short-staffed, limited hours, two hour wait @ Sven and Ole’s

Awe on today’s hike

Superior Hiking Trail @ Devil’s Kettle

Thanks, Grand Portage (gave it all back)

Mmm…buttered bread

Don’t see that every day

Mac and cheese taco?

World’s Best + no lines

Fall in Duluth 🍁

I miss Mel

So long, Dacha Batinich

Approach to nine green, peak color, The Wilderness at Fortune Bay #nofilter

Top notch food at Fortune Bay

Jamaica in Gilbert

Gold Mine Trail 🍁

Masks now required at the VC

Thanks for another great season, Gordy

Golfweek’s Best Courses You Can Play 2020: Minnesota

Sample from when I was eight – Hawaii trip recap

They added nine holes and changed the name to Stones Throw Golf Course

I’ve been fortunate to continue working through the pandemic, but it’s been tough to take time away (especially since I’m the only IT person left). Thanks to the support of my boss and one of our awesome game day staffers, I was able to take a week off without looking at work email once. We originally intended to spend the week on Isle Royale National Park, but the ferry and Rock Harbor Lodge decided to scrap the whole 2020 season and our reservations were cancelled.

Plan B was to stay the first half of the week at Lutsen Resort and the Fourth of July weekend on Lake Vermilion (at Fortune Bay). Those plans changed as the temperatures kept rising – it was even hot along the usually cool shoreline of Lake Superior and we discovered upon check-in that Lutsen Resort does not have air conditioning. They were accommodating by offering us a full refund, but there were really no other options in Lutsen or the surrounding spots (Grand Marais, Tofte, Grand Portage). Fortune Bay could get us in early, so we set off on highway 1 through Ely and decided to spend the whole week on Vermilion.

Fortune Bay has done a nice job with COVID safety and procedures. They had temperature checks set up on the entry road, mandatory face masks and lots of signage, plexiglass and hand sanitizer. The casino floor had basically every other machine turned off, but they kindly turned on my favorite game for the week (big thanks to EJ). I think I made it worth their hassle, though, while still getting a lot of quality playing time. They had Frozen-themed giveaways on Thursday and Friday for 100 points earned (an Olaf waffle maker on day one and an Olaf snow cone maker on day two), so I spread my playing time out accordingly. Marisa really, really wanted these, so I was happy for the solid play-through.

Food options during the week were a little limited, but what was open was solid. We stopped at the Ely Steakhouse on the way over from Lutsen and they were following all of the state orders for in-person dining. On the other end of the spectrum, the Vermilion Club was following just about none of the rules, which blew us away (maybe “VC” really stands for Virus Central). We still ate there twice in-person and had take-out a third day, because Poor Gary’s pizza and the bleu cheese and chicken wings are Northland classics (hopefully we were personally careful enough).

Back at Fortune Bay, I hit the Wilderness Grill four times, having great experiences each time. The new chef used to work at Alma in Minneapolis and I really liked all of the sandwiches I tried (pulled chicken, walleye, porchetta and cheeseburger). Their new fries are reminiscent of the state fair classics. In the casino proper, we had a wonderful dinner at the Sunset Steakhouse and stopped several times at the Gold Mine Grill, which is getting better with service and staffing (they’ve always had great coffeeshop-style food options). The Tamarack Buffet was closed for service, but was the room was being used for socially-distanced overflow seating.

Thought I would play a lot of golf during the week, but the temperatures were warm and I just didn’t feel like going every day. I did drive down to Coleraine to play Eagle Ridge with the Millers and got in a twilight round on The Wilderness with John, Cathy and Bonnie. The whole region needs rain badly, so there were some near-dead areas on both courses (especially in the roughs). The Wilderness also has a lot of behind the scenes changes: the contract with KemperSports was not renewed and former golf GM Tom Beaudry and superintendent Vince Dodge have both moved on to the state of cheese. Still love that course, though, and it continues to be the one I’ve played the most.

It was also great to hang out at Dacha Batinich on Birch Point again with Mary and the crew. Big thanks to John and Cathy for taking us out on the boat for a pizza picnic (and for taking Sasha and Marisa out again later in the week). Skip-Bo games and great conversations make that little cabin a very special place indeed.

Super One Foods, Virginia, Minnesota

Fortune Bay’s Gold Mine Grill

Can’t believe this game added the $50 level to my prize

Wilderness Grill: chicken, walleye, cheeseburger and porchetta