Anniversary Sunday

    

Picture of Lake Pepin from Wikipedia

    

     Our anniversary was actually this past Thursday, but life and work being what it is, we celebrated yesterday. A nice weekend away would have been nice as we did two years ago, but we are trying to be economical until we know our cash flow and savings rate will make up the gap for college and we are still putting the max we can towards retirement. Oh, and a little cash savings wouldn't hurt us any either. 

     I wined a little to this group about whether or not we should really spurge and have a nice dinner at a winery restaurant that easily would have set us back $100. In the end, we did not do the restaurant for a meal, but more so because of the time we ended up there. I was originally thinking DH would want to watch the football game, and we wouldn't even leave until after 3:00. Instead, as a compromise to no weekend away, DH skipped the game and we made a day out of it, leaving late morning. Well, sort of, he skipped the game. I didn't take pictures during the day as we were very much just enjoying the day, despite the cold and the pops of rain and drizzle. 

     First stop was at a little bakery in Maiden Rock that is known for  artisan bread, muffins, and delicious cookies. We nabbed a loaf of Irish Potato cheddar and a ginger carrot muffin to share. This was our first stop, and the muffin edged off hunger bringing us ready to poke around the shops and artist studios in Stockholm. We bought ourselves some Minnesota Vikings potholders at one of my favorite little shops, hosted by Josie the wonder dog. DH found the Stockholm Pie Company very much to his liking and picked up a 6 inch blueberry pie to enjoy later. He mentioned casually, "I wonder how the Vikings are doing?" and a guy we passed said, the pub on the corner is serving beer and wings. Well, we passed, though I knew DH kind of wanted to. Instead, we headed tot he winery and here is where the plan changed a bit. It was still just 1:15 and they were still serving their brunch buffet. We decided to just do the wine tasting, and eat down the road. We each sampled four wines, and bought a bottle to go. DH thought he was quite  a renaissance man buying artisan bread and bottles of wine on our "travels", one both  made locally and with locally grown grapes.  A quick stop for Wisconsin cheese curds and pepperoni sticks at the Nelson Cheese shop, and now we were truly hungry for lunch.

     Since DH was a sport tagging along into kitchen and Scandinavian stores and wine tastings, I let him pick. We had seen a side for Grampa's Bar and J J's Barbecue. My fancy winery dinner for our anniversary turned into BBQ and a big screen TV watching the last quarter of the Vikings game. Still-I won't complain as the food was terrific. I might get blasted, but I may even say, better BBQ than we had in Nashville. He had a Philly Cheese steak kind of pulled beef with peppers and onions and I had pulled pork. The servings were massive-I took half home. The mac and cheese was smoky and rich-just delicious. And the price? With drinks and  tip, $30! We needed to walk off some of the heavy meal so despite the spitty weather, we back tracked and did some more wandering in the town where the winery was, found another place right on the river/Lake Pepin that looked interesting for a future drive, and wandered around the break water. All and all, nothing exciting to the day, but relaxing and slow paced, and just a nice day to get away from our normal routine.

     We took our time driving home, pulling over at a few of the scenic rest stops. I'd say we are  a week away from peak colors, but there were still nice views. The Mississippi River Valley is truly a lovely place to live. Ironically, I tallied what we spent for the day, and it was practically $100 even. I maybe didn't get a fancy anniversary dinner, but we had a full day to ourselves, not counting the guys on the football field that joined us for our late lunch. DH enjoyed part of his little pie last night and we'll nibble on the other food over the next few days. He even has pot holders to throw at the TV the next bad Vikings game. That was my Sunday. I hope you had an enjoyable weekend.